Adoption / Entrustment ceremony
Love. Welcome. Connection.
An adoption ceremony ….
An adoption ceremony celebrates the significant milestone of gaining an additional family member. It celebrates being parents, it welcomes the newcomer, and it can also pay tribute to the birth parent[s].
The arrival of any child into a family deserves celebration, and fanfare. Adoption has the additional elements of conscious and intentional choice, often with lengthy and sometimes difficult processes involved.
This ceremony is a powerful way to celebrate the journey, the success, and the love.
The benefits …
Adoption is a transformational time in a couple/family’s life as a new addition is added to the mix. Everyone needs to adapt to accommodate this new personality. Ceremony and their rituals help to acknowledge what the child brings to the family along with the gift of love and union.
With older children its an opportunity to accept the challenges of the past. And look to creating new memories by sharing hopes and dreams for the future.
Open adoptions are bittersweet for the birth parent[s] as they are grieving and passing their role as parent[s] to another. This ceremony helps with the pass over by honouring the gift one family is giving another. There is the opportunity to consider how the birth parent[s]/family are involved in the ceremony and recognition of the biological bond to the child.
The parts of a ceremony …
An Adoption ceremony should reflect the purpose of your ceremony. Keep this purpose in the forefront of your mind as you plan. E.g.:
Celebration / thanks giving
Grief
New beginnings – recognise the past, set focus on future.
Naming ceremony incorporated
The ceremony can include a range of elements, E.g.:
The opening [welcome] / introduction
Child
Birth parent[s] / family
Other
Allocation of roles: e.g. God parents
Vows – parents making promise to their child[ren]
Readings / poems / blessing
Songs / hymns / live music
Enactments examples are:
Name announcement
Candle ceremony
Sand ceremony
Planting of a tree
Time capsule
Signing of a certificate
Writing of blessing messages
Gifts / gift of heirloom
An activity
An element of story telling about the child’s life journey
Or ……
Closing
Just as no two families are alike, nor are two ceremonies going to be the same. Your ceremony should reflect your values, beliefs, and personality.
Work from the place of: What is important to you?