Adoption can often times be a very long and difficult process; many parents must wait years before they ever get matched with a child. Dan and Tracey Citron were no exception; when they decided that they wanted to adopt, they quickly realized that they would have to be proactive in their search. They tried everything from creating an adoption website to placing an ad on the back of their family car, but nothing seemed to be working. Then the couple made a daring decision and turned to Craigslist.
Craigslist, a website notorious for having anything and everything you could be looking for, doesn't initially seem like the place to search for a child. Dan and Tracey hoped, however, that the site could help them get in contact with a pregnant woman who needed help and felt she couldn't keep her baby. That's exactly what they got with Tammy Nelson, a young expectant mother who desperately needed help.
Tammy was in an abusive relationship in which she was financially dependent on her husband, and she remembers very vividly how her lack of money affected her ability to be a good mother to her first son. Then her nightmare got worse when her husband forced her to get pregnant with their second child, something that you couldn't possibly understand unless you have gone through it. Tammy explains how she hated herself and felt no connection to the child in her belly because of the circumstances of her pregnancy; this was when she realized she had to do something, anything, to give this child a better chance at life. That's when she went on Craigslist and saw Tracey and Dan's ad - it was a perfect match.
As Piper Weiss, Senior Feattures Editor for Yahoo Shine, explains in the video below, this method of using Craigslist to match adoptive parents with children can be a really useful way to go about the adoption process. It puts control back into the hands of the adoptive parents as well as the mothers giving their children up for adoption, which can be truly wonderful for dedicated and devoted parents. There are also downsides to this kind of control, though, because adoptive parents as well as expecting women must be very careful about how they screen potential matches. Without an adoption agency running the show, adoptive parents must be weary of scammers, and those women looking to put their baby up for adoption must be very careful that they choose a loving, supportive, and healthy family for their child.
While there is so much room for error in this Craigslist matching process, there is also room for great success, as evidenced by the Citrons' and Tammy's story. It pains me to think what Tammy would have had to do and what her child would have gone through if she hadn't found help from the Citrons. Giving up a child is one of the most difficult things that a mother can do; in cases like Tammy's, it is unconditional and unfaltering devotion to the well-being of the child that allows a mother to selflessly give up her baby. Some may try to argue that weakness leads to a mother giving up her baby, but I see this as one of the bravest and most selfless acts a woman can perform.
What do you think of the Citrons' and Tammy's story? Did you know that adoptive parents are using Craigslist as a medium for finding children? Have you ever been a part of a Craigslist adoption? Would you if you were in a position like Tracey and Dan? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!
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