What does bi-racial or mixed race mean?

At Lifetime, for our purposes, we consider the definition of biracial to be someone of at least part African American decent. Mixed race children may have two or more racial backgrounds, which may also include African-American heritage.

I view your website a lot and have noticed you have about 80 adoptive families waiting. How does that tie into the number of birth parents waiting to place their child? Does it mean that the birth mothers on your site didn't pick the adoptive families you show?

The birth mother situations that you see posted are women who’ve contacted us and are interested in placing their child for adoption. They are all in various stages of the process, for example:

• They are reviewing Lifetimes Adoptive Family profiles.
  
• They are speaking with Lifetimes Adoptive Families.
  
• They are matched and waiting for the birth of the child.
  
• They are waiting finalization proceedings in their state.
  
• We are still awaiting the birth mother's Medical Records or other information.

In some cases we are unable to match the birth mother with a family, for various reasons. We have 10 or more new families each month that we work with. Not all of our families are posted on the website. It is important that we have a good selection of families for birth parents to view and select from as they come to our site.

Some families end up waiting because they have specific preferences and the birth mothers on the website don't match their preferences. Some families that come to us are matched almost immediately. This is usually the case for African American and bi-racial couples, because we have African American and bi-racial children available and we don't have families that are open to children of these races. So when a new family comes along, they are matched quickly. If you’re interested in working with Lifetime, I would encourage you to apply. It is free and this allows us to take the next step with you.