Deep down, first-time parent Brian Higgins had to admit, he was hoping for a boy. Visions of shared Phillies victories danced in his head, as well as pint-sized St. Joe's jerseys and having a buddy for Eagles games.
But during an ultrasound appointment in the spring of 2016, the Newtown father-to-be and wife Jodi wanted nothing more than a verdict of good health. Suddenly, a fetal image appeared on the monitor screen. Sounds of a strong heartbeat filled the room.
Brian started to cry. Jodi teared up, too. Ears, eyes, a nose _ the technician ticked off the good news. And then something else.
"It looks like you're going to get your boy, Brian!" the mother quipped, grinning.
But that wasn't Jodi speaking.
Rather, it was the birth mother of that baby boy, a child the Higginses would name Patrick.
The Philadelphia woman was under medical care, managing her opioid addiction during her pregnancy with methadone, because sudden withdrawal can endanger a developing fetus. But she was taking one more step to protect the child. She was allowing her baby to be adopted by a family that could offer him the kind of life and stability that she could not.
Theirs is a little-told but increasingly common story in an opioid epidemic that continues in the Philadelphia region and many other parts of the country.
"It's true nationally, not just in Philadelphia, that of the children being placed for private adoptions, more of them had previously experienced substance exposure, including exposure to opioids, or were born with an addiction to opioids," said Ryan Hanlon, vice president of the National Council for Adoptions.
Adoptions From the Heart, a locally based, private adoption agency, saw its rate of opioid-involved birth mothers rise from 33 percent in 2016 to 52 percent in 2017. Likewise, the Open Arms Adoption Network, a program of the Jewish Children and Family Services of Greater Philadelphia, reported a 50 percent increase in babies exposed to opioids in the womb.
Through these adoptions, children are placed in secure homes with loving parents, many of whom have tried to adopt for years. Adoptions in the United States have declined in recent years, largely because unmarried parents do not face the stigma of years past, and because international adoptions have plummeted due to government restrictions.
