An interview with Chris and Erin Wunz about pursuing adoption.

For this year’s Adoption Awareness month story, we are excited that Erin and Chris Wunz are sharing their adoption story with us. While their adoption is not finalized yet, we think this part of their journey is an important one to share, as the beginning phases of adoption often come with many questions and unknowns.

How did your adoption process begin? How did you get connected to Lifetime Adoption Agency?

Next Step is a wonderful resource for many different backgrounds and journeys. Through seeking to become parents, Next Step has helped us navigate different life challenges. During this next step in our quest to adopt, we called them and they mentioned they had just recently learned about Lifetime Adoption Agency at a conference they attended. We learned that Lifetime works with many families who want an open adoption and how healthy this can be for everyone involved. We like that the birth mother chooses the adoptive family, and that we can choose our preferences. We have always wanted a baby, so our preference is 0-3 months old, open to either gender, and any race. We will be surprised by the gender, just as if we became pregnant naturally. Most of the adoptions from Lifetime are newborns, and about 10 adoptions take place every month. There are many different resources available for birth mothers and adoptive families. There is even a foundation that supports birth mothers by providing counseling, and/or help with college expenses and more. Lifetime has mailed us books and there are many webinars and information available through the portal that have helped tremendously through each step. We appreciate being able to learn about the journey ahead and feel prepared for many different scenarios. We are also learning a lot about parenting! Every question we’ve had so far has been answered through the portal and/or through our coordinator, whom we connect with at least monthly. We enjoy having a relationship with her and someone to talk to face-to-face through video chats.

What has the process been like so far?

We started the journey in September of 2024 by applying to Lifetime Adoption. They take on a limited number of adoptive families, so we were pleased to have been accepted. We knew that we would need time to fundraise and were not certain that we would be able to afford it. Thankfully, Lifetime was able to give us time to fundraise and work on completing our home study, which has to be in place before we are shown to birth mothers, along with our presentation materials for Lifetime. With both of us working multiple jobs at the time, we knew this stage in the process would take us quite a bit of time to complete. First thing, we started fundraising and held an Adoption Fund Feed with a spaghetti dinner, raffle, games, photo booth, and live music. A family member volunteered to organize our fundraiser, so we were very blessed. This has certainly taught us to ‘delegate’ some of the large tasks. Then we began the home study process in February through Holt International, which includes clearances like background checks, many documents to fill out, many trainings, a home visit, a follow-up Zoom visit, and the social worker writing the official home study for completion. The home study will need to be refreshed within a year, unless an adoption has been finalized before then. Set aside a good amount of time to complete these steps! We completed our presentation materials through Lifetime Adoption, which entailed a website, professional and current photos of us and our family members, and a video of us that will be presented to birth mothers who fit our preferences. About three profiles will be presented to the birth mother, and she will pick one to connect with further.

Can you share about have funding works for domestic adoption?

Learning about the Adoption Tax Credit was encouraging. For qualified adoptions that take place in 2025, the current tax credit is $17,280! Some of the adoption expenses include agency fees, home study fees, legal fees, birth mother expenses, travel expenses, and other miscellaneous expenses. With all of these, reaching the adoption tax credit amount will come easily. There are many creative ways to fundraise, similar to an Adoption Fund Feed, yard sales, selling unique items, fun games, and more. Grants are also available; however, Grants usually receive many applicants, so it was recommended to fundraise first, because they often ask if fundraising has already taken place. There are a ton of expenses, but our family, friends, and network have come through in major ways! There are many creative ways to fundraise, so don’t let a pricetag dissuade you from considering adoption.

Would you share your heart journey through this whole process?

Since we were both children, we have had adoption on our hearts, but we were uncertain if we were actually supposed to pursue it. We both believe that adoption reflects how God our Father has adopted us through Jesus: Ephesians 1:5 "In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons and daughters through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will.” We could include many other scriptures conveying God’s heart of adoption. Through prayer and God’s timing, we realized that we should take the next steps to learn more about adoption and pursue it, until or if we were led in a different direction. We have chosen this leap of faith, and God has already been showing up in miraculous ways since we began, and we haven’t even met this little one yet.

What do you want the world to know about adoption?

Adoption is a loving and selfless act from the birth mother and birth family, and from the adoptive family. Studies have shown that children who are raised knowing they are adopted as soon as possible are healthier, and children who have some connection with their birth family have an even greater benefit. An open adoption is not co-parenting; it is allowing for a relationship and understanding of cultural family backgrounds.

What are your next steps with Lifetime Adoption Agency?

Our presentation materials are completed, so once we finish our Home Study (soon!), our webpage will go live, and we will be presented to birth mothers at any stage of their pregnancy! This means that at any moment, we could receive a call from Lifetime about a birth mother interested in learning more about us and completing the adoption. Once a match takes place, we will work with Lifetime and Holt International to hire an attorney to complete the legal documents that both states require. Once everything is signed by the birth mother and those required, the adoption is finalized!

If you would like to talk with someone about adoption options, please contact Next Step PRC.

We also have a variety of resources on this topic.