Earlier this week my family and I played and posed in a sunny neighborhood park while a pair of swanky photographers captured our every smile and hug.

And it didn’t cost us a penny.

The afternoon was courtesy of Celebrating Adoption, a network of photographers across the United States who waive their session fees for adoptive families during the first year of the adoption. Coordinator Jennifer Samaha conceived of the idea while photographing a prospective adoptive family for their profile. Moved by the hope and love she witnessed during that session, she offered them a free post-adoption sitting, and other photographers soon followed suit.  Details and a list of participating photographers can be found at the Celebrating Adoption website.

I’d love to see the offer extended to birth parents, too, whether after placement or right before if they won’t have ongoing contact with their placed child. They are as much a part of adoption as the adoptive family, after all. What parent doesn’t love a well-taken portrait with their child?

We’re scheduling a photo session on our own for our daughter and her first mom in her home town later in the year. And eagerly awaiting our upcoming appointment to view the shots from our family’s lovely day at the park. (We got a peek at some on the digital camera screen and just loved them.) The hard part now will be deciding which prints to purchase!

Heather captures the life of her family in words at Production, Not Reproduction.