NBC aired an interesting story a couple days ago entitled “Couple adopts baby via Facebook.”  This Kensington, MD couple appeared with their adopted son to share their story.  They had struggled with infertility for months before ultimately trying IVF treatment, but their pregnancy tragically ended in miscarriage of the twin babies at 20 weeks.  Sean Edlavitch and Melissa Segal turned to adoption, but knew they could be waiting years for a baby.  They were very open with their situation, setting up a blog and emailing friends and family about their hopes to adopt.

Parentsdish.com’s article, ‘Facebook Makes a Couple’s Adoption Dream Come True” tells the story: “Edlavitch says he didn’t know much about blogging beyond the fact that he could sign up for a free website, but that didn’t stop him from creating “Melissa and Seth Adoption” in 2008. He also signed up for a Facebook account, but really didn’t expect any adoption information he posted there to go much beyond his own circle of online friends.  But it did reach much farther than that — and much closer, in a way. A friend of Edlavitch’s shared the couple’s information with his Facebook friends, and an old acquaintance of that friend responded. She knew a woman looking for an adoptive family.”

While this private independent adoption story is very unique, it does open the door to conversations about how Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and other social networking sites can affect adoption.  What are you thoughts about this story?