Next Step PRC has always had a heart for adoption. We are excited to share that we have begun referring our adoption-minded clients to an agency called Lifetime Adoption. When we learned about their mission, we knew this partnership would be special. We feel confident that when we send a client their way, they are going to love, walk with, and support the biological mother through every step. Keep reading to find out more about this wonderful organization!

1. How does Lifetime Adoption Agency work?

   Lifetime is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for women wanting to learn more about adoption. We feel it’s vital to always be available. We also believe adoption education is important and have many different avenues to help woman explore adoption. Not only are we available to talk with expectant moms, we also have a robust website, lots of different brochures (including some in Spanish), articles, and a book written for women to explore their interest in adoption. (FreeAdoptionBook.com – anyone can download it!) Each woman who reaches out to us has a personal adoption coordinator. Their coordinator will engage with them at least once a week through different modes of contact. We encourage our expectant moms to talk with our third-party counselor at least once before birth and once after birth. We also have peer counselors available to talk. After 20 weeks, we will share hopeful adoptive families who match the criteria of the mom. She is welcome to pick several families to talk with. Once she decides on her perfect family, we consider them matched. We will help the expectant mom navigate her relationship with the family, encouraging her to remain in open communication. The adoption professional will meet with mom locally prior to birth, and hopefully the chosen adoptive parents are able to also! Typically, the baby is able to leave the hospital with the adoptive parents. We stay in constant communication with mom during the hospital stay. After the adoption takes place, we are available to her for a lifetime – they can call even if it is 10 years after their adoption.

2. Lifetime Adoption does “Open Adoptions.” Can you explain what this means and why it’s important in the adoption journey?

   An open adoption can look different for each expectant mother. She has the right to choose the family she wishes to adopt her infant/child. She is in charge of her and her baby’s hospital stay and medical decisions while at the hospital. She also has the right to choose the type of contact she wishes to maintain with the adoptive family after the adoption is completed. Contact may include any combination of the following: phone calls, video calls, texting, snail mail, and planned visits. Being actively involved in her adoption plan empowers a woman. No longer does she feel adoption is something being done to her, but now she is making her own decisions and deciding what she wants her adoption to look like. Open adoptions allow birth parents to remain part of their child’s life. This connection can help an adoptee with identity issues. For instance, they never will have to wonder who they resemble. The adoptee has a chance to know their story and the love surrounding their adoption.

3. Would you share a bit of your heart and testimony? What is your reason for showing up and doing what you do?

   My current role at my agency is Outreach and Education. I spend most of my time sharing about Lifetime Adoption and the role we play in expectant mothers’ lives as an agency along with the services Lifetime provides. My passion is to conduct trainings on Modern Adoption and how to have an adoption conversation with a client or patient. My trainings are primarily given to pregnancy centers, hospitals, and doctor offices. I love to provide education, especially when I know it will ease the discomfort people feel when introducing the topic of adoption. As a sidenote, I also am an adoptive mom. We adopted internationally and have no information about our child’s first parents. She asked questions from a very young age that we were not able to answer and most likely never will. When she started school, I volunteered at my local pregnancy center where I learned about open adoption. I experience the awkwardness of trying to initiate a conversation on adoption. Lifetime came for a training and left me feeling called to work in domestic adoption. I want to make sure people understand what modern adoption entails so women can make an educated decision. I want women facing an unplanned pregnancy to know there is another life option - adoption. I also want to support every child knowing the beginning of their story.

4. What is one myth you can bust about choosing adoption in an unplanned pregnancy situation?

   The thought: “I’ll never see my baby again.” That is the great thing about modern adoption, birth parents can choose to stay connected at their level of comfort.