The mission touches the lives of those adopted, adoptive parents, hopeful adoptive parents, pregnant woman at risk, the unborn, and other parts of society in ways yet to be seen.

Some background:
It seems that the grief which results from adoption loss more often follows a pattern which is the exact opposite of what one might expect in the case of other losses. I have reached certain conclusions on the grief associated with adoption loss, based on my own experience, the experiences of the women I have encountered and the books on grief and grief counselling which I have read. It became obvious to me that the common models of grief counselling would not work with mothers who had lost children through adoption. I concluded that the grief resulting from the loss of a child through adoption was fundamentally different from other types of grief. I explored grief associated with abortion, with stillbirth and neo-natal death and with loss of custody. Although there were some similarities, it seemed that adoption grief was unique.

The disenfranchised grief is when the grief is connected with a loss which cannot be openly acknowledged, publicly mourned or socially supported. In many cases of disenfranchised grief, the relationship is not recognised, the loss is not recognised or the griever is not recognised. The loss of a child through adoption is usually a loss which cannot be openly acknowledged, which is why mothers often suffer in silence...people who have experienced any type of loss often feel anger, guilt, sadness, depression, hopelessness and numbness and that in cases of disenfranchised grief, these feelings can persist for a very long time.  The lack of recognition of their grief often results in them holding on to it more tenaciously than they might otherwise have done.

CONCLUSIONS: The relinquishing mother is at risk for long-term physical, psychological, and social repercussions. Although interventions have been proposed, little is known about their effectiveness in preventing or alleviating these repercussions." Journal of Obstetric, Gynecological and Neonatal Nursing, 1999 Jul-Aug. pp.395-400.
We hope to help this by raising the consciousness among the community and create services for her recovery.
-Many different groups of people fear birth parent grief for many reasons. The old adage goes that people fear what they don't know. So, we would like to shed a little light on why birth parent grief isn't meant to be scary to adoptive parents, adoptees or the general public.

While the organization may express a point of view or set forth recommendations on an issue, all publications will be written with a view toward exploring the broad range of approaches and solutions to complex public policy issues in order to ensure a full and open-minded presentation of the facts.

We stress the birth mother aspect because we feel it is what makes us a unique organization and allows us to truly "tell it like it is" to women just like ourselves. Unfortunately we missed out on an older birth mom mentor, but we want to provide help to women in the future that experience an unexpected or crisis pregnancy and choose life. 

 

Some of our free services/member websites:

 

Pregnancy is an emotional time for a woman, even under the best of circumstances. She needs someone to lean on, particularly when she is young and inexperienced. In today's society, the "easy" solution of abortion becomes a constant temptation during this time

Mother Teresa says it best,
"I will tell you something beautiful. We are fighting abortion by adoption - by care of the mother and adoption for her baby. We have saved thousands of lives. We have sent word to the clinics, to the hospitals and police stations..."

Saving lives is one of our goals.

    Since the 1960's Baby Scoop era, adoption has come along way. A lot has changed in recent years, (for the better) yet the general public is not aware of this. Adoption, centered around providing the best for the child, is a miracle to watch. And we Birth Mom's want adopted children to know how much love and concern went into finding them the perfect parents. These adoptive couples are truly amazing people too! They have so much love to share.

In my experience, as a birth mother and as someone who lived with and still talks frequently with them... we would of LOVED to keep our child more than anything!  Our pledge & mission is to spread awareness of adoption and of a birth mother's true motivation.  Eventually we may provide a Birth Mother Support Network & Housing Program for girls in need. There is a desperate need for more post & pre adoption support. We want to offer a place for scared, pregnant, and alone women to come and be treated with respect. If eventually word caught on of the love and kindness you get at our Birth Mom House, then maybe women faced w/ unplanned pregnancy, would gladly choose our warm loving house over any abortion clinic's cold doors. We would have no invested interest in making the adoption happen (like many agency housing) so we can provide honest, and unbiased support to every woman.

   I can only offer advice to birth mom's that go through it after me, but I pledge to make their silent struggle something that they can share with other women alike & finally get help processing the grief. So many turn to bad ways of numbing the pain.

    The 2nd part of my pledge came after I realized the general public opinion on adoption & birth mom's. The majority actually commenting about adoption, HATE adoption &consider adopted kids as "abandoned and unwanted" by their mom's. This is SO not the case! I want her everyday! I would normally not mind negative comments about myself, by people that don't have a clue.. I can shrug it off though, and a child will not.  So, I am determined to do all I can so that when my daughter is 10, she can ask anyones opinion on adoption & not get bombarded with messages saying, "your own mom didn't even want you" Because this is what it's like now, & it will NOT be like this in ten years. Our adoption card designs are one step in towards making that happen. All at Thebirthmoms.com. thanks!

Birth moms have parted with a huge piece of themselves. Even the most independent woman will tell you that having a child changes a woman's view of herself. Placing that child is akin to letting go of a piece of yourself.

"For just a brief second, put on the shoes of a birth parent. I know that is a hard thing for many people to do, not just in relation to adoption. But, try please....Just for a second! Imagine parting with your child. Imagine believing that it is your only option. Imagine believing that it is right. It still hurts, doesn't it? Now that you've got that feeling down, imagine someone has told you that you don't have a right to be sad. Or shed tears. Or miss your child. Hard to find a place to fit in again, huh? Most people thing you are crazy if you want to remeber or talk about your child.

The following story, expresses much of the mission's motivation:

For those of us that cannot bear children, whose wombs are barren, and can only dream what it would be like to be pregnant--we know that without birthmoms that choose LIFE for their baby and choose adoption--we would not experience the joys of motherhood.

...before choir practice tonight, our minister's wife told us about someone that has a 1:00 p.m. appt. on Friday for an abortion. She has a 10-year-old daughter, no money, and cannot (will not) consider another option--the option of adoption. A counselor spent an hour yesterday, trying to persuade her to consider adoption, but it seemed to no avail. All these feelings of sadness simply washed over me. I wished so very much that I could have taken our 2 adopted children to her--to show her what precious gifts they are to us. We're praying that she will have a change of heart--she is two and a half months along. I don't know what else to do. I am frustratrated and saddened. If she only knew how we as adoptive couples need birthmoms who choose adoption.

I thank God for the children that we have been blessed to raise in the nurture and admonition of His Word and He gives me peace...courtesy of ©Christian Adoption

Our mission is to let her know about adoption today, help her find resources if she seeks to learn more, provide support throughout her pregnancy, give insight into some of the legalities of adoption, and then show her a lifetime of support, love, and respect as a fellow birth mother.

(Instead of expecting the worst out of her recovery, we will optomistically take a different approach to birth mother grief. Anything is possible with God! When the reunion comes and we are re-united...our children will benefit much more if we are healthy than if we were stuck in a depressed state and never lived our lives fully. I don't think they would want that for us. Life is short, and we have eternity with them in heaven too.)

Three Parts of Mission

1. Assuring, through education, equal protection under the law for all living humans from the beginning of their biological life at fertilization until natural death.

According to most recent polls, almost half of Americans remain uncertain or confused regarding their position on abortion.

Since 1990, pro-abortion forces have been financing a very effective national campaign to convince these conflicted middle people that the most important consideration is whether a woman has the right to choose abortion, and that this right to choose overrides the right of the child to live.

We must counter this "who decides" and "pro-choice" mentality in American society.

We must emphasize our compassion to women much more than in the past.  The rights of women and the rights of the unborn can be joined.  We must reach out to every woman faced with the agony of abortion and say to her: Your life and the life of your baby are both important, and we will not desert either one of you.  We want to love you both.

Our research has determined that 87% of this conflicted middle believe that adoption is a loving alternative to abortion.  And so, loving alternatives like adoption can now be the focus of part of our debate.

We must change their hearts and minds on abortion.  The opposition is using the most effective marketing tools that money can buy.  Our days of guesswork are over.  We must be sure that we are proceeding wisely.

Life Issues Institute recognizes this crying need and is leading the way in reinvigorating and coordinating a major new educational campaign nationwide.

The teaching that is desperately needed is best described as "back-to-basics."  Until people are also convinced that this is truly a baby in the womb, no other arguments will be successful.

Life Issues Institute is leading a new nationwide effort that will involve all pro-life groups, state and local chapters, pregnancy help centers and churches in a common educational effort.

To be successful, this new effort must reach out to stimulate and educate the millions of people who have not yet made up their minds on the abortion issue.  These people are the ones who ultimately will determine if your children and grandchildren will be protected in the years ahead.

---

Vice is a monster of so frightful mien, as to be hated, needs but to be seen; yet seen too oft, familiar with her face, we first endure, then pity, then embrace.     
--ALEXANDER POPE

---

This poetic prophet couldn't possibly have imagined, in his worst nightmare, this accurate description of abortion today.

Shortly after the 1973 Supreme Court decision, Roe v. Wade, the early pioneers of the pro-life movement put forth a strategy; demonstrate the humanity of the unborn child, then raise abortion's ugly head for all to see, the broken and dismembered bodies, and America would soundly reject it.

Thus the pro-life movement began its slow, laborious undertaking of educating Americans to the reality of the beauty of the baby growing in the womb and the horror of abortion.  Volunteers addressed countless church, school and civic groups, sharing the pro-life message.  Their unselfish labor began to bear fruit.  America was slowly waking up to the fact that abortion kills unborn babies.

Then came the first major Supreme Court breakthrough, the Webster decision in 1990.  With it came the era of market research, opinion polls, media sound bites and print advertising.  Education of the masses had taken a contemporary twist.  Using such tools, the pro-abortion movement began to reach millions of Americans with researched phrases, through massive media buys and with the help of a sympathetic press.

Slowly, progressively, they changed the focus of the debate from the tiny victim being killed, to a question of women's rights, of ``who decides."  With this there developed a change in public opinion that would both condemn abortion but still allow it as a woman's right.

We came to the conclusion that pro-life education had to change.  Abortion had become too familiar.  America was showing signs of enduring it.

We had to update and alter the way we disseminated our message.  Choice, for those yet undecided, was a concept they had begun to feel comfortable identifying with.

The Birth Moms was founded to reverse this alarming trend and to rejuvenate and reinvigorate a nationwide educational awakening. For several years we dedicated most of our resources to determining what new educational methods were needed in order for pro-lifers to again regain the initiative.  We did polling, focus groups, market research, and finally extensive market testing of our new themes and approaches.  Since then, we have dedicated ourselves full-time to promoting and providing effective educational tools for the pro-life movement.

Central to these new approaches was a continuing emphasis on the fact that a majority of people, working in the pro-life movement, spend their time and efforts helping the woman during and after an unexpected pregnancy or after an abortion.  Stopping abortion and protecting unborn babies remains a central thrust.  However, assisting women in crisis occupies the efforts of more than half of those involved in the pro-life movement.

We encourage you to examine the groundbreaking publications and radio efforts of Life Issues Institute, as well as the new and more effective educational publications.  Our goal is to retrofit and retool the educational efforts of the pro-life movement.  We hope you will share our excitement and optimism, and help support our efforts in changing the hearts and minds of Americans on abortion.

Adoption awareness 

Adoption Not Abortion

This is a slogan that produces quiet fury in pro-abortion activists, for each adoption is a baby saved and represents a failure to the pro-abortion industry. Few in the general public realize it but Planned Parenthood "counselors" and the rest of the pro-abortion, anti-child activists have for 3 decades been waging a quiet but successful war against adoption. This is evident in the pregnant girl who would rather have her baby killed than the alternative of "a fate worse than death" (adoption).

How many babies are adopted?

4% of non-marital births are placed for adoption. In the U.S. this is about 50,000 non-related adoptions a year compared to 1,500,000 babies aborted.

Why do so few mothers place their babies?

In society, customs change. Right now it is the "in" thing to keep your baby. Part of the reason for this has been the overemphasis on women’s "rights" (as in abortion) over the baby’s rights, and the concept of the mother’s "ownership," which the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision taught our nation. Add to this the above insidious influence, the almost condemnation of, and the "poor mouthing" of adoption by many sex educators, Planned Parenthood people, social workers and others.

How many couples are waiting?

There are about two million couples waiting. Furthermore, each of these couples would want two or three, if available. Many will take hard-to-place children with special needs. Bachrach et al., "On the Path to Adoption"

"When the time comes as it surely will, when we face that awesome moment, the final judgment, I’ve often thought, as Fulton Sheen wrote, that it is a terrible moment of loneliness. You have no advocates, you are there alone standing before God — and a terror will rip your soul like nothing you can imagine. But I really think that those in the pro-life movement will not be alone. I think there’ll be a chorus of voices that have never been heard in this world but are heard beautifully and clearly in the next world — and they will plead for everyone who has been in this movement. They will say to God, ‘Spare him, because he loved us,’ — and God will look at you and say not, ‘Did you succeed?’ but ‘Did you try?’" Congressman Henry Hyde

Sources: The Abortion Factbook, National Committee for Adoption, June 1989; NCFA Memos

 

The problem w/ post-adoption support:

It was obvious most birth mother's were not processing the grief correctly, So many, too many, fall into drugs or some other destructive practice to numb the pain. Usually this is then used as more of a way to stereotype the way birth mother's must be.

Changes:

As a result of the stay at a adoption dorm, they saw much of the background events going on during an adoption too. So we have a few insights for adoption reform....a main one being, birth mother's should have a separate case worker and counselor, because both roles are too conflicting to receive unbiased support. Preferably birth mom's should be counseled by other birth mom's. Every girl just wanted to talk to someone who had been through it before. It relieves so much anxiety for the birth mom. And any unanswered questions tend to just result in a birth mother not following through for fear of the unknown, at the last minute. (And provided legal representation, as the other side is)

Who usually becomes a birth mother, do they have anything in common?

Most birth mother's were a result of an unplanned or crisis pregnancy. This doesn't mean we loved our babies any less. (In fact, some would say it as the opposite) but it means that we are most likely not prepared to provide adequate care. These babies then become the most at risk for being aborted in today's society. Every 1 out of 4 children won't make it. This is why birth mom's missions is crucial to the pro-life movement!

At Birth Mom Missions, we think life is always the best CHOICE for everyone! We've seen friends have abortions and friends raise children, but we never saw a birth mother's life that close up...until we become one. Now we have tackled every situation the pro-abortion industry can come up with as a reason to have an abortion. One of the two founding birth mother's was raped, suppressed it, and then was shocked to find herself pregnant.

They soon found out that birth mother's are joined together for life by their experiences. The love and respect among such a small group of women, is something society usually misses out on. Watching a birth mother hand over her child to her adoptive parents for the very lest time...is a moment I wish everyone could see. It is the most beautiful bittersweet moment, and shows the real power of love...two sets of parents coming together all because of their love for this one child! Christians can take even more from it, because of how it portrays in some small way how we are adopted as God's children. The experience is worth more than words can describe.

More details on Birth Mom Missions:

Birth Mothers works together with other foundations, schools, individuals, churches, faith-based agencies and social services providers to build a web of resources for pregnant women.

Each of the Birth Mother's on our growing staff, have unique experiences. We have dealt with crisis pregnancies, serious health concerns third trimester ( pre-e ), adoption legal mishaps, and much more. We have seen and experienced a lot and want to just share our observations. We know what women are capable of when a life depends solely on them to survive. Birth mother's are strong women, determined to give life and finish the good work that was begun inside them. It may have been unplanned, but we want them here more than anything! (Contrary to beliefs, since "gave away")

A mother becomes a mother, when she realizes there is another little person who solely depends on her to survive....and she therefore is intent on not letting them down. A mother becomes a birth mother, when she looks her precious child in the eyes and realizes it's her duty to take care of them and provide the best, no matter what society may think of her. Even her child might not understand right away, but one day when they become a parent they will. Mom's don't stop being mom's when a child leaves for college, or a child passes on before them...so why would a birth mom stop being a mom after adoption day.

Supporting birth mother's today in the healing process and offerring advice to all future b mom's of adoption

Objectives, Goals, and things that are a bi-product of mission

1. We save lives!

2. Adoption Case Worker Reform:

 Our solution, replace them with birth mother's!

3.Economic Change (bi-product)

4.Stronger Women (bi-product)

5.Change the misperceptions of adoption

• 
• 

Our Mission Statement
Sometimes a mother must make the hardest decision of all and in this she shows her greatest love and se

Many different groups of people fear birth parent grief for many reasons. The old adage goes that people fear what they don't know. So, her is why a birth mother's grief isn't meant to be scary to adoptive parents, adoptees or the general public.

Birth moms have parted with a huge piece of themselves. Even the most independent woman will tell you that having a child changes a woman's view of herself. Placing that child is akin to letting go of a piece of yourself.

"For just a brief second, put on the shoes of a birth parent. I know that is a hard thing for many people to do, not just in relation to adoption. But, try please....Just for a second! Imagine parting with your child. Imagine believing that it is your only option. Imagine believing that it is right. It still hurts, doesn't it? Now that you've got that feeling down, imagine someone has told you that you don't have a right to be sad. Or shed tears. Or miss your child. Hard to find a place to fit in again, huh? Most people thing you are crazy if you want to remeber or talk about your child.

The truth is, no matter the circumstance, some level of grief is involved in relinquishment. Even those well-adjusted, happy-go-lucky birth parents have twinges at times. No one is exempt or immune. Some people are just better at handling grief while others are better at hiding their grief.

If a person who had lost a very close loved one to death refused to acknowledge the death, would we be concerned. I won't even take it so far as that they refused to cry because, honestly, some people don't show their emotions by shedding tears. I'm saying that if they refused to acknowledge that their loved one was gone, wouldn't others be concerned about the mental well-being of the one left behind? What if the one supposed to be grieving totally blocked any memory of the deceased one's existence from her memory? Wouldn't we be worried?

Why then do we expect birth parents to roll over and act as if nothing has happened?

Some are saying, "Oh, that doesn't happen in this day in age." Yes, it does happen. Sure, adoptions are open nowadays but that hasn't removed the underlying idea that birth parents should pull themselves up by their bootstraps, wipe off the tears and head off into the sunset without nary a care about their child. Our tears make certain people uncomfortable. When we talk about missing our children at a certain family event, we're told to stop. When we get down in the dumps on holidays or birthdays, no one even knows what to do with us. What would you do with a friend who was sad on the birthday of a deceased loved one? Would you send a card? Would you give a call? Take her out to lunch? Give her a hug? Just simply remind her that you were there if she needed to talk?

I know most of the fear behind birth parent grief is because of the lack of understanding. But it's not too hard to understand when you place yourself in our shoes for a day. It is normal to cry. It is normal to be sad. It is normal to miss your relinquished child. When we're forced to keep those emotions silent, unhealthy manifestations of our grief bubble to the surface. And that's when the real trouble comes....

Random Fact:

What percentage of adoptions are contested?

Remember that contested means that a biological parent (or other pertinent entity) attempts to legally fight the adoption based on the laws that govern their state. This could be an accusation of fraud or duress or a father whose rights were not respected in the relinquishment of the child. Contested does not mean overturned. Contested simply means "legally challenged."

Answer.

Less than .1% of adoptions are contested each year. (Groza and Rosenthal, 1998)

Don't miss the decimal point in front of that number. POINT-ONE. As in less than one tenth of one percent of adoptions are contested each year. Sort of makes you wonder why the media latches on to the number of cases that they do instead of reporting the 99.9 percent of adoptions that are not contested. Very interesting, no?

I'm always disappointed when I hear that potential adoptive parents are avoiding domestic adoption because "birth parents come back and steal the children." No. We know how rarely that happens, from above. And, of course, people are also getting confused about failed matches, contested adoptions and overturned or disrupted adoptions. They are all different things that represent different rights for different people and different places along the adoption process. A failed match, in which an expectant mother chooses to parent her child prior to signing the Termination of Parental Rights, is not a failed adoption or even, as we've been discussing, a contested adoption. An overturned adoption is one that was contested and found in favor of the birth parent(s) or family. A disrupted adoption actually covers a wide range of possibilities and isn't solely limited to birth parent custody disputes.And now we've learned a little bit about how voluntarily relinquishing birth parents aren't all out to ruin the lives and hearts of adoptive parents. Quite frankly, birth parents are often seeking the same things for their placed children that adoptive parents want for their parented children: stability, love and a great family. Moreover, if we concentrated on ethical treatment of expectant parents in the pre-birth and post-placement phases of adoption research and relinquishment, my guess is that the number would be lower."

The following story expresses much of the mission's motivation:

Without Birthmoms

For those of us that cannot bear children, whose wombs are barren, and can only dream what it would be like to be pregnant--we know that without birthmoms that choose LIFE for their baby and choose adoption--we would not experience the joys of motherhood.

...before choir practice tonight, our minister's wife told us about someone that has a 1:00 p.m. appt. on Friday for an abortion. She has a 10-year-old daughter, no money, and cannot (will not) consider another option--the option of adoption. A counselor spent an hour yesterday, trying to persuade her to consider adoption, but it seemed to no avail. All these feelings of sadness simply washed over me. I wished so very much that I could have taken our 2 adopted children to her--to show her what precious gifts they are to us. We're praying that she will have a change of heart--she is two and a half months along. I don't know what else to do. I am frustratrated and saddened. If she only knew how we as adoptive couples need birthmoms who choose adoption.

I thank God for the children that we have been blessed to raise in the nurture and admonition of His Word and He gives me peace...

© All rights reserved Christian Adoption

Our mission is to reach out to that woman before she has an abortion, let her know about adoption today, help her find resources if she seeks to learn more, provide support throughout her pregnancy, give insight into some of the legalities of adoption, and then show her a lifetime of support, love, and respect as a fellow birth mother.

(Instead of expecting the worst out of her recovery, we will optomistically take a different approach to birth mother grief. Anything is possible with God! When the reunion comes and we are re-united...our children will benefit much more if we are healthy than if we were stuck in a depressed state and never lived our lives fully. I don't think they would want that for us. Life is short, and we have eternity with them in heaven too.)

The problem w/ post-adoption support:

It was obvious most birth mother's were not processing the grief correctly, So many, too many, fall into drugs or some other destructive practice to numb the pain. Usually this is then used as more of a way to stereotype the way birth mother's must be.

Changes:

As a result of the stay at a adoption dorm, they saw much of the background events going on during an adoption too. So we have a few insights for adoption reform....a main one being, birth mother's should have a separate case worker and counselor, because both roles are too conflicting to receive unbiased support. Preferably birth mom's should be counseled by other birth mom's. Every girl just wanted to talk to someone who had been through it before. It relieves so much anxiety for the birth mom. And any unanswered questions tend to just result in a birth mother not following through for fear of the unknown, at the last minute. (And provided legal representation, as the other side is)

Who usually becomes a birth mother, do they have anything in common?

Most birth mother's were a result of an unplanned or crisis pregnancy. This doesn't mean we loved our babies any less. (In fact, some would say it as the opposite) but it means that we are most likely not prepared to provide adequate care. These babies then become the most at risk for being aborted in today's society. Every 1 out of 4 children won't make it. This is why birth mom's missions is crucial to the pro-life movement!

At Birth Mom Missions, we think life is always the best CHOICE for everyone! We've seen friends have abortions and friends raise children, but we never saw a birth mother's life that close up...until we become one. Now we have tackled every situation the pro-abortion industry can come up with as a reason to have an abortion. One of the two founding birth mother's was raped, suppressed it, and then was shocked to find herself pregnant.

They soon found out that birth mother's are joined together for life by their experiences. The love and respect among such a small group of women, is something society usually misses out on. Watching a birth mother hand over her child to her adoptive parents for the very lest time...is a moment I wish everyone could see. It is the most beautiful bittersweet moment, and shows the real power of love...two sets of parents coming together all because of their love for this one child! Christians can take even more from it, because of how it portrays in some small way how we are adopted as God's children. The experience is worth more than words can describe.

More details on Birth Mom Missions:

Birth Mothers works together with churches, faith-based agencies and social services providers to build a web of resources for pregnant women.

Each of the Birth Mother's on our growing staff, have unique experiences. We have dealt with crisis pregnancies, serious health concerns third trimester ( pre-e ), adoption legal mishaps, and much more. We have seen and experienced a lot and want to just share our observations. We know what women are capable of when a life depends solely on them to survive. Birth mother's are strong women, determined to give life and finish the good work that was begun inside them. It may have been unplanned, but we want them here more than anything! (Contrary to beliefs, since "gave away")

A mother becomes a mother, when she realizes there is another little person who solely depends on her to survive....and she therefore is intent on not letting them down. A mother becomes a birth mother, when she looks her precious child in the eyes and realizes it's her duty to take care of them and provide the best, no matter what society may think of her. Even her child might not understand right away, but one day when they become a parent they will. Mom's don't stop being mom's when a child leaves for college, or a child passes on before them...so why would a birth mom stop being a mom after adoption day.

Some facts:

* How many babies are adopted?

4% of non-marital births are placed for adoption. In the U.S. this is about 50,000 non-related adoptions a year compared to 1,500,000 babies aborted. (This year it is 2%)

* Why do so few mothers place their babies?

In society, customs change. Right now it is the "in" thing to keep your baby. Part of the reason for this has been the overemphasis on women's "rights" (as in abortion) over the baby's rights, and the concept of the mother's "ownership," which the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision taught our nation. Add to this the above insidious influence, the almost condemnation of, and the "poor mouthing" of adoption by many sex educators, Planned Parenthood people, social workers and others.

(In 2009, recent reports say that 40% of all pregnancies in America were to unwed mothers, therefore single parent families)

* How many couples are waiting?

There are about two million couples waiting. Furthermore, each of these couples would want two or three, if available. Many will take hard-to-place children with special needs. Bachrach et al., On the Path to Adoption

Our partners include (but are not limited to) pregnancy care centers (CPCs), adoption agencies, radio stations, private adoption attorneys, counselors, medical professionals, housing and transportation resources, cross-cultural and government services