This is a guest editorial from our statewide partners Abiding Love Adoptions in celebration of National Adoption Month. For more information, contact Vicki Colls and Carrie Murray Nellis.

Delving into one’s family tree is a favorite pastime for all peoples throughout the world! Ancestry.com has sold over 15 million kits.  Many older adoptees, placed for adoption during the closed adoption era, are using Ancestry.com to locate birth parents and birth families with great success. Most everyone…..E V E R Y O N E wants to know more about their roots! Therefore, it begs the question, why does closed or semi-open adoption still have a seat at the table?

At Abiding Love, we believe wholeheartedly in the concept of One Big Family (#onebigfamily) created through Open Adoption. Research shows the devasting effects in which closed and semi-open adoptions (a tiny step above closed) have on Adoptees and Birth Parents. At Abiding Love, 98% of our adoptions are wide open, sharing names, phone numbers, emails, and visits. The other 2% are different because it was the desire of the Birth Mother at the time, with the hope she will change her mind to have an Open Adoption in the future, and the adoptive parents are ready when she does.

Abiding Love walks with an Expectant Mother through her pregnancy, delivery, and post-adoption (hands-on; face to face interaction). We come to the Expectant Mother; she does not have to worry about coming to us. Once a woman comes into our lives, she becomes a member of the Abiding Love Family to always be treasured and loved—1 month, 6 months, 1 year, 5 years down the road—Never Alone, Never Forgotten, Always Loved. Abiding Love’s advocates stand in the gap for the expectant mother, ensuring she knows her rights, understands the legal paperwork, and signs a legally enforceable open adoption agreement. The legally binding open adoption agreement is the one listed in Georgia’s Adoption Code and ensures the original open adoption the birth mother agrees to is enforced. 

One of the many things that makes Abiding Love different, is that we have NO WAIT LIST.  For us, we believe that in order for us to truly be advocating for an Expectant Parent, we cannot have a list of Prospective Adoptive Parents waiting in the wings to adopt her child.  Likewise, Prospective Adoptive Parents should not be limited to one agency to work with.  While we provide Home Study services, after we complete the Home Study we encourage Prospective Adoptive Parents to work with Adoption Consultants.    

Our passion, our mission is to love women through one of the most challenging times of their lives. Adoption is not for everyone, and there are times where the women we work with choose to parent. In these situations, we are called to be their cheerleaders.  There are other times that adoption is the best option and plan for the Mother and her child, and Abiding Love is there to advocate for her through it all. Abiding Love is known for being present post-adoption through support groups and professional counseling. Again, once a member of Abiding Love’s family, always a member. 

Want to learn more, or are you an expectant mother needing help? Visit our website at  www.abidingloveadopt.com , call or text 1-800-277-0748; or call Vicki at 912-660-8227.