Last week Coley covered an article on a new infant care center in Orange County, California. (Writing that makes me wonder how they're fairing with the fires that are ravaging Southern California.) While I had initially been intrigued by the article itself, I did a little more research. Because I'm nosy like that.

The program in question is Casa Teresa. They do provide some pretty nice services to single, poor and/or young mothers who are choosing... more

A recent post by Sandy Cove Trail has had me pondering what advice I would give to a young expectant mother. I've always battled with this dilemma: how to share as much information as possible without scaring the mother or pushing her away by overly opinionated rants. I actually tend to shy away from most adoption talk when first advising young mothers, mentioning only that open adoptions are not often legally binding. However, I've finally hit on something... more

Most of my regular readers have discovered that one of my most passionate missions is to inspire change in domestic newborn adoptions. The majority of the mothers that I know who placed/relinquished babies were involved in newborn adoptions.

All four of our blogger birth/first mothers placed their babies for adoption at birth. In case it has escaped anyone, all four of us also believe that the system failed us miserably. None of us feel that we had adequate information about the lifelong consequences of adoption. That alone should be very... more

Why do mothers sometimes make bad decisions in regards to unplanned pregnancies? There are many reasons. Sometimes their decisions are based on flawed information. They enlist and place their trust in the wrong advisors in some instances. There is a great deal of misinformation floating around as well, and that makes getting valid and honest information difficult. When I am not blogging, I work full-time in a law office as a legal assistant. When clients come into the office, it is often because they made a bad decision involving... more

When a woman finds herself unexpectedly pregnant, there are two important parts of her body that she needs to be certain to use. The brain is required when she is weighing her options. She needs to think about all the practicalities and logistical issues in raising a child.

She needs to carefully look at all her options in a reasoned manner. If she is considering parenting, she should honestly evaluate the situation and come up with some reasonable ways to provide for her child. It is also wise for her to seek out support and resources from her family, church... more

Women are sometimes scolded like children when they offer news of an unintended pregnancy. "How could you be so careless?" is a popular comment that some women receive when announcing a pregnancy. Needless to say, this sort of comment sometimes weighs heavily on an expectant mother.

As hard as it may be to send out a letter of this kind, I feel that this is the time to swallow some pride and let others who care about you help you.

The quote above was taken from a... more

A recent conversation with my good friend Sarah convinced me that using the term "crisis" to describe a pregnancy is not the best idea. Sometimes it may apply, but I wonder if we do not leap to conclusions too soon. "Crisis" is a word with negative implications. An unintended pregnancy need not necessarily always be considered a crisis. An unintended pregnancy may cause a shift in plans and priorities, but life is like that. In a perfect world, all pregnancies would be planned, and all parents would be financially set and well prepared to... more

Although I intended this to be a two-part series, I think I need to expand on the purpose of asking lots of questions to a pregnant woman in a crisis pregnancy. I want to make it clear that these questions are not to discourage a woman from parenting. On paper, an adoptive parent will nearly always appear to be more qualified, better prepared and more suited to parenting.

The questions are also not intended to make a young woman doubt her ability to parent. They are intended specifically to gain a realistic picture of a woman's abilities and... more

As I mentioned at the beginning of this series, it was partially inspired by Tana's series on financing an adoption. Some of her clever suggestions could work equally well for a young woman trying to finance the parenting option:

1. Yard sale or ebay sales; 2. Fundraise - bake sale, spaghetti dinner (Maybe your local church could help with this.); 3. Live within your means, cut out unnecessary expenses; 4. Ask for monetary gift for birthdays and holidays; and 5. Set up a baby fund specifically earmarked for baby expenses.

Many... more

LDS Blogger Tanya has been posted a helpful series on how to finance an adoption. It seems such a conundrum to me that people relinquish due to lack of financial resources, yet others without adequate monies will leave no stone unturned to adopt. I also marvel at the support for adopting sometimes, and yet the lack of support for parenting.

When you hear of someone considering relinquishment due to lack of finances, that seems to often be a reason that no one... more