The gift of adoption: One mother’s love can change two families forever

Throughout the month of November, we celebrate one of the most selfless acts imaginable by a mom: giving birth to her child and placing her with an adoptive family. November is National Adoption Month—a time dedicated to opening your heart and home to a child in need and to thanking birth parents for their heroic actions.

There are many reasons a mom may choose adoption for her baby. Financial difficulties, young age, poor mental health, lack of support, or something else altogether. Regardless of her reason, in today’s world, in which abortion is pushed and even celebrated, we should recognize the heroes who shirk this “choice” and who make the decision to continue giving life to their child.

Sadly, adoption is not a popular choice. In fact, the Institute for Family Studies states that “by a ratio of nearly 50:1, women choose to terminate a pregnancy rather than place that child for adoption.”

Yet adoption is a beautiful and selfless decision. Just ask any adoptive mom who has been gifted a child by a birth mother.

In a Celebrate Life Magazine article entitled “Adoption Made Our Family Complete,” J. Vanek, an adoptive mom, shared, “Two amazing women chose us to be parents. We would not be the family that we are had two brave birth mothers not decided to give their boys opportunities that they themselves were not able to provide. Above everything else, they chose to give them life.”

She reflected on the love her son’s birth mom had for her little boy and wrote:

Before Louie’s birth mom left the hospital, she wanted to say her goodbyes to him, and it was one of the most emotional moments I have ever experienced. We could truly see the love she had for this little boy. She had chosen adoption because she loved him more than anything. When she said goodbye, she handed us a bag with a couple of outfits and a blanket that she wanted him to have. She barely had any money to take care of herself, yet she wanted to make sure that he had something from her.

Callie Jett made that same decision when she chose to place her son for adoption when she was just 16. Now the founder of Talk About Adoption, a nonprofit organization created to serve and support birth mothers who placed babies for adoption, Jett helps abortion-minded mothers see the value of their babies and choose life. To date, she and her organization have helped save the lives of over 600 babies.

Jett explained that her organization also works to dispel the myth that moms who place their babies with families don’t love their children. In fact, she said, it’s the exact opposite. They love their children so much that they choose something difficult for themselves so that their children can have a chance at a better life.

This selfless act is urgently needed today, as there are countless couples anxiously waiting for a baby. Quantifying them is difficult, according to American Adoptions, but it explains, “Some sources estimate that there are about 2 million couples currently waiting to adopt in the United States—which means there are as many as 36 waiting families for every one child who is placed for adoption.”

Imagine how we could build up families if more organizations were to encourage every abortion-minded mom to choose adoption instead of death for her child.

Author Maria Riley and her husband know firsthand the beauty of adoption as they adopted three children, two of whom are twins. In an email, she shared, “The choice of adoption is a selfless, lifelong gift for your child and their future family. Placing your child for adoption is a way to multiply your love for him or her. You’ll never stop loving your baby, and he or she will be loved by the adoptive family too.”

She continued, “Adoption was the path God led us down when growing our family naturally wasn’t possible. My heart longed for my daughters before I met them, and our family wasn’t complete until they joined us. Now, we can’t imagine life without them.”

Maria has become so passionate about adoption that she began writing a chapter book series featuring adoptive children. Her Adventures with the Saints series tells the story of three young children in the Martin family, two of whom are adopted. The children collectively use items from their birth parents to open a portal so they can travel back in time to meet a saint. In each book, the characters encounter a problem, seek the advice of a saint, and then learn valuable lessons about how to navigate difficult circumstances and respond to the people in their homes and communities.

This inspirational and heartwarming series—which currently includes books about Sts. Joseph, John Bosco, Joan of Arc, and Thérèse of Lisieux—shows how the family loves and welcomes their adoptive children, making no distinction between them and their biological child. It’s an excellent series for kids of all ages and backgrounds, as it not only teaches them the beauty of adoption, but the beauty of family.

And strong families are really what our society needs to build today. St. John Paul II once said in a homily, “As the family goes, so goes the nation, and so goes the whole world in which we live.”

Fatherlessness, dwindling morality, rejection of faith, vices, and hedonistic tendencies are cancers that eat away at our children on a daily basis. Strong families are the antidote to these threats, and they must be celebrated and encouraged every day of the year.

But if we are going to get to that point where families can thrive and grow, we must begin with the acknowledgment that children are a blessing, that marriage is a sacrament between a man and a woman, and that it is up to each one of us to strengthen our families from within our homes.

So as we journey through National Adoption Month and ponder the sanctity of life, let us give thanks for birth moms like Callie Jett and adoptive moms like Maria Riley and J. Vanek. And let us do our part to ensure that every child, no matter how he was created, feels welcome and loved in this world.

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