Birth Mother Resources

BIRTH MOTHER RESOURCES

LIST OF RESOURCES


Dear Expectant Mother,
Legal representation is just one of the many factors in supporting your decision of adoption. We’ve done our best to compile a hand-picked list of trustworthy resources to connect you with support groups and individuals who are on this journey with you, or who just want to listen, support, and encourage you.

Certified Therapists


Robyn Harrod, MSW, LCSW

Number: (213) 262-5523
Email: harrodrobyn@gmail.com
Website Link: http://www.robynharrod.com


Michelle Harwell, LMFT

Number: (626) 382-8005
Website Link: http://www.michelleharwelltherapy.com/#home


Jessica Foster, LMFT
Number: (714) 868-5955
Website Link: https://therapists.psychologytoday.com/rms/name/Jessica_Foster_LMFT_Santa+Ana_California_268976


Lesli Johnson, LMFT
Number: (310) 614-1867
Email: lesliajohnson@gmail.com
Website Link: http://leslijohnson.com


Erin Mason, LCSW
Number: (818) 209-7573
Email: empoweredtimes@gmail.com
Website Linkhttp://empoweredtimes.com



Options Counseling and Other Support and Medical Services


Claris Health
Locations: West LA & Inglewood, CA
Description: Claris Health is your first stop if…you have questions about an unintended pregnancy, if you want to get tested for an STD/STI, if there’s uncertainty around all of your pregnancy or sexual health options, and/or if you’re searching for quality care in Los Angeles. Claris Health provides medical, counseling, and mentoring support.
Website Link: https://www.clarishealth.org
Number: West LA — (310) 268-8400; Inglewood — (323) 299-9977


Obria Medical Clinics
Locations: Pasadena & Whittier, CA
Description:
 Provides confidential services including pregnancy tests and verification’s, obstetrical limited ultrasounds, limited STI testing and different support groups and programs for parenting, post-abortion, etc.
Website link: https://www.obria.org/locations/pasadena-ca/
Website link: https://www.obria.org/locations/whittier-ca/
Number: Pasadena (626) 440-9400; Whittier (562) 902-2273


Los Angeles Pregnancy Services
Locations: Los Angeles and Huntington Park, CA
Description: Pregnancy offers excitement and sometimes fear. If you are experiencing a difficult time in your life and are contemplating your options, we are here for you. We have served thousands of women in your situation. You are not alone. All appointments are free and confidential.
Website Link: http://www.lapregnancyservices.org
Number: LA — (213) 382-5643; Huntington Park — (323) 583-5848



Birth Mother Support Groups—National


Three Strands, Inc.
Description: Three Strands exists to love, serve and lock arms with a birth mom through a community of birth moms, adoptive moms, and older adopted children. They provide a community of support and begin with the delivery of Three Strands Bags to the hospital!
Website Link: http://www.threestrandsinc.org
Number: (470) 202-8848
Email: threestrandsinfo@gmail.com


Embrace Grace
Description: Embrace Grace, Inc. is a non-profit organization formed for the purpose of providing emotional, practical and spiritual support for single, young women and their families who find themselves in an unintended pregnancy. The primary goal of Embrace Grace is to empower churches across the nation to be a safe and non-judging place for the girls to run to when they find out they are pregnant, instead of the last place they are welcomed because of shame and guilt. The support groups they offer are held in numerous states and can be found on their website.
Website Link: http://embracegrace.com
Number: (817) 755-8484
Email: info@embracegrace.com
Currently serving: 42 states and 5 countries


Birthmom Buds
Description: BMB is an organization and website that provides peer counseling, support, encouragement and friendship to birth moms as well as pregnant women considering adoption.
Website Link: http://birthmombuds.com
Number: 1 (855) 469-2283
Email: birthmombuds@gmail.com


Concerned United Birth Parents
Description: CUB is the only national organization focused on birth parents healing through retreats, support groups, and adoption reform.
Website Link: http://www.cubirthparents.org
Number: (800) 822-2777


Brave Love
Description: Brave Love is a national, not-for-profit public charity organization that exists to change the perception of adoption through honest, informative and hopeful communication that conveys the bravery of birth mothers. They believe birth mothers are heroes and adoption can be a beautiful thing. The website offers support through adoption education and numerous video testimonials.
Website Link: http://www.bravelove.org
Email: info@bravelove.org
Support Groups currently located in: OK, AZ, AL, TX, PA, KS, VA






Birth Mother Support Groups—State/Region Specific


Midwest Region:


On Your Feet Foundation – Evanston, Illinois (Midwest Branch)
Description: OYFF honors and values the choice birth parents have made to place their children for adoption, helps birth parents to become self-sufficient, and provides monetary support and community after placement. You can apply for assistance through their website.
Website Link: http://oyff.org
Number: (224) 858-6933
Email: info@onyourfeetmidwest.org


Western Region:


On Your Feet Foundation – Northern California
Description: OYFF honors and values the choice birth parents have made to place their children for adoption, helps birth parents to become self-sufficient, and provides monetary support and community after placement. You can apply for assistance through their website.
Website Link: http://onyourfeetca.org
Number: (415) 513-5010
Email: info@onyourfeetca.org


Retreats


Birthmom Buds – Annual Retreat
Description: Each year, BirthMom Buds hosts an annual retreat just for birth moms. Our retreat weekend is an amazing time to bond with other birth mothers. There are lots of opportunities to share your story with other birth mothers but there is also some structured time for breakout sessions, speakers from the adoption triad, a candle light ceremony, and more!
Website Link: http://birthmombuds.com/support/annual-retreat/


Concerned United Birth Parents
Description: The CUB Retreat is a unique experience for birth parents, adoptees, adoptive parents and others affected by adoption. There are always interesting and insightful speakers, both professional and those speaking from the heart about their own experiences with adoption. There will be great entertainment and lots of laughs as well as tears. If you have never met a birth parent, or perhaps never met another birth parent in person, the retreat is a wonderful opportunity to connect in the real world with online friends, and to put a face to words and voices. If you have attended our retreats before, you already know what a healing experience they can be, for all whose lives have been affected by adoption — and how wonderful it is to meet old and new friends.
Website Link: http://www.cubirthparents.org/retreats.php



Blogs


Here are some links to several different blogs that we love! All are written by birth mothers who are at different points in their adoption journeys. They have all been there and have experienced the ups and downs and the emotional rollercoaster that is adoption:


https://www.fromanothamotha.com

https://lifetimehealingadoption.com/blog/

http://thegracebond.com


Books


Another Choice: A Compassionate Guide to Placing a Child for Adoption
Author: Jennifer Bliss & Ann Wrixon
Description: Another Choice is a step-by-step guide to the entire process of placing a child for adoption. It discusses everything you need to know to ensure that you are making the best decision for yourself and your child, including how to find an ethical and empathic adoption provider, how to talk to the birth father about adoption, and how to find the best adoptive family. Most importantly, the authors discuss the emotional journey of placing a child for adoption, and provide real life examples and quotes from women who have already traveled this path so that you know you are not alone.


Reframing Adoption
Author: Sharon Fox
Description: This book is dedicated to reframing the role of a birth mother and is designed to provide support, understanding, and information to grieving birth mothers who have given their child up for adoption so that they may move from an emotional loss to a renewed spirit of hope, joy, peace, and contentment. For a mother to gift her child to another family through adoption is a brave action. All adoptions can be grieved in healthy ways. The grief of birth mothers may be magnified by the little contact with their children and the adoptive parents. No matter how the adoption was structured, the birth mother will grieve her loss. The choice for the child should be either gift or guide-by gifting the child to another family or guiding the child by parenting. This is a new choice that is realistic, healthy, and a blessed decision. Think of adoption as a way to “gift” a child through adoption.


The Girl in the Orange Dress
Author: Margot Starbuck
Description: “Chosen.” “Special.” Those are the words Margot Starbuck used to describe herself as a child adopted into a loving family. And when her adoptive parents divorced, her dad moved east, and her mom and dad each got remarried, she told herself that she was extra loved, since she had more than two parents and people in different times zones who cared about her. But the word she really believed about herself was rejected. First by her birth parents. Then by her adoptive father when he moved away. Then by her stepfather. Then by her birth father a second time, when she tried to invite him into her life. Most of all, Margot felt rejected by God the Father, who she also suspected could not be trusted.


God and Jetfire: Confessions of a Birth Mother
Author: Amy Seek
Description: This is a mother’s account of her decision to surrender her son in an open adoption and of their relationship over the twelve years that follow. Facing an unplanned pregnancy at twenty-two, Amy Seek and her ex-boyfriend begin an exhaustive search for a family to raise their child. They sift through hundreds of “Dear Birth Mother” letters, craft an extensive questionnaire, and interview numerous potential couples. Despite the immutability of the surrender, it does little to diminish Seek’s newfound feelings of motherhood. Once an ambitious architecture student, she struggles to reconcile her sadness with the hope that she’s done the best for her son, a struggle complicated by her continued, active presence in his life.



Getting Started

Fill out our detailed client questionnaire to kick off the process.

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Celeste asked me what I was looking for in a family for my baby boy and didn’t stop giving me options until I knew I had found the right couple. She encouraged me to get to know the family and to spend time with my son at the hospital. I was so scared about how it was all going to work, but Celeste kept talking me through it (over and over and over again!) until I finally felt comfortable.


- JESSICA

Contact Us

Our office is located in Los Angeles County, but we work with clients throughout California. Reach us via text, phone or email.


Office Number (Call or Text)

(626) 535-9350

Toll-Free Number (Call Only)

844-4-TADOPT

Address

140 S. Lake Ave #348

Pasadena, CA 91101

Email

Connect@truadopt.org

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