At Colorado Christian Services, we have the blessed opportunity to share with you some of the amazing stories of how the Lord has allowed us to provide care to birth moms who are in the midst of extreme circumstances. Here are a couple of stories of how our birth parent caseworkers go the extra mile and minister in ways that last a lifetime.
Tonya wanted to place her baby girl in a home with adoptive parents outside of her indigenous tribe. This resulted in unusual challenges. Adoption agencies legally must contact tribes to obtain their permission to move forward with an adoption of a child of Native American heritage.
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The tribe could mandate that the child be placed with a family on the reservation. If so, the birth mother doesn’t have the choice to place her child outside of the tribe. She would need to parent or place her child with a Native American family. Tonya was of Native American heritage, and her tribe was positioned to intervene, but she had already fallen in love with one of our waiting adoptive families.
Tonya’s baby was placed in cradle care while a resolution was sought. But the foster mother was noticing some special health issues with the baby. So Colorado Christian Services proactively got her the treatment she needed. The tribe was notified that the baby was likely going to be blind and possibly not walk for years.
The adoptive family Tonya had chosen then informed the agency that they had some Native American heritage and that they would love and accept the child with all her medical issues. We prayed that the Lord would protect this baby and allow Tonya’s adoption plan to go through. Colorado Christian Services contacted the tribal representative and they approved the placement.
But the miracle had only just begun. Nine months later, the medical issues that had been diagnosed through a multidisciplinary team at Children’s Hospital had resolved. The baby girl’s vision was restored, and she was already walking.
Bev knew she wasn’t able to care for her son, but her deepest desire was for him to be raised on a farm in the South. A birth mom making that specific of a request was new for us and let’s just say that we knew we had our work cut out for us. We had to let her know that we didn’t have such a family.
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Meanwhile, the phone was ringing with parents hoping to adopt and signing up for our programming. And sure enough, in our next Adoptive Parent training seminar, there sat a precious family that lived in the South on a big farm, with lots of acreage.
And that’s the family Bev wanted. And now her sweet baby lives on a beautiful, big ranch with two loving parents. We are always awestruck by how God provides the exact family, for the exact right baby, making the perfect birth mom match.
So what makes my ministry as a caseworker at Colorado Christian Services so special? Sometimes I get a call in the middle of the night or over the weekend. She’s seen our ad and finally gets the courage to reach out to us. She’ll call or text and say, “I’m pregnant and I don’t know what to do.”
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First, I make sure she’s in a safe place, that her medical needs are met, that she’s not hungry . . . I make sure her basic needs are met.
Then, I encourage her to set an appointment to meet with me. We talk through her options — what she feels is best for her baby, because at Colorado Christian Services she gets to make all the decisions. It’s our job to just walk alongside her as she is making the most difficult decisions she will ever have to make.
If parenting is her choice, we can help her build that infrastructure so she can be the best parent that she can be. We have great relationships with various community organizations that can help her be successful.
But if she’s thinking adoption is the best thing for her, then we talk about what she is hoping for in an adoptive family. Does she envision a big family? Does she want her child to be the first child in the family? It seems God always provides the right family.
I take time to see if she feels confident, comfortable, and ready to move forward. We then start the process of selecting an adoptive family by having her look through our materials featuring parents wanting to adopt. From there, we’ll let her meet the family so that she can get more connected and feel comfortable.
Of course, all along the way, we make sure she knows that she’s absolutely able to change her mind. We will support her no matter what her decision is. And, no matter what, we continue the counseling process with her along the way.
Then we talk about the plans for delivery . . . what would she like to have happen in the hospital? Would she like the family to be there? Would she like to have her mom there for support? She decides it all.
The birth mom decides whether the baby will bunk in with the adoptive family while in the hospital or stay with her so they can have alone time before discharge. We let her guide the process and we advocate for her, come alongside her and support her as she’s making all these decisions.
It’s really wonderful how close relationships develop between the birth mom and the adoptive family. We advocate for openness. It is very important for everyone involved. You can never have too many people loving the child, right?
One thing is for sure — you’ve got to love people in order to be successful in this job and you need to understand the big picture. We have an incredibly important role as caseworkers; a lot of responsibility falls on our shoulders. We must think on our feet and put into action the training and supervision we’ve had.
We show our love for Jesus by loving our birth moms.
We know, and are confident, that Colorado Christian Services provides a precious ministry to birth moms like Tonya and Bev and that you too believe our work fulfills such an important service. You may also already know that your support is what makes it possible for us to serve birth moms free of charge and continue our ministry.
We are encouraged by many of you who have asked how you can help. Simply stated, we desperately need to hire another caseworker. This will require $39,000 of funding that we don’t have.
Can we ask you to pray and consider a monthly gift to help us cover the costs for a new caseworker for the remainder of this difficult year? We trust and believe the Lord will provide, and we thank you for playing an important part in these life stories and those we’re being called into every day.
Published February 26, 2021