Success!

Just taking a moment to brag, just a little...

For the last two years I have been the birth parent rep for the Utah Adoption Council.
This past year, I was also President Elect... soon to be President in July - Yikes!

I feel I have done a lot of work to educate the other council members about birth parents and the adoption journey from our point of view.  I even conducted a birth mom survey with about 100 participants to identify areas in which the adoption process could be improved for birth parents.

We (the adoption council) are supposed to represent all parts of adoption, but the conference we host every year only addresses professionals and adoptive parents.  I campaigned hard to have a birth parent track added, and this year for the first time, we offered 6 birth parent classes.

It was a lot of work, but I arranged for 5 of the 6 birth parent classes (the 6th one was an adoptee panel talking about adoption from their point of view).  I taught one of the birth parent classes - Facing Disappointment Post Placement, and I think I did okay teaching a 90 minute class. 

The first day I presented the community and professional awards during lunch.  I also ran a lunch time panel on the second day which addressed adoption myths and fears from all angles of adoption.  We had a DCFS rep, an adoptive couple, an adoptee who is also an adoptive parent and an adoption professional, a birth mom, an agency adoption rep, and a private adoption attorney who has an adopted sibling.  I was really stressed about running this panel because I was standing in front of 300 people, but I think it was good and I know I enjoyed the discussion and comments of the panel members. 

The final compliment came when I received and email from a woman named Lori.  Lori came from Japan to attend our conference and attended several of the birth parent classes.  She feels that birth parent support is important and would like to establish this in Japan, however, almost all adoptions in Japan are closed and no support is offered to the birth parents. 
I know their battle well.....
Lori heard me speak and wanted me to speak at a symposium in Japan in September on the need for birth parents to have support post placement. I was elated that my experience could finally help someone... sometimes I feel so out of place being so surrounded by open adoption.  While I love and admire all the birth moms I meet, I have met very few who experienced closed adoption and secrecy.  My journey is very different from theirs in that regard. 
Unfortunately, it looks like I would need a much higher educational degree for her to be able to get a grant to pay for my travel expenses - that was a bummer.  However, I am honored to have been asked and to know there are birth parents who my experience could help. 

Maybe next year we can get some adoptee classes added... I find it interesting that adoption is supposed to be about the child/adoptee, but our council currently includes no adoptees and has no adoptee classes.
However, the members of the adoptee panel really enjoyed the conference, so maybe adoptees will be represented next year too!