{"id":219517,"date":"2020-03-04T12:40:02","date_gmt":"2020-03-04T18:40:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=219517"},"modified":"2020-03-03T16:21:27","modified_gmt":"2020-03-03T22:21:27","slug":"personally-change-culture-adoption","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personally-change-culture-adoption\/","title":{"rendered":"How can we personally change the culture of adoption?"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p><b>Adoption. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It&#8217;s a word heard often in the pro-life movement, but also a word that holds many emotions and antiquated stigmas.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Adoption has evolved over time. From secrecy and shame, to openness and embracing one another. The narrative has shifted in the last few years in the adoption community and there has been an explosion of education that has caused many of the old, unethical practices, language, and thought processes to be challenged. Members of the adoption triad (adoptee, adoptive parents, and birth parents) are speaking out by sharing their stories, both good and bad.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But it&#8217;s not just those members who can speak out. You have influence. Just like you talk to your family, friends, and people at school about pro-life topics to change their perspective, there is also the same need for you to talk about adoption. It is such a misunderstood issue, and the narrative in the pro-life movement &#8212; and society in general &#8212; is what we call \u201cadoptive parent privileged.\u201d <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><b>When you hear people talk about adoption, who do you hear it from the most? <\/b><b><br \/>\n<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many would say adoptive parents. When one voice of a complex issue has an elevated advantage there is a gap. We know this because adoption is personal to us at Woven Together. I, Mallory, am a partial adoptee and the other person on our team, Leah, is a birth mom.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When this gap in society became glaringly obvious to us and others we were serving (which happened to be hopeful adoptive parents), we wondered how we could make a change in our work circle, and beyond our personal influence. We saw a gap often filled with fear, antiquated views, people craving answers to hard questions from the other sides of the triad&#8211; or some even resistant to hearing them. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><b>We saw a need within the faith community as a whole to tackle the heart issues surrounding adoption within our culture. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, we created two courses under the name Woven Together. <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One helps hopeful adoptive parents in learning about the pre- and post-placement process and really digs into the heart prep because the process is LIFELONG, not just a moment in time leading up to adopting.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our second course is for the pro-life and church community. We knew that these organizations are on the frontlines of serving women experiencing unplanned pregnancies and are talking about adoption. We knew they are getting minimal education and needed tools and resources to better understand this life-giving option of adoption and to know how to present it to a woman considering her options. We want to see the pro-life community become equipped in modern adoption practices and presenting it in a way that empowers a woman to choose the best option for her, whatever that may be.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ:\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/three-senators-adoption-affordable-families\/\">These three senators want to make adoption more affordable for families<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><b>Ask yourself these questions:<\/b><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Do you think adoption is an easy choice?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How do you view women and men who choose to place their children?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Have you listened to voices, both positive and hard to hear, from all sides of the triad?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How do you talk about it? Are you aware of the current adoption language (such as instead of saying \u201cgave up\u201d using \u201cplaced\u201d)?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Are you comfortable talking about adoption with friends or family, around the dinner table, at work or school?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What role can you play in sharing with others what modern adoption is?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I believe we can empower ourselves with knowledge similar to other topics we as people are passionate about, such as racial issues, pro-life issues, immigration, homelessness, etc. I truly believe we can\u2019t evoke change unless we open our minds before we open our mouths to offer solutions.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><b>Change the culture. Change the hearts. Change the conversations.<\/b><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Adoption is an issue of understanding. That is why it is vital to the integrity of the pro-life movement to have current, ethical and modern adoption education circulating within schools, workplaces, and around the dinner table. That is why it\u2019s vital to have more than an agency come into a pro-life organization once a year to train for two hours (or less!) to meet their education requirements set by the state.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This change starts with us as individuals with our own perceptions and understanding of adoption. Our perceptions of the women who sit across from us who may become a birth mom if she ultimately places her baby. Does <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">her<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> life have value or are we trying to just save her baby? We have to be for <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">her life<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> too, and that means empowering her with the best tools we have so she can make the best choice for herself and her baby, and then supporting her after birth as well.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It also starts with our heart and our willingness to support those who have already chosen adoption. It starts by listening to those who have walked through an adoption journey, with various experiences and perspectives to learn from them.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now I challenge you with this: <\/span><b>How will the culture of adoption change in your own life?<\/b><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My bio: Mallory Fogas is the owner of Arrow + Root. F<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">ind out more <a href=\"https:\/\/www.woven-together.com\/prolife-organization\">here<\/a>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveactionnewsonline\/\">\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Adoption. It&#8217;s a word heard often in the pro-life movement, but also a word that holds many emotions and antiquated stigmas.\u00a0 Adoption has evolved over time. From secrecy and shame, to openness and embracing one another. The narrative has shifted in the last few years in the adoption community and there has been an explosion [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":721,"featured_media":187938,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[7077],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How can we personally change the culture of adoption?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Adoption is an issue of understanding. Change starts with us as individuals with our own perceptions and understanding of adoption.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personally-change-culture-adoption\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How can we personally change the culture of adoption?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Adoption is an issue of understanding. Change starts with us as individuals with our own perceptions and understanding of adoption.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personally-change-culture-adoption\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-04T18:40:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-03-03T22:21:27+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/shutterstock_624072134-adoption.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"650\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Mallory Fogas\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Mallory Fogas\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personally-change-culture-adoption\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personally-change-culture-adoption\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mallory Fogas\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/ea4dfc08e92b4053c2cc4fb966ba0f23\"},\"headline\":\"How can we personally change the culture of adoption?\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-04T18:40:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-03T22:21:27+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personally-change-culture-adoption\/\"},\"wordCount\":881,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Guest Column\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personally-change-culture-adoption\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/personally-change-culture-adoption\/\",\"name\":\"How can we personally change the culture of adoption?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-04T18:40:02+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-03T22:21:27+00:00\",\"description\":\"Adoption is an issue of understanding. 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