You are not alone. As a pregnant woman who is trying to make a hard decision, or as a birth mother who has already placed your child for adoption, you may not believe it because at any given moment, you may feel very alone. But, that is not true. Take a look at the math for a moment. According to adoptionnetwork.com: 135,000 children are adopted every year in the United States. About 15% of those adoptions are by birth parents who voluntarily placed their baby for adoption. That amounts to 20,250 babies being placed for adoption in the United States annually. All of those babies have a birth mother. So, it is safe to say that you are not alone because there are at least 20,249 other women in the United States who have made this hard decision. That is just within this country in one year, not to mention all of the women who made this decision in previous years or in other countries.
Despite knowing the statistics, you may still feel isolated or like nobody really “gets” you. I would encourage you to get connected with someone who really understands your journey. This can be done through a few ways:
- If you are a Nightlight client, consider joining Nightlight’s private Facebook Group for birth moms. It is a great place to connect with others, share stories, be encouraged and get advice.
- Nightlight has additional resources for birthmothers on our Post Adoption Connection Center
- If you are not familiar with Brave Love, you should check them out! Visit bravelove.org to see how you can get connected with another mom, join a support group or possibly attend a community event.
- Check out your local community to see if there are any in-person or online support groups you can join.
- There is a very large, closed Facebook group for birth moms only called “Birth Moms Support Group”.
- “Adoption Triad – A Safe Place for Open Acceptance” is a private Facebook group for all members of the adoption traid.
Even if you are not ready to jump in and share all the personal details of your life in these online groups, you might appreciate reading about other women’s stories, and just knowing that you are not the only one.