Adoption agency Adoption.org recently announced that it has changed its name to AdoptionLife.org. The organization made this change to more clearly convey its mission through its name.
In an interview with BYUI Radio, executive director Melissa Williams explained, “We have been in business about two years. We are licensed in Utah and in Idaho and we have really evolved as an agency in that our philosophy is that we are about life–life on all sides of the adoption triad. The birth mother chooses life. And she chooses a life for her child by choosing an adoptive family. And the adoptive family changes their life. And, of course, the adoptee has a different life with making that change. And it really changes our lives as adoption workers as well. We look at it as a very full process, and it’s a beautiful process, and that’s why we decided to go with that change.”
Additionally, explained Williams, AdoptionLife’s goal as an agency is to work with people to ensure that many years down the road, they can look back on their lives and feel good about the decisions that they made regarding adoption.
She said, “Once you make the decision to adopt a child or place your child for adoption, the course of your life goes a different direction. And it is our hope that it will be a positive one. That it will be one that they will look back when they’re 90–sitting on their front porch and looking at their grandchildren and great-grandchildren playing–and think, ‘I really made a good decision and I made the right decision and I’m thankful for that agency that helped me through that process.’”
Because of that philosophy, AdoptionLife.org is committed to providing lifelong support, long after the adoption has been finalized. “Once a client, always a client,” says Williams.
An adoptive mother herself, Williams completed both of her adoptions privately through an attorney, without the support of an adoption agency. But looking back, she says she wishes that she and her children’s birth mothers had been given access to the kind of support provided by an agency.
AdoptionLife.org opened as Adoption.org two years ago, with Williams as the sole employee. Now, with offices in Utah and Idaho, the organization has added several staff members and expanded its advertising and outreach efforts across the country. During that time, they have been able to facilitate over 40 adoptions. “That’s 40 plus families that have been created,” Williams told BYUI Radio.
And with its new name, AdoptionLife.org is looking forward to helping creating many more families in the future.
There will be an open house at AdoptionLife.org’s Rexburg location this Thursday from 4-7 PM to celebrate the change.
