Birth Parents Gather to Find Help, Hope, and Healing

The second annual birth mother meet-up, sponsored by Adoption: Share the Love, drew in a group of 70 birth parents.

Haley Kirkpatrick November 02, 2014

“Hi! My name is Haley and I’m a Birth Mom!” I jokingly tell people that this is how I introduce myself to new friends. Now, in reality I might not be quite as sudden to announce my love for adoption, but it’s pretty close. Adoption is so extremely close to me, it is a part of me, every single day.

I am a proud birth mom to a beautiful little girl whom I placed for adoption. It took me a long time to be able to slip the word “proud” into that sentence, but after six years of running from my story, I finally decided to turn around, face it all, and embrace the beautiful decision I made.

In 2012, I slowly started to open up my heart to the world by sharing my story. It was scary (okay, terrifying), but in doing so, I started to find people like me . . . finally! People like me! When they said the words “I understand,” they actually meant it! They knew what emotions I was experiencing; they understood the pain, the joy, the love, the loss. It was such a liberating moment for me. Each of our stories was so different, but we all had one life changing moment in common . . . we created a family.

Once I found this new community full of love and support, I just wanted to share it with the world. I wanted every single birth parent to know what it felt like. I was angry that I had not allowed myself to find it sooner; six years of suffering when I could have had all of these beautiful people in my life. I was determined to make sure every birth parent I could possibly find would someday feel the love of fellow birth parents.

In early 2013, I threw out a crazy and very “out of my comfort zone” idea to my dear friend. What if we throw together a meet-up? For birth parents? I had no clue what I was getting myself into, but with the help of my friend and so many people supporting me, we had our first meet-up that August. We had just around 50 Birth Parents attend. It was a wonderful day full of so many fantastic people; I could not wait to do it again!

Fast forward another six months, and here I was planning for my SECOND Birth Parent Event! The support was even bigger and better, more birth parents were interested, and the love was pouring in from every angle. I wanted to make sure that every single birth parent who attended the event would leave that day with a new best friend, a new shoulder to cry on, a new person to text on those dreadful “bad days,” and someone to celebrate with them when they got a new picture or update. I wanted every single one of them to understand how completely loved and appreciated they are by so many, to feel that love, and to be recognized for their complete selfless-ness.

On August 30th, 2014, I watched 70 Birth Parents walk into a room, ready to share a very tender piece of their heart. I cannot even describe this feeling to you. The love, the support, the vulnerability, the tears, the laughter, the friendships made, all of it. I have chills just thinking back on that beautiful day. I watched as so many of my dreams and wishes for these birth parents unfolded in front of me. I am so excited to continue this tradition and reach even more birth parents who are seeking support. No birth parent should feel alone in their journey: they need this, we need this, adoption needs this!

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Haley Kirkpatrick

Haley is a birth mom to a gorgeous little girl whom she placed for adoption when she was 15 years old. She is also now the mom to two more beautiful little redheads. She has an insane love for all things adoption, and a passion for connecting birth parents to show them that they are far from alone in this journey.

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Haley Kirkpatrick

Haley is a birth mom to a gorgeous little girl whom she placed for adoption when she was 15 years old. She is also now the mom to two more beautiful little redheads. She has an insane love for all things adoption, and a passion for connecting birth parents to show them that they are far from alone in this journey.

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