Finding Pregnancy Support and Counseling for Birth Mothers in Colorado
An unexpected pregnancy is a tricky thing to navigate. If you’ve found yourself newly pregnant, it is perfectly understandable that you may be experiencing a variety of emotions. You may be contemplating how you are going to raise and support a child, or you may be wanting to learn more about your options. Adoption Choices of Colorado provides in-depth counseling services designed to guide and process you through the emotions surrounding your pregnancy, and help you figure out your next steps.
Talking with Peers
As a birth mother, you want to provide the best life possible for your child. However, it may be difficult to picture what that life could look like. It’s important to sort through what you’re feeling, and to make sure you have a safe and healthy pregnancy. Seeing pregnancy support and counseling services is a big part of that.
At Adoption Choices of Colorado, we understand that it can be scary to be in this situation. That is why we offer free monthly support groups for any and every birth mother who is interested in coming. Whether you’ve placed with us or not, we have a space for you. You could’ve worked with us a long time ago, or you could be in the process of working with us. It doesn’t matter when you placed your child for adoption — it could have been ages ago or fairly recently. We want you to come to the group.
We don’t underestimate the grief that you undergo when placing your child for adoption. That is why our group sessions can be so helpful. To converse with your peers, with other birth mothers who have gone through what you’re experiencing, can be immensely helpful. This allows you all to process what you’ve gone through or may currently be enduring. It’s a place of healing. There is no timetable when it comes to grief in the adoption process. We are happy to facilitate these kinds of conversations and bring different birth moms together.
Private Counseling
In addition to providing monthly support groups, which are a very collaborative environment, we also provide private counseling. Seeking pregnancy support and counseling can feel very personal, so we understand if you want a more private arrangement. You may be more comfortable with a professional counselor — and that’s perfectly okay!
We also provide counseling for the birth father, if he is able and willing. This is presumably a difficult time for him as well, and we are very aware of that. Counseling services are also available to any other members of your family, any other children that you might have.
This counseling will always be available and free of charge. We feel that it’s important for you to understand that you have a voice. As a birth mother in the adoption process, you may feel powerless, but you’re not. The process and placement of your child is in your hands, and you have our support in any area that you need.
Lifetime Healing
If you are a birth mother experiencing the grief of placing a child for adoption, Lifetime Healing is an incredible resource. As a close affiliate and partner to Adoption Choices of Colorado, Lifetime Healing was founded by Ashley Mitchell. She is a birth mother herself, and knows the boundless grief and devastation that can come with placing a child for adoption.
What originally began as an online support group grew dramatically into support for birth mothers in person. Social media support groups can often feel very isolating. To be able to put faces to names and meet women with similar experiences is very valuable.
If you are financially or physically unable to make it to a group session, you can access the curriculum online. There is an online video library where you are free to explore topics including, but not limited to:
- The need for friendships in the adoption process
- Why adoption books matter
- Managing emotions during the adoption journey
- Parenting after placement
- Relationships with the adoptive parents
Everyone involved with this organization has been where you are. They want to be there for you. Understanding your experience is their top priority.
Seek Support
There is no shame or embarrassment in seeking pregnancy support and counseling. To find yourself unexpectedly pregnant is a difficult situation and something that can be very emotionally trying. You may have never even contemplated motherhood, or you may be scared that you aren’t capable of being a parent at this point in your life. Whatever your reason is for choosing adoption, it is a valid one.
That said, the grief that often accompanies the decision to place your baby for adoption is also valid. You deserve counseling to help you unpack these strong emotions and guide you to a path where you can eventually heal. You deserve privacy in your healing, if that’s what you want. But, if you are willing to give it a try, surrounding yourself in a community of birth mothers, who empathize with and fully understand your pain, can provide you solidarity and support whenever you need it.
If you are facing an unplanned pregnancy and want to learn more about your adoption options, contact Adoption Choices of Colorado by email, phone, or text: Email Us, Call us: 720-371-1099, Call or Text us: 303-670-4673 (HOPE). If you are hoping to adopt, please contact us here.
Meet the Author: Katherine Burns is a journalism student at Loyola University Maryland with plans to pursue a career in the news and magazine industries. With over three years of experience writing for the Greyhound Newspaper at Loyola, Katherine specializes in Op-eds. However, she has recently branched out to cover a variety of topics, including education and sports journalism. She also has ample experience with travel blogging.
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Stephanie joined the Adoption Choices family in 2014 as the Child Placement Supervisor. Her love for adoption began in first grade when she made friends with twins adopted from Vietnam. Her heart grew strong over the years for adopted children and ultimately led her to graduate school where she continued her focus to her dream of working in the adoption field. Stephanie earned a Master of Social Work degree from the University of Denver in 2001. Over the past 15 years, Stephanie has worked as a pregnancy counselor and as an adoptive parent counselor for foster care, international adoption and domestic adoption, writing hundreds of home studies for families, and helping build their forever families. Stephanie is married and has three boys ages 12, 9, and 5. Together with her family she enjoys riding bike, playing games, watching her three sons compete in their various sporting and musical activities and go on vacations.
Christy Ikeler, is our Executive Director and Birth Parent Director. Christy has been with Adoption Choices Team for 18 years, since opening the doors in 2002! Christy has a true passion for what she does and her true love is working with and helping each birth parent. Whether she is up all night on the phone talking with them, taking them to doctors appointments, out for their favorite treat, providing counseling or at the hospital during labor and delivery, Christy is very involved every step of the way. She has a contagious laugh and a spunky personality that our birth moms all can bond with and relate to. As an adoptive parent herself, adoption holds a very special place in her heart and she can relate on every level with both birth parents and adoptive parents. In her free time Christy loves spending time with her daughter, gardening, baking and taking vacations with her family. Christy is an excellent leader for our team at Adoption Choices and is truly one of a kind!! As Executive Director, Christy spends time with the staff, birth parents and adoptive families in order to ensure that the agency is running smoothly. She has placed a huge emphasis on community outreach and programs for birth parents. Christy loves the opportunity to lead the agency into a brighter future.
Ms. Mackenzie has built a successful counseling career over the past 20 years, supporting mothers and families, people of all ages and genders, students, community professionals and fellow clinicians. Liv values a diverse professional focus, including the entrepreneurial life of a sole proprietor, the evaluative process of certifying foster/adoptive homes, the insightful and mindful one-on-one one work with enthusiastic clients, and serving as an advocate for underserved populations. Liv is a Licensed Professional Counselor and holds a BA in Pre-Law and Economics from American University, an MA in Counseling from Adams University and a certificate in Human Resource Management from Villanova University. Away from work you will find Liv spending time in nature, biking to the farmer’s market and adventuring with her family.
Catherine A. Madsen, joined the Adoption Choices family as legal counsel in 2013. Catherine is responsible for providing legal guidance to the Agency, training and updating staff on developments in adoption law and legislation, and program development. Catherine
Virginia Frank is an adoption attorney accredited since 1991 with the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys. Ms. Frank is a leader in the field of private adoption and has completed over 4,000 adoptions in her career. Ms. Frank has a law degree from Oklahoma City University and a BA in both Political Science and Communications from the University of Oklahoma.
Cassidie has been with Adoption Choices since 2015, she has her bachelors in Interdisciplinary Affairs with concentrations in both Sociology and Business Management. Cassidie has additional training in Victim Advocacy, foster care and has been working in women’s services for over 10 years. Cassidie has always had a heart for adoption and it was her career dream to work in adoption. She started off doing volunteer work for advocacy programs, adoption organizations and worked in High Risk Maternal Fetal Medicine through the University of Colorado Hospital and Children’s Hospital of Colorado. Cassidie is also blessed to have personally experienced an adoption of her own in 2012, completing her family of five! Cassidie loves what she does as a case worker from initial phone calls, meetings, doctor appointments, interaction with the adoptive families to delivery and counseling. Cassidie has a passion for those in need and strives to help make a difference in the lives of the people she meets. She is a firm believer in being kind, compassionate and open minded in all situations. “Unless you’ve walked in their shoes, there’s no place for judgment. A kind word or compliment can go a long way!” The bittersweet moments in adoption reminds Cassidie each and every time, why she loves what she does!