Creating Your Unplanned Pregnancy Plan
As a birth mother, the decision to choose adoption is not an easy one to make on your own. Although placing a baby for adoption may be a difficult choice, we will be there to provide support, including counseling if you would like. We understand how important it is for you to stay healthy and well taken care of, and we are here to support you through your adoption plan. We want to help you customize a plan that you are 100% comfortable with. Counseling and legal representation is provided to you at no cost. We also have many resources to help you during and after the placement of your child.
We provide counseling to you as the birth mother, the birth father if he is interested as well as your family and other children. We want you to have a great support system and we believe that helping others around you understand adoption and what the future brings sets you up for success.
Our agency will provide court approved living expenses for birth mothers who need the help. We can help with expenses such as rent, utilities, food, sundries, and your phone bill. We understand how difficult it is to get back on your feet and return to work after delivering a baby and we want to help you as much as possible. Depending on your State of residence, the amount of court approved expenses may vary.
We will help you find assistance in paying the medical expenses that are a result of your pregnancy and delivery. The portion of your medical expenses that is not covered by private insurance or state funding will be provided by the adoptive family. Your worker is available to help with finding and scheduling prenatal appointments as well as setting up a hospital tour if you are interested. Also available to you is a Lamaze/Birthing Education Coach through our agency. She is available to you and can do private classes to help you feel comfortable and ready for delivery.
We can help you find or apply for housing, and help with paying your rent during your pregnancy and up to four to six weeks after your delivery. We want you to feel safe and secure in your living situation and help provide shelter to you and your family.
Your worker will help you with transportation to your doctor appointments, to pick up your prescription and to take you to any legal representation appointments. They are also available to help with transportation to apply for Medicaid, food stamps, employment or furthering your education. If further assistance is needed, i.e., trips to the grocery store or a ride to work, your worker is happy to help arrange that for you or provide a bus pass if you choose.
We are partnering with Lifetime Healing
After years and years of grief, loss and depression, one woman started to write and share her experiences and overtime a small community of birth mothers and friends gathered and started to share a voice. That group started to grow into one of most respected online support groups. What they discovered was a powerful connection of understanding, love and hope for healing.This was such a foreign concept and perspective given the tradition, shame, generation gaps and society ignorance on the topic of adoption. It was refreshing and craved nation wide.
Adoption Choices of Colorado has partnered with Lifetime Healing, LLC to provide Post Placement Support Groups for Birth Mothers! We are excited to be giving birth mothers support after placement whether they have placed 3 weeks ago, 13 months ago, or 25 years ago. We are offering a monthly support group in Golden on the first Thursday of each month and in Colorado Springs the second Tuesday of each month! For more information check out our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/adoptionchoicesofcolorado/ or contact Christy Ikeler at 720-371-1099.
Lifetime Healing, LLC. is a result of this small group of women. After supporting countless women all over the country we took all our of our experience and education and created the first ever post placement curriculum to build lasting and concrete support groups for women that choose to place their children for adoption. In doing so, we are holding the professionals accountable in standing with the birth mothers for life. If they are going to stand with them in the destruction than ethics would assume that they stand with them in the rebuild. We are the standard for ethical post placement care for birth mothers.
Ashley Mitchell, owner of Lifetime Healing, set out to seek increased care, understanding, and resources for birth mothers. For almost a decade, Ashley has been one of the most consistent and sought after birth mother voices in the nation. Well known for her vulnerability and transparency in adoption, her story has touched the hearts of countless members of the adoption community
Medical Care
We will help you find assistance in paying the medical expenses that are a result of your pregnancy and delivery. The portion of your medical expenses that is not covered by private insurance or state funding will be provided by the adoptive family. Your worker is available to help with finding and scheduling prenatal appointments as well as setting up a hospital tour if you are interested. Also available to you is a Lamaze/Birthing Education Coach through our agency. She is available to you and can do private classes to help you feel comfortable and ready for delivery.
Financial Assistance
Our agency will provide court approved living expenses for birth mothers who need the help. We can help with expenses such as rent, utilities, food, sundries, and your phone bill. We understand how difficult it is to get back on your feet and return to work after delivering a baby and we want to help you as much as possible. Depending on your State of residence, the amount of court approved expenses may vary.
Support
The decision to choose adoption is not an easy one to make on your own. Although it may be a difficult and painful choice, we will be there to provide support, including counseling if you would like. We understand how important it is for you to stay healthy and well taken care of, and we are here to support you through your adoption plan. We want to help you customize a plan that you are 100% comfortable with. Counseling and legal representation is provided to you at no cost. We also have many resources to help you during and after the placement of your child.
We provide counseling to you as the birth mother, the birth father if he is interested as well as your family and other children. We want you to have a great support system and we believe that helping others around you understand adoption and what the future brings sets you up for success.
Housing & Transport
We can help you find or apply for housing, and help with paying your rent during your pregnancy and up to four to six weeks after your delivery. We want you to feel safe and secure in your living situation and help provide shelter to you and your family.
Your worker will help you with transportation to your doctor appointments, to pick up your prescription and to take you to any legal representation appointments. They are also available to help with transportation to apply for Medicaid, food stamps, employment or furthering your education. If further assistance is needed, i.e., trips to the grocery store or a ride to work, your worker is happy to help arrange that for you or provide a bus pass if you choose.
Post Placement Support
Lifetime healing, llc is a small group of women. After supporting countless women all over the country we took all our of our experience and education and created the first ever post placement curriculum to build lasting and concrete support groups for women that choose to place their children for adoption. In doing so, we are holding the professionals accountable in standing with the birth mothers for life. If they are going to stand with them in the destruction than ethics would assume that they stand with them in the rebuild. We are the standard for ethical post placement care for birth mothers..Ashley Mitchell, owner of Lifetime Healing, set out to seek increased care, understanding, and resources for birth mothers. For almost a decade, Ashley has been one of the most consistent and sought after birth mother voices in the nation. Well known for her vulnerability and transparency in adoption, her story has touched the hearts of countless members of the adoption community
Why choose adoption?
Who will help me to understand my decision to place my child for adoption?
Can I choose the adoptive family of my child?
How do I know the adoptive family will provide a safe environment in which to raise my child?
Can the agency help me with living expenses if I am unable to work?
Where is your agency located?
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!