2024, an Exciting Year at Unplanned Good!

Letter from the Founder                                                                         Christmas 2024

Reflecting on this year, a clear theme has been, "Walking through the doors that God has opened for us". 

Our "Unplanned Good" work moved into public policy this year(!)

The goals of our legislative work are 1) increasing awareness of adoption as an option for women facing unplanned pregnancy, and 2) caring for the brave women who choose adoption, and choose parents, for their babies.

In January, we proposed three bills to Idaho's 2024 legislative Session. With the support of Idaho Lt Governor Scott Bedke and Senator Julie VanOrden, those three bills became law in March, when Idaho's Governor signed these three bills: 

• One new law adds adoption education to middle & high school health/sex ed classes. It also calls for universities' medical clinics, when dispensing contraceptives or testing students for STDs, to also hand out adoption information. This new law is the first of its kind in the country.
  Our hope is that women will no longer choose between abortion and (often single) parenting, without realizing that they have another option.
   
• The next two bills passed into Idaho law help birth moms by
  -  improving birth mother care, streamlining the approval of her expenses, and
  -  decreasing the cost of adoption and increasing services by restricting unlicensed facilitators.

Idaho is becoming known as a leader in adoption law reform!

One lesson we learned is that it just takes one State passing a bill for other States to consider it. That’s why the Idaho legislation is important, as seen Sept.30 on EWTN TV.

LiveAction's Lawmaker Summit in August provided the opportunity to share with other States. We worked with LiveAction to add an adoption track to their conference lineup. A courageous birthmother, Dominique, shared her beautiful story, changing misconceptions about the strong, brave women who choose adoption. Then I explained our three new Idaho laws, and we had a lively Q&A with the 70 lawmakers from 38 States. Now they are more likely to think about supporting adoption legislation because they understand it better. As a result, we believe that California, Oregon and New Hampshire will introduce our education bill in their next sessions.  

We had more speaking opportunities this year, as well.

We were invited to a record number of conference keynotes, breakout sessions and podcast guest spots. Most of these are listed here on our speaking page. Plus at CAFO this year, the Christian Alliance for Orphans conference, we led a panel to hear from and honor birth mothers, the true heroes of any adoption story.  

National Press Coverage

Passing adoption law in Idaho was never the end-game. Spreading the ideas to the rest of the country, with Idaho leading the way, could bring about national change. We know you'll enjoy these two articles:   

• Idaho Sets Example for Other States in Promoting Adoption| National Catholic Register and  
• Adoption Empowers Woman to Choose Hope and Future for her Baby. 

Your support has enabled us to accomplish so much in our adoption advocacy this year!

All of us on the Board are honored to do the work of Unplanned Good. We are driven by a passion for our message. We – Terri and the Board – take no salaries for our work or our time. 

AND, for the first time in our history, the opportunities now facing Unplanned Good FAR exceed both our funding and the number of hours in our day. If you can assist in either – donate to help cover our expenses or volunteer your time – we’d be most appreciative.  Every dollar is put toward spreading our message about the beauty of adoption. Please go to www.unplannedgood.org/donate  

Our mission is spreading the word about how adoption works these days. It can be so empowering now that our standard practices in the US have changed.
If you consider the long-term effects of all three options, clearly
adoption is THE HEALTHIEST option.  Don't believe  it? 
Let me know and I'll send you one of the above books, FREE of charge.