July 2024 NewsOur opportunities to make a difference FAR exceed our budget to fund those opportunities!
As they say, We need your help. Will you step in? This year, the Idaho State Legislature passed our three bills to increase awareness about adoption and assist birth mothers. Often, States will use other States' trailblazing bills as templates -- but only if they know about them. Getting the word out is most efficiently done at a conference where lawmakers are gathered. Lila Rose's LiveAction Pro-Life Lawmakers Summit is just such a place! I'm thrilled to be invited to share at this unique event. We worked with Live Action to add an adoption track this year. And it will be a unique opportunity to share our successes before 75+ Lawmakers from around the country. They will attend free of charge, while the sponsors (like Unplanned Good) fund the Summit. This opportunity to make a difference FAR exceeds our budget! Will you help us get to the Summit? Please donate here. We have never done this before! The Reason for our Policy WorkLast Spring we talked with Idaho's Superintendent of Education. She fully supported bringing adoption education into the classroom and asked if we could help her find a curriculum. So we researched a dozen different health ed / sex ed courses for her and found nothing that educated on adoption. Then we talked with a few of those content providers and asked them if they would add it, and the responses were not promising. That's why we turned to legislation. With the support of Superintendent Debbie Critchfield's office, that route was the most efficient. Our suggestion to teach current adoption practices (when they discuss contraception) is now law in Idaho. The Strategy behind our Policy WorkWhile these States are saying ‘no’ to abortion, we encourage them to say ‘yes’ to adoption! We hope to enact "pro-adoption" legislation nationally. We're so grateful for our success in Idaho, where we got three bills passed to help birth mothers and to build awareness about adoption. Our early supporters, Lt Gov Scott Bedke and Senator Julie VanOrden, both invited us to come back next session and tackle a second set of legislative priorities. So exciting! Clearly, the time is right for this work! And, with your support, we will keep going!
Imagine if these States made it easier to choose adoption!
Other Upcoming Speaking EngagementsIn August I'll be giving a workshop at our local network of women's medical clinics. Real Options has five clinics in the South Bay area and serve hundreds of women each month. I'm excited to talk with the health coaches and patient advocates about presenting adoption as an option. The CAFO Summit is in Sept in Nashville.
Are You a Birth Mother?? If you have ever placed a baby for adoption, please take a minute to complete this survey about post-placement support for birth parents. WE NEED YOU!! 2. LEAVE A REVIEW ON AMAZON. 3. HELP PROMOTE THE BOOK.
Phrase of the Day: Open Adoption Open adoption is a form of adoption in which the biological and adoptive families have each other's contact information and varying degrees of contact with each other, by phone, in person and/or through social media. OPEN ADOPTION;
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Check out our website at www.UnplannedGood.org/
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