Pregnancy and Adoption Resources

      Okay, the news today is about the Baptists and the children they spirited out of Haiti to the Dominican Republic. I’m wondering how the story will end, but while it may have been “heartfelt,” it was really a dumb thing to do. I.e., we need passports to get into Canada these days and they think they can move children to from one country to the next? C’mon!

Moving on…

Adoption ISN’T happening out of Haiti EXCEPT for children who were already in the process. If you didn’t have a “horse in the race” before the earthquake, go home!

Here’s the problem, as I see it. Lots of folks with bleeding hearts–if you aren’t feeling a little pain, you aren’t alive. First of all GIVE. Give through your local church–if they are sending 100% to Haiti. Give to the Red Cross. Give to Global International Outreach. Don’t complain about Secretary Clinton or the State Department. They’re doing what is right! Trust me on this one.

Secondly, pray about adoption in the future. Alright, you say that God has spoken to you. Well…have you ever asked Him about adopting in the past? Or, did Fox News stir your heart? Well…pray about adoption and adopting as if He just might have a child in mind other than one from Haiti. Give us a call at New Beginnings, Google “adoption.” Check out AdoptUSKids.com or call your local Human Service Department. Some child’s life and future may be dependent on your prayers.

Still interested in Haiti? I’ll post something once in awhile, but GO TO THE SOURCE…www.Adoption.State.Gov. This is THE BEST SITE ON HAITIAN ADOPTION so quit looking for some other answer.

Please, if some bozo at some adoption agency says they can get you a Haitian child, trust me…RUN! Until Secretary Clinton and the State Department say “OK,” it isn’t going to happen. Just think…”Baptists in jail as Tom types.” And by all means…DO NOT GIVE ANYONE MONEY TO START YOUR CASE. AND, DON’T DO A HOMESTUDY…unless you spending money on an update in a few months or years is worth more expense. You can locate a good provider and then keep that cash in your wallet…until Haiti really opens up.

Another trusted site…if you want to read more…www.AdoptionCouncil.org

Now…pray for the children

Tom

P.S. Just found this MSNBC article

“Show me, O Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting is my life. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man’s life is but a breath. Selah.  Man is a mere phantom as he goes to and fro: He bustles about, but only in vain; he heaps up wealth, not knowing who will get it.  But now, Lord, what do I look for? My hope is in you.” (Psalm 39:4-7)  Life is so fleeting.  Just as the Word of God says, often people spend it “bustling about,” and His Word says that this is all “in vain.”  Everything temporal that we see seems as if it will last forever, and so our time, energy, and effort are often put into building comfortable lives for ourselves and accumulating all of the “things” that seem to matter so much but that have no value of eternal investment.  Life is real…it isn’t about seeking comfort and ease and it isn’t about avoiding all things difficult and uncomfortable.  And it’s also not going to last forever.  We have a very specific, very limited amount of time that God has given each and every one of us on earth…time to move and to breathe, to work and to play, to love and to give, to live and to die.  How we spend the time is completely our own choice.  It seems as if we’re naturally inclined to try and build the “American dream,” because it seems like a happy, comfortable life.  Pouring out and giving is the hard road.  But it’s the best one.  We must each look for opportunities of service in the individual situation and circumstance God has placed us in.  We can each have some type of ministry to one another, whether we’re living in suburban America or the slums of a third world country.New Beginnings cherishes its ministry to the orphans of Nepal.  These orphans, though we don’t know most of them personally, are close to our hearts and we love them in a very deep and real way.  God is faithfully continuing to lead us in our work in this country.  More than 250 dossiers for families from all registered adoption agencies in the country have been sent and are awaiting matching with a child.  At least three families that we know of have already been matched with children…three more children with people to call “family,” places to call “home.”

New Beginnings doesn’t seek to “heap up wealth, not knowing who will get it.”  We seek to help these children in a way that will last longer than our agency or any of its employees lasts.  Just as King David states, our hope is in God.  Our hope is that an eternal difference will be made in the lives of these children.  It is our hope to build with more than just “hay or straw” (1 Corinthians 3:12).  At the end of man’s life, when his time on earth is coming to a close and his days are ending, may he be able to say that he helped more than just himself.  May he be able to say that he, in some way, invested eternally into the life of another and into a purpose or cause that will last longer than his days on earth.

        The challenge is to not be complacent. On Sunday, January 17^th Pro-Life Believers in America will celebrate Sanctity of Human Life Sunday. How will you celebrate this day?

      Aaron is one of the neatest 15-year old boys around. Dark hair and olive skinned, highly intelligent, active in his church youth group and the pride of his godly parents and grand-parents, he embodies “life” and happiness. Aaron’s mother came within ONE HOUR of aborting his life. One hour before her scheduled abortion, she told her mother of her plans. Her mother and a caring and loving pastor’s wife pleaded with her to call New Beginnings. She listened, she humbled herself to those who truly love her and she came. Aaron lives, because one mother cared and because the pastor’s wife knew about New Beginnings. Will you celebrate with Aaron this Sunday?

      This special day comes at a crucial time for the Pro-Life Movement in America.  Our current President has stated that society “shouldn’t punish a birthmother with a child.”  This same warped thinking is being used to make abortion even more available, as Pro-Life non-profits (just like New Beginnings that you are such a vital part of) struggle to make budget ends meet. being reduced by those who have no place for God and his purpose for mankind. How will you celebrate Sanctity of Human Life Sunday?

     You can decide to celebrate Sanctity of Human Life Sunday by going to www.NewBeginningsAdoptions.org and clicking on the “Donate Now” link. By taking this simple action, and by making a generous, secure, online gift, more Aarons will have an opportunity to experience life. Celebrate by joining with other Believers who are taking this simple action.

    Your personal, church or organizational gift of $500, $250, $100, $50 or $25 will be designated to reaching more birthmothers with hope. God will multiply every gift for His glory.

     After you have given, please celebrate Sanctity of Human Life Sunday by also:

• calling your Pastor and asking him to share this information on Sunday,
• forwarding this message to your friends and ask them to celebrate with you and Aaron, and
• praying for birthmothers–almost 3,800 “little Aarons” will lose their life in America today while some do nothing.

        New Beginnings has battled against this evil toward children for over 25 years.  By offering crisis pregnancy counseling (24/7 by Debbie and Renae), by offering professional Christ-centered adoption services, and now through birthmother parenting education New Beginnings is changing lives. Because you helped today, you can rejoice with us as we celebrate this Sunday.

Happy New Year From New Beginnings!2010 is already turning into a big year in terms of expanding the children, mothers and families reached by New Beginnings.We are training front-line workers about the joy of adoption in providing a baby, a mother and a family with a new life to increase the exposure of birthmothers to adoption planning and in return the number of children placed in forever families.The Nepal Orphan Home work is in full swing, we are serving 10 children after only a few months ages 2 months-5 years old.  There is a group of American Christians who are traveling to Nepal this spring to help do construction and medical work for children and families there.Sanctity of Life Sunday is January 17th! Make sure to put it on your calendar!Stanton

NEW BEGINNINGS ADOPTION & FAMILY SERVICES

Tupelo, Mississippi

2009 SUMMARY OF ACTIVITIES

Domestic Adoptions

New Beginning’s domestic adoption program is one of the foundations of our ministry to women in crisis pregnancy.  With the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973, the number of birthmothers opting to carry their pregnancy to term has decreased dramatically.  Coupled with the greater acceptance of single parenting, the number of single pregnant women deciding to carry their child to term AND to place their child for adoption has dropped to less than 1%.  The challenge for New Beginnings is to make sure that women with an unplanned pregnancy know the truth of what confidential or open adoption (the level of confidentiality or openness is entirely the birthmother’s choice) has to offer them and their expected child.  Debbie Velie (Domestic Program Director, LBSW) and Renae Hellen (LBSW), our birthmother counselors, have done a very effective job of counseling with women and supporting them even when they do not choose adoption.

Unfortunately for honest birthmothers and adoptive families, the world of domestic adoptions has changed dramatically over the last 10 years.  Where the emphasis used to be on the counseling of birthmothers to make good decisions for their expected child, the field is now dominated by for-profit, non-licensed adoption facilitators.  These organizations typically charge $20,000 or more just to connect a family with a birthmother.  The revenues generated enable them to have a very attractive presence on the internet and to advertise in newspapers and yellow pages throughout the country.  Frequently birthmothers seeing these ads have no idea where the facilitator is geographically located and personal counseling is often waived in favor or receiving financial assistance with their pregnancy expenses.

We have placed 16 children for adoption through our domestic program thus far in 2008 and are currently working with six birthmothers who are making an adoption plan for their expected child.  This compares with the placement of 17 children in 2008, but there are still a few days left in December!

Since some families choose to adopt independently through adoption attorneys without the benefit of pre- or post-adoption services, we also provide homestudies in Mississippi for these families at a very reasonable cost.  In addition to increased outreach to churches, hospital social workers, school counselors and partnering with other Christian agencies around the country, we are seeking to build our domestic adoption program through advertising that targets the most vulnerable, pregnant birthmothers.

International Adoptions

We have experienced both successes and disappointments with our international adoption program this year.

Hague Accreditation: It is impossible to overemphasize the importance of attaining accreditation under the Hague Inter-Country Adoption Act.  New Beginnings achieved 2-year temporary Accreditation in April 2008 and will finalize its 5-year Accreditation process in January 2010. This has been a long, arduous and expensive process.  But without it, we would be crippled in our efforts to reach out to the orphaned children of the world with the hope of permanent families.  Marcus Davenport (International Program Director) has become our resident expert “on all things Hague,” and our President, Tom Velie (LMSW) is an evaluator for the Council on Accreditation for site visits for other agencies.  Our current Hague Accreditation does not expire until April 2010 so we are very comfortable with achieving our 5-year Accreditation in plenty of time.  It is significant to note that several agencies which were denied Hague Accreditation have closed their doors.  Even for countries which have not implemented the Hague Treaty, the gold standard for quality of services is Hague Accreditation by the Council on Accreditation.  In addition, New Beginnings has the largest and best qualified team of Hague-qualified social workers in Mississippi. We are very thankful for the Lord’s help in achieving this level of professionalism.

Nepal Registration:   Twenty-five American adoption agencies are registered in the country of Nepal and New Beginnings is thankful to be one of these agencies. Ten adoptive family dossiers are on file with the Ministry of Women, Children & Social Welfare in Kathmandu, Nepal awaiting their matches with children. Ten more families are in the process of completing their dossiers for 2010. Unfortunately, political unrest in Nepal has delayed the administrative process of matching the children in Nepal, but we are told that a new minister is now in place and that the process may proceed more smoothly.

Our Nepali Humanitarian Service Coordinator, Mr. Bobby Adhikari, through generous donations made by a wonderful Christian family, and through the “New Beginnings of Nepal” monthly partnership program donors, opened an orphan home for 10 children in June 2009. What a great testimony this is to the vision of the New Beginnings Founders, Stephen and Evelyn Drury, and to the dedication of “Brother Bobby.”

Poland:  New Beginnings is now licensed with the Polish government to provide adoptive services in Poland and is accepting applications for this program. We have hired our Polish Representative and adoptive families can have confidence that their adoption process will proceed smoothly. This program is ideal for the adoptive family that is interested in adopting children over the age of five (some younger children may be available in sibling groups).

Other countries: New Beginnings is in the process of investigating and possibly opening other country programs in several countries. Information will be provided on this website when details are finalized. We are carefully considering other opportunities to reach out to children in orphanages in other parts of the world, but do not want to duplicate already successful programs by our partner agencies.

Summary: It is difficult to write such a short summary of the activities of our agency for an entire year.  Our staff has done a remarkable job under very trying circumstances and I am proud of each of them.  Some are well known to our clients and some work behind the scenes.  But each has made a contribution to our mission.

Please join us in praying for increased activity in 2010 and the opportunity for more children to find their permanent homes. Every Child Deserves a Forever Family.

With the Christmas season upon us, joy and gratefulness should be nestled within our hearts.  And for good reason.  Every person has something that they can be thankful for, despite what difficult circumstances they may have in their life.  We can be thankful for family, for friends, for creation, for joy, for peace, for hope…or, if for none of these other things, for the very breath in our lungs and the lifeblood in our veins.

Family keeps coming to my mind as something I’m most thankful for this Christmas.  Our work at New Beginnings is all about family.  We see families come together all the time and see what a blessing they are to each other.  Families aren’t perfect…they’re made up of imperfect members.  But what a blessing to have a group of people you can call family….a group of people who is supposed to know you better than most, and love you anyway….a group of people you can count on in hard times and turn to in lonely times….a group of people that you have traditions with….a group who you celebrate joyous occasions with and grieve through hard times with.  And blood lines do not make a family…love does.

It’s our prayer this Christmas season that, for all of those in the world who don’t have a group of people that they can call family, whether they be adults or children, that they will be set in a family, as Psalm 68:6 says:   “God sets the lonely in families…”  And it’s our prayer that we’ll have the continued strength, resources, and favor from God to have a small part in helping to set some of these people in families through adoption.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight.”  Proverbs 3:5,6

Trust is a scary thing.  It’s a part of faith that’s beautiful and real.  But it’s only worth anything if the object we put our trust and faith in is trustworthy.  Jumping out of a plane on a skydive involves putting a whole lot of trust in a parachute.  Getting onto a plane involves putting a whole lot of trust in the pilot.  Going to a doctor involves putting a great deal of trust in his knowledge and ability to treat you for an illness.  You get the picture.  In the same way, when a birth mother chooses adoption, she is placing a great deal of trust into the people involved in the process.  She’s trusting us, as an agency, with the huge responsibility of finding the perfect family for her child.  She’s trusting the adoptive parents to love and care for her child with all the love and care parents are capable of giving.  This precious life…the life of her baby…she’s entrusting to someone else because she feels that they would be better able to care for him or her than she would, for whatever reason. Adoption is never an easy decision or an easy thing to do for birth mothers.  We’ve seen these girls first hand love their babies, and we’ve witnessed their desire to be able to parent them.  But God bless these sweet birth mothers who want more for their children than they can give to them, and who love them to the point of asking for help in finding a family who can give to them all they need.  What trust these birth moms are displaying with their decision….

More than anything else, what we want each of our birth mothers to realize and to know down to their depth of their being is that there’s a God who is sovereign, even over their choice, and who is worthy of trust.  He has these children in the palm of His hand and wants good things for them.  He knows these birth mothers, better than anyone else ever could, and also wants good things for them.  When we trust Him, instead of our own logic or feelings, He directs our path.  And His direction is always best.  It might not always be easy or make sense, but it’s always good in the ultimate sense of the word.

The following article was taken from Fox News on www.foxnews.com.

PLANNED PARENTHOOD DIRECTOR QUITS AFTER WATCHING ABORTION ON ULTRASOUND

The former director of a Planned Parenthood clinic in southeast Texas says she had a “change of heart” after watching an abortion last month — and she quit her job and joined a pro-life group in praying outside the facility.

Abby Johnson, 29, used to escort women from their cars to the clinic in the eight years she volunteered and worked for Planned Parenthood in Bryan, Texas. But she says she knew it was time to leave after she watched a fetus “crumple” as it was vacuumed out of a patient’s uterus in September.

‘When I was working at Planned Parenthood I was extremely pro-choice,” Johnson told FoxNews.com. But after seeing the internal workings of the procedure for the first time on an ultrasound monitor, “I would say there was a definite conversion in my heart … a spiritual conversion.”

Johnson said she became disillusioned with her job after her bosses pressured her for months to increase profits by performing more and more abortions, which cost patients between $505 and $695.

“Every meeting that we had was, ‘We don’t have enough money, we don’t have enough money — we’ve got to keep these abortions coming,’” Johnson told FoxNews.com. “It’s a very lucrative business and that’s why they want to increase numbers.”

A spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood told FoxNews.com that it offers a range of services at it 850 health centers nationwide, providing pregnancy tests, vaccinations and women’s health services, “including wellness exams, breast and cervical cancer screenings, contraception, and STD testing and treatment.”

“Planned Parenthood’s focus is on prevention,” wrote Diane Quest, the group’s National Media Director. “Nationwide, more than 90% of the health care Planned Parenthood affiliates provide is preventive in nature,” explaining that a “core component the organization’s mission is to help women plan healthy pregnancies and prevent unintended pregnancies.”

But Johnson said her bosses told her to change her “priorities” and focus on abortions, which she said made money for the office at a time when the recession has left them hurting.

“For them there’s not a lot of money in education,” she said. “There’s as not as much money in family planning as there is abortion.”

Without a doctor in residence, she said, her clinic offered abortions only two days a month, but the doctor could perform 30 to 40 procedures on each day he was there. Johnson estimated that each abortion could net the branch about $350, adding up to more than $10,000 a month.

“The majority of the money was going to the facility,” she said.

Johnson said she never got any orders to increase profits in e-mails or letters, and had no way to prove her allegations about practices at the Bryan branch. She told FoxNews.com that pressure came in personal interactions with her regional manager from the larger Houston office.

But she said she got involved with the clinic “to help women and … [do] the right thing,” and the idea of raking in cash seemed to go against what she felt was the mission of the 93-year-old organization.

“Ideally my goal as the facility’s director is that your abortion numbers don’t increase,” because “you’re providing so much family planning and so much education that there is not a demand for abortion services.

“But that was not their goal,” she said.

A spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood refused to answer questions about Johnson’s accusations, but released a statement noting that a district court had issued a temporary restraining order against the former branch director and against the Coalition for Life, an anti-abortion group with which Johnson is now affiliated.

“We regret being forced to turn to the courts to protect the safety and confidentiality of our clients and staff, however, in this instance it is absolutely necessary,” said spokeswoman Rochelle Tafolla.

It is unclear what made Planned Parenthood seek the restraining order. Johnson said she did not intend to release any sensitive information about her former patients at the clinic.

A hearing is set for Nov. 10 to determine whether a judge will order an injunction against Johnson and the Coalition for Life, which has led protests outside the clinic and joined her in a prayer vigil there last month.

Johnson hasn’t found a job since she quit on Oct. 6, but she said she’s enjoying the time off to be with her 3-year-old daughter.

“It’s been great just to spend some time at home and get a break,” she said.

Our Celebration of Adoption banquet was a success this year.  It was held on October 20th, a perfect Tuesday evening.  Michael Reagan served as our speaker at the banquet.  He shared his personal story of his adoption by Ronald Reagan and Jane Wyman and shared a bit of his own life’s journey since that time.  There was a full house to hear Reagan speak and to support and celebrate the gift of adoption.  Adoptive families dotted the crowd, each with a story of how adoption had blessed their lives and the lives of their children, each a testimony to the goodness of adoption.  Musical entertainment for the evening was provided on the piano by a young man, who was himself adopted as an infant, and by two violin-playing sisters who were adopted from China.  T.K. Moffett, attorney, was honored during the banquet for his selfless work on behalf of children and families touched by adoption.  Overall, the evening was a successful reminder of how adoption is an offer of hope to birth mothers, children, and families, and how it is such a beautiful blessing to those whose lives God touches through it.  Thanks and praise be to Him who adopted us as His own, and Who has further allowed countless numbers of people to be blessed through the miracle of adoption in their families!

Just wondering…

If Jesus, the Christ, died on Calvary for “the sins of the whole world,” as the Bible tells us. And, if that amazing death and it’s life-giving awe applies to every man that will ever be born. And, if He knows all about each and every one of us before we are born (Psalms 139).

Then…He died for the unborn child.

Now…if the even unborn child is worthy of the death of the Jesus…do you suppose that life just might be priceless…and worthy of life?

Just wondering…