Post Adoption Support Materials
Looking for resources for your birth mom support group or retreat? Or perhaps you’re a birth mom searching for some helpful resources on how to navigate birthdays, milestones and other life experiences that feel a little harder or just different as a birth mom.
You’re in the right spot. We’ve pulled together some topics from birth moms we know and paired specific BraveLove videos and stories around these real life questions and issues.
Disclaimer: BraveLove does not facilitate support groups or retreats for birth moms. This is NOT intended to be a comprehensive curriculum for a group, but rather an additional tool that can help cultivate healthy post-placement experiences.
Birthdays
Read: Celebrating Birthdays
Dating after Placement: Is this guy worthy to be in my child's life?
Read: Dating as a Birth Mom Read: When to Drop the "I'm a Birth Mom" Bomb When Dating
How to connect when there is little to zero contact
Read: I Wish I'd Known Then What I Know Now Read: Navigating the Emotions of Reconnecting
Emotional Topics
Community
- Read:
- Birth Mom Connections
"Anytime I am entrusted with a birth mom’s story, when I hear her say, 'I’m a birth mom too,' I feel like I’m instantly, deeply connected to her. As if our stories are cut from the same cloth, I can listen and be heard without effort. There is no need for her to explain all the details or tell the full story. I don’t need to be told about the sheering pain or the spikes of joy. I know she loves and loses over and over again because of her choice. I know there are those that don’t understand and those that do. I am familiar with the inconsiderate questions and the unacknowledged status as a mother." - Michelle
Grief and Loss
"There is no moment in life that I can think of where joy and grief are more present (in an all-out battle, if you will) than during an adoption. Adoption is born out of loss. Joy out of pain. Continued joy out of continued pain. The gift that keeps on giving." - Michelle
Identity
- Watch:
- No Shame
- Read:
- Not My Identity
"Being a birth mom is a very significant role in my life, but it is not all there is to me. My life didn't start the day I chose adoption for my son, and it didn't end the day he was placed in his parents' arms and went home with them." - Kaedra
Expectations
- Read:
- Expectations in Adoption
"When it comes to adoption stories, we want to foresee the outcome, but the reality is, there is no way to know fully how they will actually turn out." - Abby