A Birth Mom Appeals to CO Legislators: Protect Faith-Based Adoption Agencies

In a recent opinion column for The Christian Post, Adrian Collins, a Christian writer, and an adoptive mother shared her story about how a faith-based adoption agency helped her during a time she needed their help the most. 

She declares, "Faith-based adoption agencies are vital to society."

Collins was in her junior year at a Christian university when she found out she was pregnant.  She writes, "It was my choice not to have an abortion. Instead, I chose to carry my baby to term." 

Knowing she wasn't ready to be a parent, Collins writes that she and her boyfriend made the hard decision to move forward with the adoption plan.  However, she wanted her child "to have a traditional home with a married mother and father who shared the same Christian faith." 

She recalls she knew she had found a safe place when she walked into Hope's Promise, a faith-based adoption agency located in Castle Rock, Colorado.  Collins writes, "Every encounter I had with the agency left me with greater clarity, direction and a renewed sense of hope." 

She credits the workers at Hope's Promise for helping her through her journey of healing. 

Collins says navigating an unplanned pregnancy is difficult enough without the possibility of faith-based agencies having to close for lack of funding or worse yet, government intervention.

Collins writes, "Birth parents deserve to have their voices heard."

"Our country was founded on the basis of religious freedom, and within that freedom are the rights of faith-based agencies to represent a birth mother's religious beliefs," she said. "Removing faith-based agencies in Colorado may create unnecessary fears, anxiety and possible depression for birth mothers who already face a difficult decision."

Last month, Colorado legislators voted down state Sen. Kevin Lundberg sponsored SB 241, a bill to protect the right of conscience of Colorado's faith-based adoption agencies. 

Emilie Kao is the director of the Richard and Helen Devos Center for Religion and Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation. 

In May, she wrote an article about the left's assault on adoption which was published by The National Review. 

Kao writes, "Faith-based adoption agencies that follow their religious beliefs have a high level of success placing older and disabled children. They also provide services for vulnerable women seeking help with unplanned pregnancies."

"Moreover, some women facing an unplanned pregnancy want their child to be raised by a married man and woman," she wrote. "A birth mother should have the freedom to work with an agency that honors her preferences and shares her values."