ADOPTION NOW April Fallon

Adoption doesn’t always have to be a daunting task! Jordan Moreno’s story tells us that the timeline might be faster than you think! Jose and Jordan have a beautiful adoption story, as they all are, but this one had an ease about it that will make anyone who is nervous feel at peace that everything can fall perfectly into place and QUICKLY!!! They announced to their family in November that they had plans to adopt, finished their home study in February, matched in June and their daughter was born July 2nd!!! After experiencing secondary infertility for 5 years after their son was born, the family was so grateful to be able to expand their family through adoption and want to encourage others in this journey!

Brady and Andrea Murray are the proud parents of eleven children, seven of which are adopted. After having a biological child diagnosed with Down Syndrome, the couple started RODS Heroes, which was founded in 2013. RODS Heroes inspires families to answer the call to adopt a child with Down Syndrome or other unique circumstances. As they were helping other families, they went to China to bring home their son, Cooper, who has become the baseball star you see on Instagram @bradymurray21. The couple went on to adopt two daughters from foster-care and then said yes to another international adoption, this time from Colombia. They just recently traveled and brought home a sibling group of 4 to join the family!  Listen to this episode to hear about adopting special needs children from China, how to start your process adopting from Colombia and how adopting through the foster care system might be the right path for you! 

Jenell M. Jones is the author of “Shattered,” a book that shares her experience as an adoptive mother. Last week we heard her story on adopting Mercy from the foster care system. Mercy joined the family of 6 children and had many mental and physical traumas that affected her day-to-day life. On part two, Jenell talks about how the system is set up to help children but often fails to provide resources to help foster children heal and be able to thrive in a family. On this episode she shares about the next level of trauma that vulnerable children could face. How does adoption and foster care play into human trafficking? What is being done to protect our children?

Jenell M. Jones is the author of “Shattered,” a book that shares her experience as an adoptive mother. Jenell is currently operating multiple early learning centers, which specialize in providing high quality learning experiences to children who experience trauma in low-income areas, while also raising 7 children! When she brought home Mercy she found out that her expectations about adoption were shattered. 
Her passion is helping foster parents and adoptive parents ask the right questions on this journey. In this episode we get very real about the day-to-day challenges of raising children with mental and physical trauma. She gives advice to parents (and soon to be parents) on what they need to hear most about the foster care system. What questions do you ask social workers? What do you need to be prepared for when bringing home an older child? What do you need to know about trauma and loss? 
This episode helps us understand how important it is that children find healing and what resources Jenell had to use to hopefully lead her daughter to find truth and peace in her story.

President & CEO of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption has joined ADOPTION NOW for an incredible interview. Rita Soronen has worked on behalf of abused, neglected and vulnerable children for more than 30 years.  As the leader of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption, a national nonprofit public charity, her mission is to dramatically increase the number of adoptions from foster care. They are working hard to find permanent families for the more than 140,000 waiting children in the United States foster care system. The non-profit was inspired by Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s fast-food restaurant chain, who was adopted himself! Rita shares his story, as well as her own journey in working with families and children. If you are interested in adopting an older child from the foster care system, this episode is for you!

Author Sarah D. Shearer joins ADOPTION NOW to talk about her adoption story.  In her words, her story started off with little hope, “I was born with various medical needs and was left in a Russian hospital where nuns helped to keep me alive until I was transferred to an orphanage.” The Russian orphanage was convinced that no one would want her, but a family in Thomasville, GA saw her picture and fell in love. This is an uplifting story filled with gratitude and grace towards adoption. Sarah has written a memoir called “Extra Ordinary” to share her positive perspective. She says, “no one can speak to adoption more than an adoptee.” Listen to this episode and check out her book on Amazon!
 
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