 Independent Adoption Center Profiles Birthparents, Adoptive Parents, Adopted Children: This Month, Meet Adoptive Parents Josh and Lori of San Jose, CA 6 January, 2006 – Pleasant Hill, CA. Each month, IAC – a nationally recognized nonprofit education and counseling agency – will present a profile of birthparents, adoptive parents, or children who have been adopted. A pioneer in open adoption, Independent Adoption Center (IAC) is nationally recognized as a leader in the field having facilitated almost 4,000 successful adoptions in 35 states. Headquartered in the Northern California town of Pleasant Hill, IAC has southern California offices in Los Angeles, and also operates centers in Indiana, North Carolina and Georgia. IAC will celebrate its 25 anniversary in May 2007. Featured for the month of January, 2007 are adoptive parents Josh and Lori of San Jose, CA. Josh and Lori had considered adoption briefly after their first son Evan was born prematurely in May 1998. Then they decided to try another pregnancy and sadly their daughter was born 15 weeks early in December 2001 and did not survive. After a grieving period, they turned to the Independent Adoption Center because of their commitment to open adoption. Josh and Lori attended their first weekend intensive workshop with IAC in August 2002. They were “in the book” by November. Within 36 hours of their website going “live” with IAC’s website, they got their first email contact. It was from a birthmother, Tabby in Wyoming, who was seven weeks pregnant and considering an adoption plan. Lori said, “we traded emails for several weeks, and in February we flew out to Wyoming to meet Tabby, her boyfriend and her two children. We stayed for a few days, and Tabby officially asked us to adopt her son. In July we drove out to Wyoming for the birth of our son, Owen on July 25. I was asked to cut his umbilical cord and after a brief stay in the nursery I was able to room in with him and was even able to breastfeed him.” “The fact that someone loved my son enough to carry him in her body for 9 months, gave birth to him, and then allowed us to raise him, is deeply humbling for me, “ said Lori. “The fact that they get to see each other periodically just means that Owen will grow up secure in the knowledge that the first person to ever love him did not abandon him – she cares enough to stay connected.” “Owen’s birth family is very dear to us. They came out to California for Owen’s first Christmas and his first birthday. We trade emails and photos regularly. We recently saw a list of the top questions teenage adoptees ask – and we are so happy to know that all of those answers will be available to him.” Sharon Fitzgerald, Northern California Branch Director for IAC, said, “The rich tapestry of relationships between adoptive parents, birth parents, and adopted children is particularly evident in the case of Josh and Lori Miller. Open Adoption is beneficial all round.” Ann Wrixon, Executive Director of the Independent Adoption Center and herself the mother of an
As a nonprofit organization, the IAC’s mission is to create open adoptions: that is, a completely voluntary adoption where birth parents select the family they want to adopt their child. It is a viable and accessible alternative to untimely pregnancy throughout the United States. IAC will celebrate its 25 anniversary in May 2007.For more information, please call 1-800-877-6736 or visit www.adoptionhelp.org. Media Contacts: David Perry & Associates, Inc. / David Perry & Barbara Webb (415) 693-0583 / news@davidperry.com |
