"I celebrate a woman who will be forever tied to our hearts. A woman who I know sits in the middle of celebrating this little girl and holds a cup full of loss." - Sue, adoptive mom #BraveLove

As we know, adoption impacts people forever. Nowadays that often looks like a relationship. Here are some ideas, traditions, simple gestures that honor the relationship between birth families and adoptive families, no matter how open or closed.

Looking for a gift for a birth mom in your life? Reference this list of BraveLove products.

Hello, my name is Emily Morehead, and I am a Psychotherapist in Texas.  I specialize in working in the Infertility and Adoption Community.  I recently had the opportunity to speak at Postpartum Support International's Conference with my presentation "Serving in the Adoption Community - A Clinician's Guide to Psychotherapy with Expectant and Birth Parents." 

The smallest interaction, even from a stranger, can mean more than you realize. Mother's Day is always a tricky one for me. As I imagine it is for any birth mom without children of her own. I always feel like I'm half of a mother. Like I almost don't deserve this holiday.

With adoption as my option, I never considered how open it could be. In fact, my idea of “very open” wasn’t all that open at all. I never dreamed that my adoption would be where it is today.

When I placed my daughter for adoption twenty years ago, open adoption wasn't really discussed as a preferred option, and I didn't even know of anyone who had experienced adoption in that way.

Hello, my name is Shelbi! Ever since becoming a birth mother, my entire life has changed! Adoption and being a birth mother is something that I am VERY passionate about!

But these stories don’t make media headlines day after day after day, and even if they did, the news couldn’t do it justice in a 60 second bit. I’m pretty sure I’m not going to be able to do it justice in the hours it's going to take me to write this.

“If I didn’t place my baby with them, would they care about me?” This lingering question was the one thing keeping me from calling it a friendship.