Ron Reigns:
Welcome and thank you for joining us on Birth Mother Matters in Adoption with Kelly Rourke-Scarry, and me Ron Reigns, where we delve into the issues of adoption from every angle of the adoption triad.
Speaker 2:
Do what’s best for your kid and for yourself. Because if you can’t take care of yourself, you’re definitely not going to be able to take care of that kid and that’s not fair.
Speaker 3:
And I know that my daughter would be well taken care of with them.
Speaker 4:
Don’t have an abortion, give this child a chance.
Speaker 5:
All I could think about was needing to save my son.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
My name is Kelly Rourke-Scarry. I’m the Executive Director, President, and co-founder of Building Arizona Family’s Adoption Agency, the Donna K. Evans Foundation, and creator of the You Before Me Campaign. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Family Studies and Human Development, and a Master’s Degree in Education with an emphasis in School Counseling. I was adopted at the age of three days, born to a teen birth mother. Raised in a closed adoption and reunited with my birth mother in 2007. I have worked in the adoption field for over 15 years.
Ron Reigns:
And I’m Ron Reigns. I’ve worked in radio since 1999. I was the co-host of two successful morning shows in Prescott, Arizona. Now I work for my wife who’s an adoption attorney, and I’m able to combine these two great passions and share them on this podcast.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
Ron, we have to welcome our listeners to the first episode of Season 2.
Ron Reigns:
Dun, dun, dun.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
We made it all the way through Season 1. We did our first hundred episodes, which is incredible, just even saying that.
Ron Reigns:
Right.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
And we have ventured on into Season 2. And so we want to thank, obviously, everybody who stayed with us, welcome the new listeners that have joined us along the way, and I want to appreciate each and every one of them.
Ron Reigns:
Absolutely.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
I mean, I never thought that we would have this much interest. And I don’t look at it as much as interest in us, but interest in the criteria to adopt a child and the adoption process and learning about all of the nuances of adoption.
Ron Reigns:
And specifics. Yeah.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
Yeah. The more we can educate about the adoption process and the criteria to adopt a child the better we can do, and the better we are. I mean, if you’re going to go and have heart surgery, you don’t want to talk to somebody who has, to have surgery done by that just read the book.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
You want somebody who’s tried and true and has practice, even though they call it practicing medicine. But, and I think that’s really important to understand. So I’m so excited that people are showing an interest in learning the criteria to adopt a child and the journey of adoption. I do take it personally since I was adopted. And I feel that maybe my life would’ve been even better had adoption been talked about like it is today. And if people have the correct knowledge, then we can just keep on sailing from here. In looking back at the last hundred episodes, and just saying that makes me giggle a little bit, the last hundred episodes. Well, the first hundred, I noticed that there were definitely topics that people really seemed to like and really wanted information on. So I thought that we would take this next season and really just do a head dive into deeper levels of those topics.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
And those include abortion, the criteria to adopt a child, adoption disruptions from both perspectives and both the birth mothers and the adoptive parents. Starting in the beginning and how to even prepare for an adoption journey and where you even go once you get the inclination or the idea or the suggestion, Hey, you should adopt. What does that really mean? What is the criteria to adopt a child? Rather than, when somebody says, oh, you should consider adopting. Somebody may take a step back and think, what are you laying on me?
Ron Reigns:
Right.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
What are you saying, when you are being picked by a birth mother? We’re going to talk about, we’re going to do a whole podcast on understanding the criteria to adopt a child and then making your adoption profile book. We’re going to have Robin come back and talk to us about what she talks to adoptive families when they’re starting them. I can jump in because I’ve helped hundreds and hundreds of birth mothers choose an adoptive family. And I can tell you what they like, what they don’t like, we’re going to go really into depth. Also, we need to stay on top of what’s happening in the adoption world and in the abortion world, because with the pending election, issues and topics and new laws are being proposed and it’s on fire. It’s like a wildfire.
Ron Reigns:
It truly is, yeah.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
And then topics that we touched on, we’re going to also dive into these. We’re going to talk more about ICWA, the Indian Child Welfare Act.
Ron Reigns:
Okay.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
We’re going to hear from a specialist. We’re going to hear more from birth mothers and more from adopted families. And I think it’s important to really dive into what ICPC is, Interstate Compact Placement Agreement. What is that? And what does it mean for families who are traveling between states when they’re choosing an out-of-state adoption agency? We’re going to talk to legal experts and find out more about when a case is presented in front of them, how they handle it? What it means legally, and what the ramifications are. And so much more. I’m really excited about the next hundred episodes.
Ron Reigns:
I am very excited, also. I think we did a great job on the first one-hundred episodes, and I think that’s only going to progress and get better with the new season, and with any seasons after that. So I’m proud of what we do. And I think this is a great direction for us. I’m looking forward to each and every episode.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
So in this episode, I thought what we would do is kind of look at where we are now.
Ron Reigns:
Okay.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
In order to look forward, you have to be able to stand in one place. And so we’re going to stand in one place today and we’re just going to look around at what has happened around us.
Ron Reigns:
Okay.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
According to azfamily.com, there was a girl that was featured in an adoption slideshow that found her forever home. And I guess this was a story about a girl who was the first in the first adoption slideshow to find her forever home. And I will let you jump into that.
Ron Reigns:
Definitely. Alice and Jim [inaudible 00:06:45] had eight adopted children and five children between them, but their kids were grown up and out of the house and they wanted to adopt again. Originally, their plan had been to adopt children over thirteen, but when they saw nine-year-old Gloria in the slideshow they knew that they found their daughter. The couple began fostering her in late 2019 and her adoption was completed in June. Shortly after coming home, Gloria asked to change her name to Lindy Noelle. Lindy is already thriving. When she first moved in she could barely read children’s board books, now she’s reading chapter books and scriptures. Alice said that Lindy’s team from the Department of Child Safety has been exceptional. Not only have they provided all the needed services throughout her time in the foster care system and since the adoption, but they continue to inquire about her.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
This is Arizona’s first adoption slideshow like I said, and they have their first child that benefited from this opportunity. And I’m just so grateful that we, as a state, are moving in the right direction for children.
Ron Reigns:
With this slide show, this is the first of hopefully many waves of children that will be adopted through this process. I think that’s cool.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
I think finding forever homes for older children is just amazing. And I think any avenue that we can help families learn the criteria to adopt a child and help provide to facilitate that process is something that needs to be poured into. All right, according to the Christian Post, over a hundred pro-life Democrat leaders urge Biden, the Democratic party to soften their stance on abortion. I found this fascinating because typically you associate pro-choice with the left side.
Ron Reigns:
Right, with the Democratic Party, and the people on the left, a little more liberal.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
And so I was very happy to hear this. They stated that a group of more than a hundred Democratic politicians, including a Governor and members of Congress, have signed a letter urging the Democratic Party to soften its stance on abortion. I feel that we’re headed as a nation in the right direction.
Ron Reigns:
I think so too. And this gives us a lot of hope that we are proceeding in the right direction, and that in a hundred years, people will look back on this time and see it as something that as a nation, we should not celebrate and that maybe we should even be ashamed of.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
Agree.
Ron Reigns:
And I hope that’s where we’re heading over the next many years.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
And if it’s not where we’re heading, it’s where we need to be headed.
Ron Reigns:
Right.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
Because it goes on to state in this article that many Democratic leaders support abortion at any time for any reason. And this position is opposed by 79% of Americans. The 2016 Democratic platform endorses taxpayer funding of abortion, opposed by a supermajority of the population. [crosstalk 00:09:34] The same platform endorses taxpayer funding of abortion in developing countries, opposed by three fourth of voters. And then the letter went on to say that in 389 out of 435 congressional districts, a majority of voters support a ban on abortion after 20 weeks. And we’ve talked about this ad nauseam. I mean.
Ron Reigns:
Right.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
We really need to understand what that means. And at 20 weeks, what a baby looks like at 20 weeks.
Ron Reigns:
Right.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
And we’re talking about a baby.
Ron Reigns:
Yeah, I think this is a positive direction and it is something that I’m very happy to hear. That they are softening, some of them anyway, on their stance. So this is fantastic.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
Yeah. And then again, the article goes on to say accordingly, we urge the Democratic Party to embrace policies that protect both women and children. Legal protection for the preborn children and improved prenatal care for women in need, especially women of color. Alternatives to abortion and a comprehensive culture of life free from violence, poverty, and racism. Amen. So I think that is exceedingly important. One thing that I think that we together, Ron, really need to keep an eye on is, unfortunately in 2020 we have to acknowledge that we do have a pending election, and keeping politics completely out of the podcast is unrealistic.
Ron Reigns:
Right.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
It’s just unrealistic. The topics hit very close to home when you’re talking about abortion, adoption, and women’s rights. It just all comes together. And so I felt like before we could close this episode, we really needed to acknowledge: Joe Biden announced that Senator Kamala Harris was going to be his Vice Presidential running mate. The campaign was described by Susan B. Anthony’s List President, Marjorie Dannenfelser, as the most pro-abortion presidential ticket in American history.
Ron Reigns:
And see while we’re coming off this story that is such good news, we’re now facing this story, which could be potentially such horrible news for the abortion issue.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
Yeah. For all the babies.
Ron Reigns:
For all the babies.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
So I think that this is something that we will have to keep an eye on. We will have to provide updates as to the stance that is taken. I did look into it a little bit and was disappointed because I feel like as a Nation we’ve come so far. We’re looking at whether or not as a Nation, we really made the right choice back in 1973. And you and I have stances that we did not, as a Nation, make the right choice.
Ron Reigns:
Right.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
And making abortion legal led to death, after death, after death.
Ron Reigns:
Millions.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
Of all these babies. And it feels like two steps forward. How many steps back?
Ron Reigns:
Right.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
Because this isn’t a one step back if this was to happen, so.
Ron Reigns:
No, this is a huge thing. And I would never want to influence somebody’s vote. I feel like.
Kelly Rourke-Scarry:
No, that’s not my point.
Ron Reigns:
Whether it’s religion or this or whatever, I’m not here to tell you how to vote or live or whatever. However, if abortion, and also adoption, are big issues for you, then you need to take that into consideration before putting out your vote, I think. Thank you for joining us on Birth Mother Matters in Adoption.
Ron Reigns:
If you’re listening and you’re dealing with an unplanned pregnancy or want more information about the criteria to adopt a child, Building Arizona Families is a local Arizona adoption agency and available twenty-four seven by phone or text at (623) 695-4112 that’s 6-2-3-6-9-5-4-1- 1-2. We can make an immediate appointment with you to get started on creating an Arizona adoption plan or just get you more information. You can also find out more information about Building Arizona Families on their website at azpregnancyhelp.com. Thanks also go out to Grapes for allowing us to use their song, I Don’t Know, as our theme song. Birth Mother Matters in Adoption was written and produced by Kelly Rourke-Scarry and edited by me. Please rate and review this podcast wherever you’re listening to us. We’d really appreciate it. We also now have a website at birthmothermatterspodcast.com. Tune in next time on Birth Mother Matters in Adoption for Kelly Rourke-Scarry. I’m Ron Reigns.
