Christian Homes already sees uptick in adoption queries following Roe v. Wade overturn

Sherri Statler, president of adoption agency Christian Homes & Family Services, expects to see about a 20% increase in the number of women the agency works with in a post-Roe v. Wade world.

The agency already has seen an uptick, Statler said, since the passage of the state’s Heartbeat Act, which bans abortion at about six weeks.

Christian Homes took the stance, when a draft of the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion overturning Roe was leaked earlier this year, that it could become “busier than (we) ever thought possible,” Statler said.

In anticipation, it has hired two additional maternity adoption caseworkers, she said.

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“Both of them have 30-plus years of experience in social work,” Statler said. “They came on board and with a little training are going to be able to help and work with young women who are considering adoption as their alternative.”

Since the Texas legislation passed, the agency already has seen a rise in women who call at the last minute seeking adoption services, she said.

“We got a call yesterday from a woman who delivered on Sunday and is placing her baby for adoption today,” Statler said Tuesday. “That has happened, I think, a half-dozen times, at least since the (Heartbeat) bill has passed."

It's more common to work with women over a series of months, she said.

History of help

The agency tends to work with between 45-65 women in a typical year, with COVID-19 cutting numbers, Statler said.

“People took social distancing seriously,” Statler said. “There just weren't as many unplanned pregnancies.”

Christian Homes gets calls from as many as 150 young women inquiring about its services, the vast majority of which come from Texas, she said.

It also is licensed in Oklahoma.

Women from other states that make use of the agency will travel to Texas because they are concealing a pregnancy for various reasons, including escaping an abusive relationship, Statler said.

Young women sometimes need time to determine whether adoption is a choice they want to make, she said, and part of the agency’s goal is to make certain her needs are met while she makes that choice.

“If she needs a place to live, we can provide that,” Statler said. “If she needs financial resources because she's working but pregnant and so her hours have been cut, we want to be able to come alongside her, and help provide those resources so that she can pursue an adoption plan.”

The agency also has resources to help transform the life of young women, she said, including help getting a GED, finishing a degree, acquiring job training and learning independent living skills.

Help is offered for free.

“(It) does not cost a woman a single, solitary dime to work with us and to consider adoption,” Statler said.

More: Roe decision a 'correction,' Abilene supporters say, but new world requires community action

A home for all

Over 60 years and 2,154 adoptions, Christian Homes has found a home for every child, Statler said.

That number was expected to tick up by one by the end of the week, Statler said Tuesday, noting the home has placed children born with special needs, exposed to drugs, etc.

Women who work with the agency retain a large amount of control, Statler said, getting to choose their child’s parents and the amount of contact she retains with those parents.

Christian Homes has developed a curriculum dubbed “Adoption Option” training, which answers a number of fundamental questions healthcare providers and others may have about adoption.

“We also anticipate providing that kind of training for more groups of people,” Statler said, among them counselors, high school teachers and college professors.

“They're likely to encounter young women who maybe are pregnant and didn't plan to be,” she said. “… I think as a society, the pro-life community has an absolute obligation to step up and say, ‘Here’s how we can help.’”

That includes, she said, advice for women who choose to have a child but don’t choose to put it up for adoption for various reasons, then struggle later.

“We want them to be successful,” she said, making it incumbent on the community to do everything it can to help young parents and single parents succeed.

“When they are not, the safety net for those kids is going to be foster care,” Statler said.

In light of recent events, Christian Homes is open to helping people who want to provide foster care, she said.

“We are also stepping up our effort to recruit, train, train and  prepare people who want to provide foster care,” she said. “I think that will have to be another response that we make as a community just to help young people who are not prepared to be parents.”

More: Abilene GOP, Democratic party chairpersons react to overturning of Roe v. Wade

Brian Bethel covers city and county government and general news for the Abilene Reporter-News.  If you appreciate locally driven news, you can support local journalists with a digital subscription to ReporterNews.com. 

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Christian Homes sees uptick in need following Roe overturn