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A CARING PRESENCE
Adoption and maternity programs offered at Catholic Charities

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
(Email Renee)

Adoptions and services to unwed mothers played a significant part in the work of Catholic Charities when the agency was founded in the 1940s and work in these areas continues today.

Jerry Eaton, executive director of Catholic Charities, pointed out that handling adoptions and running maternity homes were among the main tasks of the agency in its early years.

“If you go back 50 to 60 years, it was a pretty shame-based situation for a young woman to become pregnant and be unmarried, particularly a teenager,” he said. Unwed mothers often went away to maternity homes or would get married.

Although attitudes in society have changed toward unwed mothers and single parenting, Eaton said the agency has kept its maternity services because this work continues to be important to the mission of Catholic Charities – related to the importance of the sanctity of human life and serving people in need.

While the bulk of the agency’s workload today centers on counseling services to individuals, couples and families, he noted that the adoption and maternity services remain “a big part of what we do.”

Adoption and maternity services are available in all Catholic Charities locations – Algona, Carroll, Fort Dodge, Sioux City and Storm Lake.

Unplanned pregnancies
Doreen Loeffelholz, clinical supervisor of the Catholic Charities offices in Carroll and Storm Lake, said that through the maternity programs therapists work with birth parents dealing with unplanned pregnancies, many of whom are unwed but not necessarily all.

“And that of course at times works in tandem with our adoption program when those birth parents opt to make an adoption plan for their child, however, some birth parents opt to parent,” she said. “We work with birth parents of varying ages, income levels and accept people of all faiths.”

These counseling services are offered at no charge to the birth parents. Eaton pointed out that the agency has many donors who specifically underwrite services to the unwed parent.

Early on in the process, Loeffelholz said, the counselors help birth parents take a look at their options and then discern the pros and cons of each.

For example, they discuss if parenting the child is something that can be effectively managed as well as the advantages and disadvantages of adoption.

“What’s in the best interest of the child and does that coincide with what they believe might be in their best interest,” Loeffelholz said. “That isn’t always an easy thing for birth parents because while emotionally they may feel strongly about this being their child, they may also recognize that they are not in a position to provide for the child.”

Sometimes, she added, counseling pertains to secondary issues such as the relationship between the birth parents or the relationship of the birth parents and their parents.

“Parents will have their opinions about what they want for their son or daughter as birth parents and sometimes for the birth grandparents it’s an issue of ‘this is our grandchild.’ There are many factors that we help them sort through that ultimately enables them to make the decision that will allow them to say, ‘This is in the best interest of my child,’” she said.

If the birth parents choose parenting, Catholic Charities will provide parenting education.

All parents face struggles when raising their children, noted Eaton, and “thinking of it from the standpoint of a single parent, it’s very easy to see why there is a need for ongoing support and guidance.”

Adoptions
If the decision is to make an adoption plan then the agency will not only assist with the legal details but also the emotional aspects, such as the grieving that may be associated with it.

“With the idea of an adoption, we understand the stressors people have and the difficulties they have in making what is the right choice for the unborn child and themselves. We want someone there to help them sort through it, so they can make the best possible and informed choice,” said Eaton, who called it an important and viable alternative to an abortion.

Occasionally, Loeffelholz noted, a birth parent will not contact Catholic Charities regarding an adoption plan until after the delivery. Catholic Charities proceeds slowly with them, allowing the birth parents to make a well-informed decision.

As a state licensed child placement agency, she said, “We’ve met the criteria that has been established by the state to provide adoption services.”

There are three components to the Catholic Charities adoption services: pre-placement investigation, which is an adoption home study; placing a child for adoption and post-placement investigation, which is supervision of the adoptive family once a child is placed in the home.

Eaton said that throughout the agency’s history, even dating back to the time of the orphanage, they have always studied adoptive parents.

“When a child is placed for an adoption, it is a very important responsibility - when you have the life of the child in your hands – to work very hard to make sure that you are putting them in the best of all possible circumstances,” he said.

Typically, adoptive parents receive a child in three to five years and sometimes, in rare cases, it’s a matter of months.

Searches
Loeffelholz noted that there is also a search/reunion component to the adoption program, which is coordinated out of the Carroll and Sioux City offices.

“We coordinate whatever contact there is going to be, be it contact through letters, phone or face-to-face meeting based on the wishes of the involved parties,” she said. “Not only can adoptees search, but birth parents can also initiate a search. Iowa law allows for that now.”

Through the years, Eaton said work with adoptions and maternity services helped to ground the therapists in Catholic social teaching, a sense of maturity and in truly caring for the clients.

“There isn’t any way to underestimate the importance of working with adoptions and unwed parents in terms of the development of our agency,” he said.

While maternity services and adoptions was once a main part of the agency, Eaton noted that as society and attitudes have changed the focus has moved to families – helping parents deal with children and helping marital couples work through their problems.

“All of our therapy and counseling services are based on the idea that if you have healthy families, you will have a healthy society,” he said. “The focus of all of the things that we do moves from one part to another – from the unwed parent, to the adoption, to the counseling services.”

(This is one in a series of articles about the mission and services of Catholic Charities.)