Birth Choice in Jackson to offer adoption agency services
JACKSON, Tenn. — After serving families for almost 36 years, the Birth Choice center in Jackson announces some big news. The Birth Choice center will now offer the option of adoption to families.
Leaders of the center saw a need for west and middle Tennesseans and made it possible. This new addition will not only offer support to adoption parents and the child, but to the mother.
This process isn’t easy, however, their goal is to provide ease to those involved. This option of adopting will be on a sliding scale for parents that are choosing this path.
“We will become an adoption agency. So from Memphis to Nashville there are no actual adoption agencies. We will be one of six in the entire country, actually the sixth, that is both a pro-life pregnancy center and an adoption agency,” said Lisa Reasons, director of adoptions for Birth Choice.
There will be an open house coming this year for the new space, which will be located beside their current center at 391 Wallace Road.
Birth Choice Announces New Adoption Agency
JACKSON, TENN., – Birth Choice publicly announced their plans to become a licensed adoption agency at their annual fundraising banquet on April 10th. They are still completing the State of Tennessee licensure requirements, and in the coming months, they hope to begin placing infants up to one year old.
Birth Choice will be the sixth pro-life pregnancy clinic in the nation that also offers adoption services. Additionally, they will be the only adoption agency with an office located in West Tennessee between Memphis and Nashville. They will offer services to a total of 34 counties: all counties in West Tennessee, with the exception of Shelby County, and 14 counties in Middle Tennessee.
The ministry released an official statement on their website, birthchoice.biz/adoption.
Birth Choice will be a state-licensed, Christ-centered adoption agency focused on sharing a biblical perspective of adoption and Christ-like care to birth mothers, their babies, and adoptive families. Their goal is to offer hope and healing to each in the “adoption triad.”
According to Lisa Reasons, the new Director of Adoption Services at Birth Choice, the “adoption triad” consists of the birth mother, the baby, and the adoptive family. Because the ministry believes all people are made in the image of God, they will equally focus on all three in this triad.
Reasons says that many Christians tend to view adoption only as a ministry to the adoptive family and to the adopted child. She also points out that it is tempting to view adoption as a “means to an end” or a last resort to obtain a child. However, Reasons recognizes that adoption is a calling from God and a ministry to the birth mother, who is often a single mother in need of help.
“Adoption is a picture of our spiritual adoption into the family of God,” Reasons says. “This serves as the beautiful model for physical adoption.”
When serving expectant mothers, Reasons believes God will lead them in fighting the lie “that abortion is a much better option than adoption. Our high-risk clients are often in a state of fear that naturally causes them to look inward and overlook the life-giving options that are available.” Expectant mothers who are considering making an adoption plan will not be pressured but will be given the support and resources they need to make the best decision for them, whether or not they choose the adoption option, Reasons says.
If women do choose to make an adoption plan, the ministry’s support for the birth mother will not end after her rights are terminated. Birth Choice plans to remain available for her as well as the adoptive family until the child turns 18. Additionally, rather than doing closed adoptions, all adoptions will range from “openness” to “fully open.”
Couples interested in applying to adopt a child through the agency must meet certain requirements. Birth Choice will use biblical guidelines when prayerfully considering applicants. They will only consider traditional families consisting of a married biological male and biological female. They will not place children in same sex or unmarried homes. Couples wishing to adopt a child must undergo thorough background checks from various agencies, be active members of their local church community, and provide references from their church as well as family and community leaders. Those interested in learning more about adopting through Birth Choice can contact Lisa Reasons, MSW, at lisa@birthchoice.us.
Because Birth Choice is a nonprofit ministry that believes adoption should be affordable for all families, the agency will offer adoption services on a sliding scale. This will be based on the combined salary of an adoptive couple, with a minimum/maximum fee.
Birth Choice also encourages involvement from local churches and individual believers. In the coming months, they will share opportunities to become anonymous prayer partners, help cover adoption fees for adoptive families, and walk alongside birth mothers and adoptive families. Birth Choice looks forward to reciprocating this partnership during Adoption Month in November by sharing tools and resources designed for “our faith families,” Reasons adds.
After 36 years of ministry, Birth Choice founders Brent and Beverly Lambert feel that Birth Choice has come full circle. The issue that God used to lead them to address the issue of abortion in their community began with their own adoption journey. Several years before Birth Choice launched, the Lamberts struggled with infertility and pursued adoption. As they worked with a Christian adoption agency, they were told that they could expect a waiting period of three to five years. When they inquired as to why, they were told, “Because of the issue of abortion. We just don’t have that many babies to place for adoption,” says Brent Lambert. Before that, neither of them knew what abortion was. Lambert says it opened their eyes to the abortion issue, which God used to lead them to found a pro-life pregnancy center.
“Becoming an adoption agency was never a goal in the first 30-plus years of the ministry,” Lambert says. “But we recently began sensing God’s leading to offer this life-affirming choice to the women and families we see here at Birth Choice as well as to anyone else in West Tennessee and parts of Middle Tennessee.”
Lisa Reasons’ desire to work in the adoption field is also deeply personal. Last November, she said she felt God nudge her to reach out to Brent Lambert on social media, even though they didn’t know each other. She told Lambert that she is an adoptee, an adoptive parent, and a master’s level social worker. At the time, she didn’t know about Birth Choice’s plans to become an adoption agency, but the ministry had just reached the point of looking for someone with an MSW to direct this new arm of the ministry. When Lambert told her about their new plans, Reasons says, “I started laughing because I just couldn’t believe how God had worked all that together.”
Birth Choice is a Christian, pro-life, nonprofit pregnancy medical clinic in West Tennessee. Since 1989, the ministry has empowered thousands of women and men to choose life for their babies while sharing the love of Christ. All services are free and confidential. Their Medical Mobile Clinic and clinics in Jackson and Gibson County offer pregnancy testing and ultrasounds to introduce women to the babies growing inside them.
Other support programs include early prenatal care for qualified patients, help applying for TennCare, parenting and childbirth classes, a Fatherhood program, and a mommy and baby boutique for program participants. Each week, the Medical Mobile Clinics serve Chester, Fayette, Hardeman, Hardin, Haywood, and Henderson Counties. According to Birth Choice, the most important thing they do is share the good news of Jesus Christ with their clients.
For more news in the Jackson area, click here.
