Meet Renee Gelin, the President of Saving Our Sisters
After losing her son to a devastating unnecessary adoption Renee discovered her purpose: to help other mothers avoid unnecessarily separating from their newborn babies and helping them preserve their families. She began reaching out and connecting with others in the online adoption community for support. Renee started speaking to other expectant mothers and realised that many of the reasons that they were considering adoption were similar to hers: temporary.
She started to explain the lifelong trauma that maternal separation causes both the mothers and their newborns and the mothers were listening. Many in the adoption community began to see the mums with their babies and began to support her efforts of family preservation. Others online began to direct mothers considering adoption to speak with Renee and the concept of Saving Our Sisters became a reality.
Renee married her son’s father and together they parent their 2 daughters in Florida.
This is just one conversation on a journey to better understanding how our society is failing women and their sacred identity as mothers. The objective is to identify opportunities and best-practice solutions to promote not only the sanctity of human life, but the institutions of family and in particular motherhood, as well as fatherhood.
Adoption is considered by many to be an “all-positives” alternative to simply ending the lives of unwanted babies. But what if the problem causing mothers to consider the permanent solution of adoption (or worse) is just temporary? Is it in the best interests of either the child or the mother to separate them forever?
I haven’t fundamentally changed my mind about the beauty and value of adoption, but I am inspired to find and promote solutions and support which empower mothers to be all they can and want to be.
I’m also freshly aware of the too-often coercive, predatory nature of adoption “middle-men”, especially outside of the Australian experience, which in turn highlights the human/bureaucratic disposition to “easier” quick fixes.
Links
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