AFTH's Fall 2020 Birth Parent Scholarship winner Christina Smith

Adoptions From The Heart is proud to announce Christina Smith as our Fall 2020 Birth Parent Scholarship winner. This fall Christina will be in her sophomore year at Arcadia University majoring in psychology. The Delaware native placed her newborn son for adoption in the spring of 2020. Read on to learn about Christina’s adoption journey, dreams, aspirations, and more.

During her freshman year at Arcadia University it is fair to say Christina and her partner had a bigger adjustment to college then most. While most college students are concerned about adjusting their time management skills in accordance with their course load, that was a small hurdle compared to their unexpected pregnancy news. The unexpected pregnancy would bring about a steeper learning curve than anything they could learn in the classroom.

The couple ultimately decided that adoption would be the best option for their baby. The couple learned the baby was a boy, whom they affectionately referred to as “peanut” in utero. Christina and her partner placed their son for adoption through Adoptions From The Heart (AFTH). The concept of open adoption was new to the couple at the time. Christina loved the aspect of receiving pictures and letters, and later decided she wanted to have visits with her son.

The college freshman’s life became a balancing act between making adoption plans, her part-time job, and being a full-time student (which is a job in and of itself). Christina was in control for how hard she prepared for her final exams and projects at the end of the semester. What Christina could not prepare for that semester was the possibility of going into labor early-and during finals week of all times. Just like all babies, her son had his own agenda of when he wanted to come into this world.

She reflects on that moment her son was born: “I saw him, and I was like ‘I don’t ever want to leave this face, ever. I need visits. I need my dose of my little man.’” It was indeed a beautiful moment looking into the eyes of the tiny person she brought into this world. Looking into her little baby’s eyes gave her a new sense of inspiration to pursue an education to work in a field that gives back to society. She is interested in becoming either a experimental psychologist or physical therapist. Christina is still taking advantage of this time to explore all her interests as many college students should.

Christina has big goals and aspirations for herself as a professional within the fields that interest her. One of her aspirations is to open her own clinic with therapy animals. “I will have therapy animals, disabled therapy animals that can help people cope with emotion, anxiety, and just social anxiety. And maybe just talk about their feelings,” said the Fall 2020 AFTH Birth Parent Scholarship recipient. Christina volunteers with PAWS for People, an organization that brings animals to hospitals, retirement homes, and colleges for therapeutic purposes. She’s seen the amazing results of this type of therapy for people dealing with a variety of emotional and physical hardships from anxiety to being on hospice.

Christina will do whatever it takes to achieve her dreams despite where she is in life physically, mentally, and emotionally. A true testament of her dedication to achieve was after the moment she gave birth. In one arm she is literally holding her newborn, the love of her life, and the other arm she is using to write her final paper. The assignment was to write and perform a monologue that tells the story of a pivotal moment in her life. There was no question this was her pivotal moment. She poured all her feelings into the monologue she wrote and performed. She voiced her reality of feeling pain, sorrow, happiness, and awe all at the same time after giving birth.

For a person to remain on the path to success they need to acknowledge those painful memories. Christina has shown her commitment to giving everything her all, but that doesn’t mean it was always easy. There are moments when she feels like giving up on school, but then she thinks about her son and get her momentum back. “Now when I do things I think ‘I want to be someone that he can be proud of.’ I’ll always be proud of him no matter what he does,” said Smith.

Well Christina, everyone at Adoptions From The Heart is proud of you and what you have accomplished thus far. We cannot wait to see how far you go! AFTH will keep our blog readers and scholarship donors updated on all your endeavors from this semester in December 2020.