Hannah Myers- Spring 2019 AFTH Birth Parent Scholarship winner

Hannah Myers by the beach

Hannah Myers in her scrubs

“What a year 2020 has been! If I have learned anything so far from 2020, it is about transition and the ability to adapt. My nursing school has become fully online and for a profession that is extremely hands-on, I am greatly missing the hospital setting. Recently, I finished my OB rotation and I realized just how much I had learned about labor and delivery without going to clinicals. I was pleasantly surprised that over the course of the term, I made connections from the material I was learning to my own experience of pregnancy, labor, and the birth process. As the term finished, I had a little ah-ha moment; my entire journey being a birth mom has been nothing but a transition, and the ability to adapt from being pregnant, to delivering my son, to healing physically/mentally/emotionally, and pursuing my dream to help other birth mothers make this very same transition. I was doing this whole adaption thing even before 2020 hit! It’s definitely guided me with my choice of profession though. I am excited to say that I will be applying to work in the Labor/Delivery unit in the same hospital where I had my son and I am eager to come full circle. This energy and focus are what keeps the hustle going and what helps me adapt when something comes up, like a pandemic in the year right before I graduate.

So, I would love to encourage other birth mothers to keep hustling, day by day – you will surprise yourself with how much you can grow and adapt in such a small amount of time. Even now, my  son will be 3 years old next month and I still have my days, but I wouldn’t change it for the world. Being a birth mother is being a part of a very special sisterhood and it’s a title we should wear proudly. Not to mention, we are the queens of transition and so whatever the rest of 2020 has in store, I say bring it, we are ready!”  -Hannah

Hannah’s son Henry

Marisa Kealoha- Fall 2016 AFTH Birth Parent Scholarship winner

Marisa circa 2020

“After the placement of my son, I went from being homeless to working to end homelessness and the trauma that comes with it. I graduated from UC Davis in 2018, and now I work in property management for federally subsidized housing. I also volunteer at a local homeless shelter, whose residents keep me humble and remind me that I do what I do to ensure that I’m not the last success story. I follow in the footsteps of the amazing social workers and staff at Lamb of God Maternity Home and Adoption Center of San Diego, who helped me heal from my past as I chose a different future for my son and myself. I remain ever grateful for my mentors, for Adoptions From the Heart and others in the adoption community who supported my education, and the amazing family who claimed me as kin when they adopted my son. On my new life path, I also found a fondness for tending plant babies and painting every surface imaginable! I’m hoping to start an art class at the shelter soon!”-Marisa

Amanda McDonald- Spring 2020 AFTH Birth Parent Scholarship winner

Amanda (woman on left holding her youngest nephew) and her twin sister, twin sister’s her husband, three nephews, and a close family friend at the waterfalls in Utah.

“Man these last few months have been one for the books! The amount that has changed in many of our lives, is almost mind numbing. It has taught me a lot about how important it is to stay positive, optimistic, kind, loving, giving, and motivated. Especially when hard times hit. In therapy they say ” you have to talk about, and deal with the hard things that happen in your life, or you will never heal.” 2020 has been an eye opening, terrifying, humbling, and rewarding therapy session. At least for me it has. It has forced us to open our eyes, and pay attention to what is happening around us, and what we can do to make changes. Last semester I attended Utah Valley University to finish my prerequisites for my long dream of becoming a Registered Nurse. I am so excited to say I will be starting my Nursing Program on August 30th 2020 at Ameritech College of HealthCare, in Draper Utah. This scholarship is still something that has helped me in so many more ways than I could have ever imagined. Not only did it help me not scrape by while I was in school last semester. It helped me to know that I’VE GOT THIS, I’m not alone, people do believe in me, I can believe in myself, and I felt heard by others for the first time in awhile! Those things right there have changed me. You can change the world, if you just simply believe in others dreams, and help them feel heard. That is something I never realized had so much power. Just simply feeling heard. Run at your dreams, and everything will fall into place.” -Amanda

Morgan Marais- Spring 2017 AFTH Birth Parent Scholarship winner

Morgan in 2020

“My life has changed in so many positive ways since receiving the Birth Parent Scholarship in 2018. The scholarship allowed me to worry less about how I was planning to pay for school, so that I was able to put more focus on my courses and grades. I graduated last year with my MBA (Master’s in Business Administration) and received the President’s Award for a 4.0 GPA. Since graduating, I’ve had the opportunity to work for a couple of non-profit organizations, until landing my current position in Northern Kentucky. Through hard work and a TON of persistence, I was hired last September as the Training Development Coordinator, for one of the top commercial aviation companies in the world.

It’s been a few years now since I went through the adoption process, but I know the majority of my drive to make something of my life stems from being a birth parent. Since it was an open adoption, I am sure that I will eventually reconnect with the adoptive parents and their baby girl; and when that day comes, I can stand tall and proud to call myself her birth mother.

I am forever grateful for being chosen to receive the Birth Parent Scholarship and feel so blessed for all of the wonderful things that have come my way.”-Morgan