by Beth Greene
Adoptive Family Caseworker

When I began working at Covenant Care a little over a year ago, I was immediately humbled by the tremendous love and Jesus-like grace poured into our birthmothers. I saw this from everyone: not only from our Birthmother Caseworkers, but from everyone: Adoptive Family Caseworkers, adoptive couples, and supporters of the ministry.

Birthmothers, women who often find themselves in very hard places, have strength beyond belief. They make decisions that most of us will never have to make, experience losses that we cannot begin to comprehend. Covenant Care is proud to walk alongside them and show them God’s love through the service we provide.

As an Adoptive Family Caseworker, my job is on the other side of the adoption equation. One of my primary responsibilities is to work with couples through the approval process to become a waiting family with Covenant Care. I often get comments like, “Oh you have the best job ever!” — especially after sharing a placement day video on my Facebook page!

And it is true: I love my job and consider it a blessing from God to be a part of this ministry. I get to make “the call” to couples who have waited months, sometimes years, to pour their love into a child. I get to watch God put families together — how amazing is that?! Couples tell us “thank you” for our work, but really? All I do is fill out paperwork. I am one of God’s worker bees, “created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Eph. 2:10, NIV).

What we don’t often talk about in adoption is the loss that many of our adoptive couples have experienced prior to their decision to adopt. Many of our couples have wrestled with infertility, often experiencing miscarriages, with no medical explanation. The grief and loss that some of our couples have conquered is palpable. I can feel it when couples share their struggle with me. I can hear it as we pray together.

Often couples wait a year or more before even inquiring about adoption. They recognize the need for healing, allowing God to soothe their hearts, restore their faith, and trust completely in Him. As one adoptive mother put it, “I had to fully grieve the loss of biological children to fully embrace pursuing adoption.”

My favorite Bible verse is Matthew 11: 28-29. “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” In addition to godly wisdom and discernment, my prayer each day is that Covenant Care can be a place of rest not just for birthmothers, but for our adoptive couples as well. The adoption journey — getting to it and getting through it — can be overwhelming. My desire is to serve adoptive couples with the same grace and admiration with which we serve birthmothers.

While adoptive couples and birthmothers come to Covenant Care for very different reasons, both parties are experiencing their own form of grief. Our job is to serve them well, extending the grace that God has freely given to us. When we do this, we do the “good works” that Christ has called us to do.