Choosing Adoption creates community for expectant and birth parents navigating one of life's most personal decisions. Host Donna Pope, Executive Director of Heart To Heart Adoptions with over 25 years of experience, provides space where your story matters and your voice is valued. Each episode features birth parents who share their journeys of challenges, growth, and healing after placement. If you're considering adoption or seeking connection in your ongoing experience, this podcast offers practical guidance, emotional support, and faith-centered encouragement. Connect with others who truly understand your path and find the resources you need at every stage of your journey. New episodes every week because no one should walk this path alone. Subscribe for birth parent support that meets you exactly where you are.
Choosing Adoption
Claim This Podcastby Donna Pope
Podcast Overview
Choosing Adoption creates community for expectant and birth parents navigating one of life's most personal decisions. Host Donna Pope, Executive Director of Heart To Heart Adoptions with over 25 years of experience, provides space where your story matters and your voice is valued. Each episode features birth parents who share their journeys of challenges, growth, and healing after placement. If you're considering adoption or seeking connection in your ongoing experience, this podcast offers practical guidance, emotional support, and faith-centered encouragement. Connect with others who truly understand your path and find the resources you need at every stage of your journey. New episodes every week because no one should walk this path alone. Subscribe for birth parent support that meets you exactly where you are.
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
8/11/2025
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Recent Episodes
May 1, 2026
She Said the Family Had a Light Around Them
Victoria Slappy never planned to become an expert on all three sides of the pregnancy decision, but life gave her the full range. An abortion at sixteen that still haunts her. A first adoption that dissolved into silence after six months. And a second adoption that built a family bond she never expected. On this episode of Choosing Adoption, she holds nothing back. Two Adoptions, Two Realities Victoria walks through the devastating contrast between her first adoption, where the adoptive family cut all contact and pursued legal restrictions, and her second, where the family embraced her, her husband, and all five of her daughters as extended family. She explains what made the difference: authenticity over performance, cultural awareness, and a willingness to treat the relationship like a partnership rather than a transaction. What Abortion and Adoption Taught Her About Choice At sixteen, Victoria chose abortion under family pressure and has counted that baby's birthday every year since. Years later, pregnant again and already parenting five daughters, she chose adoption and describes the pregnancy as an unexpected surrogacy, one where she treasured every kick and heartbeat because she knew it was her last time with him. Her side-by-side emotional comparison of both experiences is something every person navigating this decision deserves to hear. Advice for Birth Parents, Adoptive Families, and the Children They Share Victoria delivers direct guidance for adoptive families: stop performing, be organic, and understand that a birth mother can tell the difference between a sales pitch and a real person. She also sounds a critical warning about open adoption agreements in states like Ohio, where they function as moral contracts with no legal enforcement after rights are signed away. Listen to the full episode on Choosing Adoption to hear Victoria's complete story and the message she has already recorded for her son to hear someday. Download Your Free Introductory Adoption Guide at ChoosingAdoption.com. #Adoption #OpenAdoption #ClosedAdoption #BirthMom #BirthMotherStory #ChoosingAdoption #AdoptionPlan #TransracialAdoption #AdoptionJourney #AdoptionStory #BirthParent #AdoptiveFamily #AdoptionSupport #HeartToHeartAdoptions #OpenAdoptionAgreement #AdoptionAdvice #AdoptionAwareness #ProLife #AdoptionVsAbortion #BirthMotherHealing Follow or Subscribe to Choosing Adoption on your favorite platforms: Website: https://choosingadoption.com/ YouTube: http://youtube.com/@ChoosingAdoption Twitter/X: http://x.com/choosingadoptn Instagram: https://instagram.com/choosingadoptionshow/ Follow Donna Pope: LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/donna-pope-41652ba/
March 31, 2026
A Mother of 8 Explains the Adoption Decision Nobody Talks About
Eight children. Three lost to foster care. Two abused in state placements. And one mother who decided the system would never choose for her again. In this episode of Choosing Adoption with host Donna Pope, birth parents Malena and Chuck share how they turned to open adoption to protect their younger children and keep siblings together. When the System Took the Choice Away Malena did everything CPS demanded and still had her son taken at birth. The federal 15-of-22-month rule terminated her parental rights, and her lawyer told her she would have kept them if she had surrendered sooner. That loss, and the abuse her older boys suffered in care, drove every decision that followed. Choosing the Family and Keeping Brothers Together Malena and Chuck chose Heart to Heart Adoptions and found a family committed to keeping birth parents involved. When their eighth child arrived five months early after a life-threatening pregnancy, they asked the same family to take him too. Today, they receive monthly updates through Our Hearts Connect, and the adoptive family recently visited on their own, something Malena says is better than anything she has gotten from family members who adopted her older children. Discover what becomes possible when birth parents take the lead in choosing their child's future. Subscribe to Choosing Adoption for stories that show what open adoption looks like when families build it together. #ChoosingAdoption #BirthParentStory #OpenAdoption #FosterCare #CPSReform #AdoptionIsLove #BirthMotherVoice #BirthFatherStory #SiblingAdoption #AdoptionAdvocacy #HeartToHeartAdoptions #BirthParentRights #FosterCareReform #OurHeartsConnect #PreeclampsiaSurvivor #NICUBaby #AdoptionPodcast #RealAdoptionStories #BirthParentPerspective #AdoptionJourney Follow or Subscribe to Choosing Adoption on your favorite platforms: Website: https://choosingadoption.com/ YouTube: http://youtube.com/@ChoosingAdoption Twitter/X: http://x.com/choosingadoptn Instagram: https://instagram.com/choosingadoptionshow/ Follow Donna Pope: LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/donna-pope-41652ba/ Follow Melana: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KraziikittiAkaViolentK TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lanakraziikitti
November 27, 2025
Because We Loved Him — We Chose the Life That Gave Him More
In this episode of Choosing Adoption with host Donna Pope, birth parents Kaylee and Elijah sit alongside adoptive parents Paul and Cassie with baby Seth to share their adoption story together. This rare conversation reveals what happens when both families commit to building an open adoption relationship from day one.
14 total episodes available
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Frequently asked questions
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- What is Choosing Adoption?
- How often does this podcast release new episodes?
This podcast updates daily.
- Where can I listen to this podcast?
This podcast is available on 4 platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and more. You can also use the RSS feed directly.
- Does this podcast accept guests?
Yes, this podcast regularly features guests.
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