Hopeful Beginnings 2022 in Review

As we wind down 2022, I want to take time to reflect on the best present that we can give this season and that is the gift of hope. On so many occasions in this past year, I have been asked to explain Hopeful Beginnings – our work as an agency – and what exactly it is that we do day in and day out.

I have a spiel – many, I am sure, have heard it: the two branches, counseling and adoption, parenting supports, family expansion through open adoption and case management. The truth is that I am still perfecting it because the large body of work that the agency conducts boils down to one thing and that is: we give hope.

Hope to grieving parents and teen parents, hope to parents who long for a child and hope to parents who know that they love their child so much they choose a different life for them, hope to families who might be on their last dollar and desperately need a pack of diapers for their child, hope to mothers who just want to feel like themselves again. It’s the hope that by supporting, by listening and by believing pregnant women and parents that we can help provide every child with a loving home. It’s hard work, and it’s hard to create a box that encompasses so many unique situations.

Hopeful Beginnings believes in families and believes that each family is unique in the way that they are formed. The word “family” is in fact a spectrum that includes single persons to single moms with three children to two dads parenting twins, and all the in between. The mission that brought this agency together in 1887 as a home for unwed mothers and children is the same mission that we uplift today: to give hope, to care for those in need and the belief that strong families make strong communities. Our activities have changed with the times but our hope for children has not.

This year, we are particularly proud of our work: Hopeful Beginnings helped form 3 families through our domestic adoption program and provided 196 individuals with adoption related support. This includes our families needing home studies for out of state adoptions, adoptees and/or birth parents looking for reunification and support for birth parent/adoptive family visits.

Hopeful Beginnings also provided support for 37 high school students who sought counseling or pregnancy related services. We are also proud to share that this year our teen parenting program was able to reach many additional district 214 students through health class presentations.

Our counseling services grew leaps and bounds this year: our social workers provided over 1,476 hours of counseling – free of charge! We have heard time and time again how the work of listening, validating and providing support has helped parents become more engaged with their children and allowed families to move forward in their journeys.

Hopeful Beginnings is thankful to all those who have supported in 2022 – donating not just monetarily, but those who have donated their time, baby clothes, support. We never could have done this work without you!

So here’s to a healthy and happy 2023 where we can continue to be part of even more stories.

• Provided 37 high school students with pregnancy related support
• Provided 196 individuals with adoption related support
• Helped form 3 families through our domestic adoption program
• Our social workers provided over 1,476 hours of counseling – FREE of charge!