"A Little Bump in the Road" - How Adoption Helped Julia Reach Her Dreams

Julia was on what seemed like the perfect track for her life when she entered her junior year of college. But, when she found herself unexpectedly pregnant in her second semester, all of those set plans had to change.

Over the course of her pregnancy, Julia would drop out of her original school, move back to her hometown of Las Vegas for family support and to reevaluate her school plans, and eventually move to Tampa for a new job — all keeping the best interest of her unborn child in mind. As she says, she knew adoption was the right choice for the both of them from the very beginning.

“Don’t get me wrong, it’s really hard,” Julia says. “There were plenty of times when I felt like I was scared… but I felt like it was the right decision for me — and I still feel like that today.”

Making a Plan for the Future

When Julia first became pregnant, she knew that abortion wasn’t an option for her. She didn’t have support from the baby’s father, and being in college made parenting even more impossible. Adoption, on the other hand, seemed like a perfect fit. Growing up, she had seen the movie “Bella,” telling the story of a young waitress who placed her child in an open adoption. For Julia, adoption offered the chance to make the same brave choice and bring love into another parent’s life.

“I knew I wanted my daughter to have a stable home as well as two parents that could love and nurture her into the young woman that I hope she will become,” she says.

So, she started researching her options — and came across American Adoptions. She says it was the instant connection she felt with her adoption specialists that made her realize she had chosen the right professional. In addition to her adoption specialist Brighid, Julia had a local adoption specialist named Jennifer who guided her through the process, meeting with her and even being there during her eventual delivery.

It would be Brighid that would help Julia find the parents she wanted for her child. But, instead of letting the specialists announce to the parents they had been picked, Julia wanted to send them a video herself. So, she did. After that, the first conversation she had with them lasted three hours, and it would end up being the perfect match.

“I knew it was the right decision when they told me they had always wanted a girl and had always planned to name her Julianna,” she remembers. “They told me the story about how they were at Thanksgiving and they were praying, and they got the call from me. It’s just a blessing all around.”

But, as easy as choosing adoption and choosing her daughter’s parents was, the hardest part of her experience was the instability she faced as a student, moving to a new city, trying to find a job and then moving back to her hometown when she received a job offer there. She found herself in an unsafe living condition but says her specialist Brighid stepped in to provide the means for a safer living environment through the remainder of her pregnancy.

Julia found the support American Adoptions offered her would extend well beyond her adoption placement, too.

Living Her Everyday Adoption Story

When Julia became pregnant, she remembers wondering what she would do with her life after her pregnancy ended. But, once she found parents for her daughter and began her open adoption relationship with them, she found that she healed much quicker than others may have imagined she would.

“I’m all about choices and doing what is right for you and I felt like, for me, I made the right choice,” she says. “Because I made the right choice for me, it really didn’t impact me negatively.”

Less than a year after placing her child for adoption, Julia decided she was ready to continue working toward her educational goals. So, she applied for American Adoptions’ birth parent scholarship, which she used to help her obtain her bachelor’s and master’s degrees.  She said it was initially tough returning to school, seeing all her friends graduate two years earlier than she did. But, it was important to her to keep going.

“I knew my life did not stop after adoption,” she says. “It gave me a second chance to pursue my goals and dreams so that I can be a better version of myself and help people along the way. I wanted to show my daughter that I didn’t give up on myself and, more importantly, her.”

Along the way, Julia gave birth to another daughter. She is currently raising her and contemplating returning to school for her PhD or a certificate in public management for a future career in the federal government. Julia says her daughter knows who Julianna is, and she looks forward to the day when the two have some kind of relationship. But, she maintains it will all be up to Julianna’s parents.

“I want to be as open as she wants to be,” Julia says. “I’m always going to be open for her and listen to her, and if she has any questions, I hope I’ll be there to answer them. But I want to fall back on her parents. I don’t think they would ever, ever not include me in her life, because they already made that known from day one.

“They’ll let her know when the time is right, and if she wants to pursue a full, open relationship, I’m totally fine with that.”

Today, Julia says she’s proud to share her adoption story with anyone who asks. She has pictures of both of her daughters at work, and she says there have been multiple times when she’s explained exactly who Julianna is to her coworkers. She often speaks to other prospective birth mothers who contact her through her specialist Brighid, offering advice and support as they try to figure out which path is right for them. To them, and any other prospective birth mothers, she offers a few pieces of advice.

“Honestly, just sit down and think about the best interest of your child,” she says. “You’re going to contemplate the decision a hundred times but, at the end of the day, you’re going to know what’s right for you and what’s right for your child. Don’t think that your life is over; yeah, you have a little bump in the road, but that’s not going to stop you.”

If you would like more information on adoption, please call our adoption specialists for free at 1-800-ADOPTION today.

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