Lilly Endowment grant to support new statewide adoption program
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Indianapolis-based not-for-profit The Villages of Indiana Inc. is using a more than $1.6 million grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. to support the mothers of what it says will be an increasing number of newborns in Indiana.
The family and child services agency says it will create a new, statewide mother-centered adoption program by 2025.
The program, which will first be piloted in Evansville, is designed to help individuals “facing challenges that make pregnancy and parenthood especially difficult to decide if adoption is the right choice for them.”
In an interview with Inside INdiana Business, CEO Shannon Schumacher talked about the need for the new program.
“We know that because of the abortion restriction legislation that we’re going to have pregnant women who find themselves unexpectedly pregnant, and they do have limited options at this point,” Schumacher said. “So we know that many of them are going to raise these babies on their own, and they need support. And so this program will offer support for her regardless if she chooses to follow through with adoption or to raise the child herself.”
Schumacher referenced the near-total abortion ban passed by the Indiana General Assembly last year. The ban was set to go into effect on Tuesday, but the ACLU of Indiana’s last-minute request for a rehearing by the Indiana Supreme Court left a preliminary injunction on the ban in place temporarily.
The organization said if an expectant mother decides to choose adoption, the program will connect her with a trained case manager who will help her explore adoption more fully, including matching her with a prospective adoptive family.
Those resources will also extend post-adoption, Schumacher said.
“There aren’t very many programs in the country that continue to support the mother post adoption,” she said. “She’s at high risk for postpartum depression. She’s at higher risk for all kinds of various mental health and substance use disorder issues after the adoption. So this program also will continue with her after she places her baby up for adoption.”
But Schumacher said some women who reach out about adoption may not end up going through with it. In that case, the program will provide a different set of resources to support the mother.
“We will have a whole host of services to wrap around that mother if she does raise the child on her own. We have lots of services that we already have in place across the state [including the] Healthy Families Program [and] home visitation programs.”
Schumacher said the goal is to have a pilot program in place in Evansville by the end of this year, but the program will not stop there.
“We already have a lot of services in Evansville,” she said. “Evansville has a limited number of adoption services there, and so we are going to pilot it there. Then, the goal is by 2025, to have it available to any woman in the state of Indiana.”
The Villages of Indiana has 17 offices that serve all 92 Indiana counties. The organization employs about 300 staff, and the program will allow for the hiring of seven staff dedicated to the new adoption program.
“We envision a world where every child, youth, and family will flourish in safe, nurturing environments and this grant ensures The Villages can remain responsive to the needs of the most vulnerable in our communities.”