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Three women, coinciding events bring adoption services to rural Nebraska
The impact of coinciding life events among three colleagues inspired them to start an entrepreneurial business in rural Nebraska. And despite their widely-separated geography, it seems to be working.
Nancy Morris, Barbara Swanson and Michelle Warner met early in their social work careers, and through the years their work intertwined, friendships developed, and they discovered a mutual interest in interracial and international adoptions.
“My husband took a medical retirement, and we moved to McCook, our former home,” said Nancy Morris. “Before our move, Michelle, Barbara and I had talked about starting our own adoption agency, one that would serve the rural areas of western and central Nebraska as well as the eastern part of the state.”
At about this same time Barbara Swanson returned to Holdrege, her hometown, after living for three years in New Orleans. Michelle Warner and her husband adopted a baby girl from China, and Michelle decided to work out of her home instead of the Omaha agency where she had been employed as an adoption consultant.
Swanson, a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor, and Morris and Warner, both Licensed Clinical Social Workers, saw a need for an independent adoption agency that could provide adoption support services to families who live anywhere in Nebraska but especially in rural Nebraska. They created Adoption Consultants, Inc. in 2006 with the corporate office in McCook and “branches” in Holdrege and Omaha.
A cross-cultural specialty
There are actually quite a number of requirements that have to be met before a child can be placed through adoption with Nebraska families. Adoption Consultants offers home study assessments, adoption education and post placement supervision as well as competent and caring advice on navigating “the journey to parenthood”.
“More and more people in Nebraska want to adopt internationally or adopt trans-racial children,” Swanson said. The team’s knowledge of foreign and cross-cultural adoption evolved from their broad and personal experiences with foreign and trans-racial adoptions, work with international and U.S. adoption laws, and from a first-hand experience with foreign adoption programs.
“In January 2005 we traveled together to Guatemala in Central America to meet personally with the directors of Guatemalan orphanages,” Swanson said. “We extended our knowledge of foreign adoption from the viewpoint of the adopting country and from the directors of the orphanages.”
Warner added, “In handling international adoptions, the family usually contacts us because they don’t know what to do. We help them figure it out.”
Barriers to rural adoptions
Rural families who want to adopt a child may experience additional barriers when they try to access services from agencies in Omaha and Lincoln. They often need to drive to there, at additional cost, and schedule weeks ahead to access the services. Morris said. “We live in three different locations across the state, and we strive to make the adoption process more manageable and affordable for our clients.”
In Nebraska families are required by law to have a home study done before a child can be placed with them for adoption, and a licensed adoption agency located in Nebraska must provide these services.
“Many families have selected the agency they want to work with for placement, or they might be working with an attorney,” says Morris. “We work in conjunction with other adoption agencies and attorneys. For example, if the adoption agency is located in another state, we might be asked to do the home study and help with the screening process.”
Adoption Consultants, Inc. services include helping families prepare for the adoption process as well as the adoption itself. Adoption support may become a 10-15 year commitment, Swanson said, and the trio provides ongoing support and education to adopting families.
“We stress to the families the importance of learning about attachment issues to assure their child’s transition into the family goes as well as possible,” she said.
Vision for the future
The agency hopes to add additional services such as educational seminars, support groups for adoptive parents and children who have been adopted.
Starting a business of this sort in rural Nebraska has the advantage of making Adoption Consultants the only adoption agency with their main office located west of Lincoln.
“Our presence in the Western part of the state not only brings these services to clients who need them but it also helps to educate all people about adoption,” Morris said. “People in western Nebraska are appreciative that they do not have to travel to eastern Nebraska in order to receive these services. In many cases community organizations, public libraries and news media have been especially supportive of getting the word out about the business or supporting us in some way where in a more populated area our agency would be just one of many.”
On the downside, the distances are great between the three colleagues, and they can’t get together as often as they’d like, and they’re limited in their interaction with other professionals. But on the whole, they feel the benefits to their clients and the way the firm accommodates their separate lifestyles makes it all worthwhile.
With a little parting advice to entrepreneurs, Morris said, “A little fear keeps you in line and keeps you trying to do things right but don’t let the fear keep you from moving forward with your dream.”
Who To Contact...
Nancy Morris, LCSW
Western Nebraska
nancy@adoptionconsultantsinc.org
Barbara Swanson, LCPC, LMHP
Central Nebraska
barbara@adoptionconsultantsinc.org
Michelle Warner, LCSW
Eastern Nebraska
michelle@adoptionconsultantsinc.org
308-340-6242 McCook
402-679-1807 Omaha
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