November is National Adoption Month, and the TWK Conference of the UMC is grateful to partner with two covenant entities focusing on adoption care: Miriam’s Promise and Hannah’s Hope. They are both dedicated organizations with a passion for helping families in their adoption journeys.
Beginning in 1985 as the “Holston House,” Miriam’s Promise officially became a 501(c)(3) in 2003. Located in Nashville, the organization offers non-directive, option-based pregnancy counseling–free of charge–to persons involved in a non-planned pregnancy. They offer decision-making support, wraparound services, and help with meeting base needs to ensure that those in these situations can make the decision that is right for them. Miriam’s Promise also offers adoption-related services such as child placement, writing home studies, and post-placement supervision and support. They use research-based approaches when working to educate prospective adoptive families in matters related to attachment and trans-racial adoptions. The organization also offers support for adopted children at different stages of their lives.
As J. Dietz Osborne, Miriam’s Promise’s President and CEO, explains, the organization’s mission originates in its name.
“When, in Exodus, Moses’s mother, Jochebed, puts Moses in the Nile River, and the Egyptian princess finds him in the basket, Miriam steps forward and becomes the advocate for the birth family, the adoptive family, and the child,” said Osborne. “That is what we are called to do: be an advocate for each part of the adoptive triad. This is what drives our mission.”
Hannah’s Hope, which also began in 2003, exists to help adoptive families and pregnant women in crisis. Operating in West Tennessee, Hannah’s Hope provided over 2,000 hours of counseling and/or case management to more than 175 vulnerable mothers and their children in 2022–free of charge. The organization is a growing, loving ministry dedicated to the healing of all God’s children through adoption services and pregnancy counseling.
Both organizations are wonderful ministry partners, and we encourage you to support their vital work.