The Wrap-Around Model to Birth Parent Matching

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“The only thing for certain in an adoption journey is that you will get the opportunity to reach into the darkness and minister to a parent in need.”

I say this to almost every adoptive parent with whom I consult.  At The Adoption Law Firm, we want to work with adoptive parents who embrace this reality.

Inevitably, an expectant parent who is considering placing their child for adoption is in a difficult life situation.  Sometimes the birth parent has been rejected by their family and is all alone and knows they can’t parent. Sometimes they are struggling with addiction and want their child to have a better chance than the birth parent had.  Sometimes the child is the result of rape.  There are a 1,000 different reasons a birth parent would place their child for adoption – each one of those reasons comes from some place of brokenness.

If you are a potential birth parent reading this, and you think nobody would want to adopt your child because your struggle with addiction, let me put that myth to rest – I have adoptive parents lined up waiting to help you parent your child.  We want to partner with you to find a wonderful family that will help you raise your child.  Those are the kind of adoptive parents we want to work with.  The kind that will genuinely love you, care about you, and not treat you like a producer of their ultimate happiness.

At The Adoption Law Firm, we help put a team of people around you to help you be successful in your life journey. At The Adoption Law Firm we are your advocate for a better future.  The team we have in place has helped expectant birth parents with job training, housing, education, food, and medical needs.  Believe me, there are dozens of people waiting to help you.

The most important relationship in the adoption journey is the relationship between the adoptive mother and the expectant birth mother. That may sound crazy, but it’s the most common sense thing that could happen. As a birth parent – every birth mother – is asking the same question: “Am I making the best parenting decision for my child?” And, inevitably, 100 % of the time, the number one factor that will give an expectant parent peace about their adoption decision is knowing the authentic love and friendship of the adoptive mother.

We don’t have to over complicate this.  The birth mother will always be the first mother. She will always have a special relationship with her child, even if she never sees the child again. We counsel adoptive parents to always be processing with their adopted child the child’s adoption journey. In the case of our family, our adopted child’s first mother is held in reverence, respect, and gratitude – even though we know almost nothing about her.

The wrap-around model is simple – treat birth parents the way you would want to be treated.  Love them.

 

 

About the author

12278871_866045895926_7477321868643051748_nSam McLure is the Founder of The Adoption Law Firm.

Sam and his wife Mary Beth were inspired to establish The Adoption Law Firm during the process of adopting their first son, Robi (read more about their experience on the blog, Go Get Robi).

Sam and Mary Beth were exposed to the great need for loving families to adopt abandoned children at home and around the world.  They began to dream of a law center that could zealously advocate for children to be placed in loving homes.  Eventually, that dream became a reality.

The Adoption Law Firm exists to zealously advocate for orphaned children to be adopted into loving homes.

Samuel J. McLure, Esq.

EDUCATION

  • Thomas Goode Jones School of Law
    J.D., Cum Laude
  • Huntingdon College
    B.A. Business Administration – International Business

EXPERIENCE

  • Alabama Attorney General Candidate (2018 Election Cycle)
  • The Adoption Law Firm (2011 – Current)
    Founder, Attorney
  • Lifeline Children’s Services (2015 – 2016)
    Senior Legal Counsel
  • Sasser, Sefton, Brown, Tipton, & Davis (Fall 2012)
    Law Clerk – Corporate Litigation
  • Jones Walker (Summer 2010)
    Law Clerk – Banking & Finance
  • Supreme Court of Alabama (Spring 2010)
    Law Clerk Externship – Justice Smith
  • Prof. Matt Vega – Jones School of Law (Fall 2009 – Spring 2010)
    Research Assistant – Alien Tort Statute
  • Office of the Attorney General of Alabama (Summer 2009)
    Law Clerk Internship – White Collar Crime Division

PUBLICATIONS

  • Alabama’s Political Candidates and Their Capacity to Care For Orphans, Alabama Political Reporter (April 25, 2017).
  • The End of Orphan Care, Archdeacon Books (June 8, 2016).
  • Absent Biological Fathers in Adoption: Noticing the Nuance of Notice, Faulkner Law Review, Vol. 6, Issue 2, pg. 305 (Spring 2015).
  • Conviction and Contentment: Surveying Alabama’s Strategies to Care for Abused and Neglected Children, Alabama Today (May 22, 2015).
  • State Constitutional Personhood Amendments and the Promotion of Justice in Alabama, Regent Journal of Law & Public Policy, Vol. 4, No. 1 (Spring 2012).
  • Embracing Orphan Care & Adoption, River Region’s Journey, at pg. 22 (February 2012).
  • What is the Cost of Adoption?, River Region’s Journey, at pg. 26 (February 2012).
  • Adoption,Sav-A-Life of Montgomery, Inc., Vol. 26, Issue 11 (November 2011).

 

The End of Orphan Care, by Sam McLure

The End of Orphan Care, now available through Amazon, is perhaps the most comprehensive work on orphan care, to date.

Samuel E. Upchurch, Jr., Founder and Chairman of the Board Oakworth Capital Bank, states that:

“Sam McLure makes a scholarly case for Christians everywhere to follow the admonitions in James 1:27 to visit the orphans in their afflictions.  McLure paints a picture which expands the definition of “orphans” and the meaning of “visit” and calls on the Church to care for the unborn, the fatherless and the at risk youth everywhere. I began reading this book to write an endorsement but, as one with an adopted grandchild, found much historical and theological support for adoption.”