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On January 31, Choice Network Founder and CEO Molly Rampe Thomas appeared before the Ohio House Government Accountability and Oversight Committee and gave the following testimony as a proponent of HB 160, the Ohio Fairness Act. 

Only four percent of adopted children are being raised by LGBT parents.

At Choice Network, we’re proud nearly 25 percent of our families are LGBTQ.

And we’ve set a goal to increase that number to 50 percent.

If you’ve been following Choice Network social media channels the last couple of weeks, you’ve noticed we’re raising our voice when it comes to being a pro-choice open adoption agency. During this historic week of the 45th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade court decision that legalized abortion in the US, we’re celebrating being one of more than 140 organizations and leaders committed to a new vision for abortion.

There’s this little thing that’s been eating away at the corner of my conscience for weeks, maybe months now.

Sean Huiet is an assistant volleyball coach at Texas State University, and is known to his athletes as ‘Coach.’ When Sean was ready to add the title of ‘Dad’ to his roster, he knew he could turn to Choice Network for help. 

“For me, going through the adoption process for the first time and being a first time dad, I had a million questions. But with Molly, Joni, and Joe at Choice Network, there were no wrong questions. They walked me through every step, every scenario of what could happen during the adoption process, and I felt prepared,” said Sean.

As an adoption agency, Choice Network sees first-hand the thousands of older children – not just newborns and babies – who are waiting to be adopted. We see kids, like Buneka, torn from their first families.

My favorite thing to do as a child was play adoption agency. I would line my cutout magazine kids or baby dolls and get them all ready for their big day. All the kids had smiles on their faces and every one of them was chosen by the perfect family. They got new birth certificates and names, and everyone was happy.

Choice Network believes that families are meant to stay together. When a pregnant person comes to us for help, we offer them ALL options – open adoption, abortion and parenting. Each option comes with its own set of triumphs and challenges. When a pregnant person decides to parent, we spend much of our time and power helping them create plans, identify resources and connect them with support systems so they can best parent their children.

The adoption tax credit appears to now be “safe” – saved from devastating elimination in a last minute amendment in the House and protected in the Senate.