As we wrap up 2024, we take a look back at what we've accomplished, the milestones the birthparents we serve have achieved, and look ahead to 2025, when we are pioneering an innovative new program to assess and treat PMAD in birthparents - the first program of it's kind.

Postpartum Mood and Anxiety Disorder (PMAD) is a pregnancy complication that impacts an estimated 1 out of every 5 women (or more than 750,000 women) who give birth annually in the United States, with estimates indicating that PMAD is a $14 billion problem. PMAD is typically diagnosed by a pediatrician, which means that birthing women who place their child for adoption, referred to as birthparents within the adoption industry, while at higher risk for developing PMAD due to the trauma of a crisis pregnancy and placing their child for adoption, are not assessed since they do not see a pediatrician following the birth of their child. This white paper discusses the scope of the problem, and offers a solution that On Your Feet has been exploring, that will allow birthparents to be assessed for PMAD and find treatment for it, with our help and support.

We were honored to host the authors of Adoption Unfiltered to the Chicagoland area in February, as part of their book tour. The recording of that panel session is now available on the Activism in Adoption website, and today we sit down with one of the authors, Kelsey Vander Vliet Ranyard, to do a deep-dive into the incredible advocacy work she does in adoption spaces, to help foster better outcomes for everyone in the adoption constellation.