On Your Feet Foundation is thrilled to partner with Kim Noeth and her incredible program, Birth Moms Today, giving our birthmoms another opportunity to create clarity and healing in their lives. The 2023 Cohort forming now will work with Kim from February 15 - December 15, 2023, for a year of transformation.
Let's start with the basics: who are you, and what is your connection to adoption?
I am Kim Noeth. I am a writer, an editor and a life coach, and I have amazing conversations with people that lead to transformative breakthroughs in their life.
Some of my coaching work is done in the adoption community. I am also a birth mom.and part of my personal healing journey included processing all of the complex stuff that comes with the adoption decision.
I placed in the day when adoptions were closed and thought I would never see my son again. I had to live year after year with that reality even as life took me on other journeys. As fate would have it we did eventually reunite and it was as if a piece of my soul came back to me. That story is the Birth Moms Today website.
What is Birth Moms Today?
Birth Moms Today is an organization that I created to support women who have placed a child for adoption. It gives them a voice and choice regarding how they process their adoption experience and how they live out their lives today - thus the inclusion in the brand.
I started this organization because after I reunited with my son all these years later and after much research I discovered that even though so many years have passed there is still not adequate care available to moms who choose placement.
People are all for the adoption decision but not all for the reality of how that decision effects everyone involved. We need to completely reform how adoption is understood and managed in today's day. Birth Moms Today exists to aid in that awareness.
Who is it for?
Birth Moms Today is for women who placed recently and those who placed many years ago. Adoption is a lifelong decision. Learning how to navigate that decision is a lifelong process. Part of that processing includes grief recovery. Grief is a natural response to loss and while that grief might not hit you right away it is always in the room. How we learn to deal with it is the key to growth. Birth Moms Today helps women deal with it in a healthier way than they might be currently managing it.
What is a Birthmom Life Coach?
A coach, in general, helps someone to see what they might not be seeing. They cheer you on from the sidelines by helping to encourage you to your highest potential. They shine a light and get super-curious with you about how life is showing up for you today. On a birthmom's journey there is stuff that holds us back from living our best life if we don't process it in a healthy manner. So I use my coaching and grief skills to help birthmoms come to a place of peace around their adoption decision and see what life has next for them.I shine the light real bright and we walk the journey together.
The coaching work I do leads to transformation in the lives of those who participate.
Why is it beneficial for birthparents to have birthparent guides on their journey?
Placing a child for adoption is an extremely complex decision. There is a silent stigma placed on birth moms by society and by themselves that I believe can only be fully understood by someone who has lived it. Having someone shine the light and sit in that understanding with you is valuable and instrumental to growth.
What should potential adoptive parents know about the birthparent experience?
This is a lifelong decision that will require unconditional love, lack of judgement and ego, grace and the ability to remember that sometimes the journey is messy--you've never been here before. You are not supposed to know what to do. and help is available. Every day is a new day to go again and find the healthiest ways possible to navigate the relationships, for the sake of the child.
Tell us about the 2023 cohort we are partnering together on. What is the experience going to be like for birth parents? Who is a good candidate? What do they get out of it?
I am so excited for the women that will be embarking on this journey with us this year. We are going to spend a year together processing all this stuff and looking ahead to how we want the next part of the journey to go. There will be ten moms per circle to allow for personalized support and care.
We will meet monthly in an online group setting and continue our conversations in a private online support group each month. Each mom will also have a private 1-1 coaching session with me to process the more private aspects of their journey.
Who is the best candidate for an experience like this?
The best candidates are those who are ready to take themselves on and participate and who desire to heal and move forward in peace about their adoption decision.
You are a busy woman - what else is in the pipeline for you this year?
Looking ahead, I am working on a collaboration with Cairs for their Child Connect app. This will be post-adoption support for moms who have placed.I'll be doing some webinars for adoption agencies and families, supporting them as they deal with the emotions that arise from working in this industry or effected by the relationship. And I am hosting a weekend retreat and creating another journey called the Brave and Noble Journey for entrepreneurs and coaches dealing with change in their lives.
Where can our readers find you online?
You can find me at KimNoeth.com and Birth Moms Today, on Facebook or Instagram (also via the hashtags #braveandnoblecircles and #birthmomstoday).
Applications for our On Your Feet Foundation | Birth Moms Today post-adoption journey cohort close on February 1, 2023.
