What We Did
In 2024, Heartbeat International surveyed pregnancy help organization staff and volunteers to better understand the realities they face when presenting adoption to their clients. After review and analysis, we're ready to share the results. Our goal is to help the movement recognize where we’re doing well, identify areas for growth, and see more clearly what today’s adoption landscape looks like.
In the report below, you will see the data along with what it means for the movement and resources you can find from Heartbeat Academy to strengthen your adoption culture internally and externally. In addition, we’ve included a one-page summary designed for policymakers that outlines the barriers to adoption created by current legal realities and offers practical steps they can take to remove those barriers.
How to Use This Survey
This survey is not only a snapshot of where the movement stands on adoption today—it’s also a tool for your center. November is National Adoption Awareness Month, which makes this the perfect time to highlight adoption in your communications and trainings.
We encourage you to use these findings to:
- Educate your staff and volunteers by hosting an in-service training. Walk through the data together and discuss how your team can build confidence in presenting adoption as a life-giving option.
- Engage your community by sharing adoption-focused posts on social media or weaving adoption stories and statistics into your donor emails.
- Inform your team by reviewing the one-page policy summary with your board members and considering ways your center can advocate for stronger adoption culture locally.
Our hope is that you use the insights from this survey to strengthen your adoption messaging, equip your team, and expand the reach of your work during Adoption Awareness Month and beyond.
Methodology
After consulting with Lance Kinzer, Director of Policy and Government Relations at 1st Amendment Partnership, and Elizabeth Kirk, Assistant Professor of Law at The Catholic University of America, we developed a survey to assess the attitudes toward adoption of both clients and staff at pregnancy help organizations.
The survey consisted of three primary sections:
- the pregnancy help organization’s demographics and practices around adoption,
- the attitudes toward abortion of their staff, and
- the realities of the outlook on adoption that clients they serve show.
We distributed the survey to the staff of Heartbeat Affiliates in the United States. Over the two months of collecting responses, we gathered 214 responses, 97 of whom reported as leaders in their organizations (and therefore answered additional questions about training and staffing). Responses collected represented 42 states and an almost even spread of organizations serving in rural, urban, and suburban areas. Not all questions were required or had responses from all respondents.
Adoption Survey 2024 presentation by Jennifer Wright with analysis by Sara Dominguez
