1555 Sherman Ave, #173
Evanston, Illinois 60201
© Activism in Adoption

Someday, you are going to have to tell your child the circumstances surrounding their adoption. Are you going to be able to tell them that you did everything you could to make sure their adoption was ethical? That you made sure that their birth mother had access to the resources she needed to heal?

-Hope Baker, Advocate, Birthmom

About Activism in Adoption


Activism in Adoption started as a way for us to connect with the adoption community in 2020, but over the course of the next two years, what began as a 5-part speaker series turned into an adoption education platform as we realized the impact the series was having on those who attended. Our initial concept was to create content that better-informed adoptive families and adoption professionals about the birthparent experience, as well as educating birthparents, no matter where they were in their adoption journey, in order to improve outcomes for the population we serve at On Your Feet Foundation.

Today, the platform brings together all members of the adoption constellation, something unique to adoption education. It de-platforms adoptive parent voices and highlights the lived experiences of birthparents and adoptees. And it focuses on critical issues in adoption beyond infancy and early childhood, addressing the complexities of Race, Relationships and Resilience and the challenges of navigating those issues over the course of a lifetime.

Our live-via-Zoom sessions, predominately featuring birthparent and adoptee voices, create a safe space for everyone in the adoption community to explore preconceived notions, stigmas and stereotypes, sit in vulnerability, and ask hard questions. When we are able to do this as a community, we are able to become the change-makers in adoption and we are able to improve outcomes for everyone in the constellation.

About On Your Feet Foundation


Founded in 2001, On Your Feet Foundation was the first organization dedicated to providing comprehensive post-placement care for birthparents. Recognizing the lack of available resources, members of the triad came together to meet birthparents where they are, helping them achieve their goals by developing programs and tools to acknowledge and address the grief and trauma of placement.

Today, On Your Feet Foundation celebrates twenty years of service to the birthparent community and continues to be one of the only independent, non-profit organizations dedicated to providing birthparents with comprehensive case management services, grants for adoption-competent counseling, tuition, and emergency rent assistance, as well as running online communities, support groups, and birthmom-facilitated in-person and virtual retreats for birthmoms in the US and beyond.


We HONOR the choice of birthparents to place their child for adoption. We EDUCATE others about the challenges facing birthparents. We EMPOWER all of our clients by connecting them with resources, services and community.


On Your Feet Foundation's board of directors, staff, advisory and auxiliary boards include birthparents, adoptive parents (both domestic and international), adoptees and adoption professionals. Our clients have placed in open adoptions, closed adoptions, transracial adoptions, and with same-sex couples. They are parenting other children, are survivors of domestic violence, have had their parental rights terminated, have placed with family members, and are adoptees themselves.