Sara Beth Zeiser is a freshman art major at Union University. She was born to Robin, a teenage girl who found out she was pregnant at 17. Sara Beth’s birth mother made the decision to give her up for adoption. Unlike some adoptions, Sara Beth’s is a closed one. This means she and her birth mother have no contact.
Sarah Beth came into the world in 1999 in a town right outside of Dallas, Texas. Her adoptive parents, Regina and Bruce Zeiser, welcomed her with open arms. They were unable to have children, so Sara Beth as well as her adopted brother were both blessings in their lives. “They were always very open and honest about my adoption from a young age,” Sara Beth explained. Visit this site for the do's and don'ts on how to tell your children they are adopted.
She went on to say that her birth mother had written her a letter and sent it with her at birth, which expressed her mentality about her unplanned pregnancy. Because of this, Sara Beth struggled with feeling abandoned. “I let my anger and frustration control me. That went on until my high school days; it was then I was able to let it go,” Sara Beth summarized.
When she turned 18, Sara Beth had the option to reach out to her adoption agency and try to get in touch with her birth mother. “I waited a year out of fear before doing this,” she said. Unfortunately, she was met with disappointment. Sara Beth received a notice that her birth mother had not made any attempts to connect with her.
Although these events in her life were not what she expected, she knows God has a bigger and better plan. Sara Beth believes one of these things is the ability to tell her story and impact people who may be going through similar experiences as herself or her birth mom.
Volunteering at a pregnancy center in her hometown of Chattanooga, Sara Beth is able to talk with women who are debating options for their unwanted pregnancy. “I feel that I was a light in those women’s lives… To show them that God had other plans,” she said. Sara Beth is living proof of that. Her birth mother was on the table at one point to have Sara Beth aborted. Thank God, she changed her mind.
Sara Beth's birth mother was adopted herself. This is something Sara Beth hopes to do in her own life as well: she hopes to adopt when she is older. “I want to adopt, and I hope my children adopt and then their children… I want to keep it going,” she said with a smile.
There have been many things in Sara Beth’s life up to this point that have been very tiring and frustrating; however, if none of it had happened, she would not be where she is today. “I use my adoption to show how powerful God’s plan is,” she said. She hopes to impact many people with her story. I have no doubt that she already has!
NAA is an organization made up of a group of communications students from Union University. Despite the fact that none of us are directly affected by adoption, it is something that we feel has had an impact on so many people, including ourselves! More specifically, we recognize the need for domestic adoption within the United States, as hundreds of thousands of children are without homes in our own country. Our goal is to educate and advocate for domestic adoption while encouraging young adults such as ourselves to consider doing the same. We invite you to connect with us on this journey to make adoption within the United States more mainstream. Find us below!
We’d love to hear from you at nationaladoptionalliance@gmail.com
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