meet jennifer pedley

We are honored to have Jennifer Pedley join our team of amazing HHM Contributors. Jennifer will be touching primarily on issues pertaining to adoption (from considering adoption, to adoption plans, emotions, and aftermath) and I can’t wait to, not only become better informed on the topic myself, but to enlighten those of you who have been as clueless as myself as to what “today’s” adoptions are really like and how they impact those involved. Here is what she had to say about joining the HHM family, and please be sure to look for Jennifer’s articles every Wednesday here on Happy Hour Mom:

Hello!  I’m Jennifer Pedley and I’m delighted to be a new contributor for the happy little family here at Happy Hour Mom! My particular interest and expertise is in the area of adoptions;  Join me every Wednesday for a new article that will enlighten, inform, and even entertain you, as we discuss a veritable smorgasbord of adoption-related topics such as:  Deciding to Adopt, What Does Open Adoption Really Mean?, and Supporting Your BFF While She Adopts, just to name a few!

My qualifications in this subject are threefold:  My book knowledge comes from having earned degrees in both law and social work; I gathered my practical experience during fifteen years of hands-on work in the field,  and lastly, my personal insight comes from my own journey as a birthmother.  Nearly twenty years ago, I made an adoption plan for my newborn son Grey, and since then, have maintained open ties with both him and his adoptive parents.

I love to write, teach, train and talk about all things adoption.  (Basically, you can’t get me to shut up about it!).  I work closely with the On Your Feet Foundation, an organization exclusively dedicated to assisting birthparents.  I am especially proud of my work establishing and co-leading semiannual weekend retreats for birthmothers.  You may have seen us recently on MTV’s documentary series, Teen Mom, when the camera’s followed birthmother Catelynn at our retreat.  Equally as exciting, my first book, Secrets To Your Successful Domestic Adoption, Insider Advice to Start Your Forever Family Faster, is scheduled for release in June of 2010 by HCI Books.

In my spare time, I am happily married, am parenting two crazy little boys (seven and nine) and enjoy doing any crafty-decoriffic-creative project I can get my hands on.  Currently, I reside trapped on a gravel road, in SE Michigan where I spend my days trying to make it to carpool on time and plotting a way to relocate us back to a real city…