Tabitha’s story | “My kids have lost out on both grandparents due to a reckless woman’s search for ‘happiness.'”

by Them Before Us | Apr 15, 2024 | EXPORT, Stories

My family life was pretty chaotic. My Mom divorced my Dad when I was six months old. She stated the reason she left him was because he was a drunk but that didn’t stop her from leaving me with him so she could go out to the bar. My weekends with my dad and step mom...

Adam’s story | “It is a daily struggle to not let my past overcome my present.”

by Them Before Us | Apr 15, 2024 | Stories

My parents were married when I was born. They divorced when I was six years old. I have a sister that is four years younger than me. My mom moved around within the small town where we lived. I recall having eight different addresses before I was 12. Each one had a...

Christina’s Story | “I cannot understand why chasing selfish happiness at the expense of providing a child a stable home and family would seem logical.”

by Them Before Us | Apr 8, 2024 | Stories

I was raised in a divorce shared-custody structured household. If you ask my parents separately who raised me, they would each say they were responsible. My parents decided that No Fault Divorce was the best thing for our “family” when I was less than one year old. I...

Johanna’s story | “I still recognize that what happened to me was a trauma, a very serious one which will forever impact my life and relations to other people.”

by Them Before Us | Mar 29, 2024 | Stories

My name is Johanna, I am now 42 years old. I am an adoptee from Sweden (now living in Denmark). I grew up in a middle-class home in a house with my adoptive parents (husband and wife) and with a little sister who is a biological child to our parents. When I got...

Testifying against Michigan’s “Family Protection Act”

by Them Before Us | Mar 28, 2024 | #ANDnotOR, #ANDnotORlearn, EXPORT, Justice, The Latest

The deceptively named “Michigan Family Protection Act”—a package of bills legalizing commercial surrogacy and allowing intent-based parenting—passed the Michigan legislature this week and is making its way to Governor Whitmer’s desk. Here is what Them Before Us...