(If you are pregnant or a parent looking to place a child, please follow this link to our
Embracing Hope page. www.EmbracingHopeAdoptions.com)
A Fully Licensed
Child Placing Agency
About Hope Embraced
Jeanna Smith
Founder and Executive Director,
Certified Adoption Investigator
I have been blessed on all sides of adoption. I was a birth mother when I was 20 years old and experienced a lot of the emotions that placing mothers go through. Years later after getting married, I went through years of infertility before becoming an adoptive parent. Adoption is very close to my heart and it brings me great joy to be a part of the process with so many families. We know that families are formed in many different ways!
I have a degree in education. I have had years of experience working in crisis pregnancy centers and maternity homes, working with adoption attorneys and agencies, working face to face with birth parents, and guiding adopting families. I thank God for my professional and personal experiences through life so I can better relate to families going through this process. I look forward to working with you!
Janna Briggs
Assistant Director
Before I got married, I was a single mom of two wonderful boys. I gave birth to my oldest son at age 19, and strongly considered the option of placing him for adoption. However, I was blessed to have a support system that made parenting him the best choice for my family. My youngest son is also such an amazing blessing. I am incredibly excited to see how God's plan will continue in all our lives, growing a beautiful family whom I trust will be a beacon of God's love. Romans 8:28, "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."
Before I started working in adoptions, I had worked as a home health care provider for 7 years. I also made the decision to expand my knowledge and became certified as an EMT. I absolutely love helping people, in their times of need. While working in those other fields I would pray that God would provide an opportunity for me to use my testimony to make a true difference in people's lives.
Adoption has been near to my heart for nearly all my life, and I am genuinely overjoyed to have the opportunity to assist in the process for those whom God brings across my path. I've also experienced true heartache, and hope to be a comfort as well as, encouragement to those in need. I am also so thankful that I can work part-time at a Crisis Women’s Center and help those women that are going through some challenging decisions in their lives about themselves and their babies. Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things thru Christ who strengthens me." I look forward to each person whom God plans for me to meet, and how he plans to use me in their lives.
Mike Smith
Senior Graphic Designer,
Advertising and Marketing Director,
Certified Trauma Support Specialist, Cognitive Behavior Therapy Practitioner
I graduated from Savannah College of Art and Design with a degree in Graphic Design and Illustration. I was adopted when I was 9 years old and spent 7 years in and out of the Foster Care system (I remember sitting down with my Social Worker to choose a family from a stack of profiles that she had brought), plus I am an adoptive parent, both regular adoption and stepparent adoption. My wife, Jeanna, was a birth mother as well. Together, with our personal and professional experience, we can help families get a profile that is unique and more focused than the other profiles that are out there. Jeanna reads through and helps the families with the text, from a birth mom’s perspective, and I bring my vision and creativity to the profile with the graphics added to the family’s pictures and text.
I have had the privilege to help many families with their adoption profile/ dear birth mother letter/ lifestyle presentations. I am also able to do adoption (birth) announcements, invitations, and family books. We are here to help you at every step! We want you to have the best profile possible so that a birth mom sees who you are with clarity and excitement. Pictures and text are extremely important in the profile! The profile is the first impression the birth parents get of your family, let me make that first impression everlasting!
Robyn Smith, MSW
Foster Care Program Director,
Selah Grey Founder and Executive Director, Certified Adoption Investigator, Certified School Counselor for Elementary & Secondary, Licensed Professional Counselor,
Trauma Therapist
I am a mother to three exceptional children. Each one is so different, but one has definitely made me look in shades of grey: Selah, my three-year-old daughter. She is bold, beautiful, full of energy, loves to laugh, funny, kind, intelligent and so much more. She is also one in under 200,000 individuals in the world with Bosch Boonstra Schaaf Optic Atrophy Syndrome. I could tell you what this means, but that really is not the point. The point is . . . she is exceptional. She broke the mold of what I thought having children would be like. She has 21 diagnosed disabilities. I have been blessed with the most amazing providers and support for her.
I have worked as a Director of a Children's Home and have done counseling with families and children of all kinds in transition to the home and changes that go with that. I help guide, counsel, and support families that do foster care. I can do classes and/or preparation and also provide opportunities for foster families and special needs families special opportunities for "Parent's Night Out", and other exciting summer and holiday events! My heart has been overwhelmed as I have experienced watching these families thrive and grow in love. It is a joy to watch these children as they experience stability with a loving family!
Julia Seppala
Office Administrative Assistant/Adoption Support Coordinator
I am a mother to three beautiful children, one of whom is adopted. My husband and I chose adoption because adoption was God’s design and plan for our family. We have an open adoption with our daughter’s birth mom and continue to keep in touch with her, even still, years after she placed her with us. Through that, we have built a wonderful relationship with her and love that she is part of our family now. We also have many family members and friends who are either foster parents or have been adopted through an adoption agency, so adoption is not new to us.
I also have a heart and compassion for children in foster care and adoption. Not only am I a big supporter of adoptions, but I also have a gift of serving my community and those around me. I have experience working with children in various fields. I also volunteer my time at a local foster “closet” that provides clothing, toys, and many other things for children in foster care.
I am excited to be a part of this team at Hope Embraced. I look forward to collaborating with you and being a part of your journey!
Our Mission Statement and Purpose
We believe all children are a treasure and are filled with unique potential which is enhanced by the nurturing provided in a loving and stable home. To that end, we provide adoption services to assure that all children within the reach of this agency are embraced by healthy and loving families. We believe birth parents are precious and heroes and it is our goal to empower them in life and support whatever decision they make. We provide support and guidance to the adopting parents every step of the way in their adoption journey.
We are a licensed adoption agency based out of South Carolina, certified to receive minor children for placement in family homes with a view toward domestic adoption; to provide adoptive recruitment services and/or serve as a referral agency; consulting; and, to provide foster home and adoptive assessments, and training.
Hope Embraced team members have fulfilled the requirements for our state licensing and complete all the recertification training annually to stay up to date and current with education and how to best assist in the adoption world with birth parents, adoptive parents, and other adoption professionals.
Hope Embraced team members all have personal experiences that have led to their hearts and passion for adoption. Our team is committed to excellence and ethics and will do everything in our power to educate guide, and partner with our clients in the complete adoption triad toward a secure and loving adoption plan!
