Smile with Pride
Natalie Chavis Fisher is a best-selling author, third-generation attorney, executive producer for the feature documentary Foster Care: Perfect Imperfection and a Congressional “Angel in Adoption” award winner. She has practiced foster care adoption law for twenty years and has helped thousands of foster children solidify their “forever homes”. She also continuously works to help adoptive and kinship parents understand the dynamic nuances of foster care adoption, including by writing the best-selling short novel, Adopting Tiger.
Natalie’s tireless work not only has a big impact on foster children but also on future parents. Her commitment to providing the best environment for vulnerable youth has given many LGBTQIA+ couples the ability to grow their families and provide a safe home for hundreds of children. For all these reasons and more, we asked Natalie to be Herd Strategies’ guest blogger for the final week of our #Pride theme.
“It is an honor to be a guest blogger for Herd Strategies during Pride Month. I love the opportunity to be involved in many communities and the LGTBQIA+ community is one of my ultimate favorites.”
As I reflect on my own evolution, I smile with pride. About twenty years ago, when I first began practicing foster care adoption in Indiana, I received a phone call from a very kind, gentle spirit. The conversation started something like this, ‘Hello…we just want to let you know we are a lesbian couple…we don’t want to make a big splash…if you don’t want to take our case, we understand…’ I gladly agreed to represent them in their adoption of a severely neglected young girl and never looked back.
Through the process, I learned more about beautiful lives and unconditional love than I could have ever imagined. The case was not always easy, primarily because same-sex marriage was not legal in Indiana at the time. But we overcame the obstacles, and a beautiful young lady received two fabulous mothers. Since then, I have had the pleasure of helping hundreds of LGTBQIA+ parents and youth solidify their forever home and I am made better because of it. Happy Pride Month!”
Thank you so much, Natalie, for everything you do and all of the lives that you have impacted! You can keep up with Natalie and her work by following her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram or by heading to www.chavisfisher.com.