mothers the opportunity to become preg-
nant and carry a child, providing a more
controlled prenatal environment.

Tasha Brodgins Coates could sympa-
thize with that maternal desire.

“I wanted to be a blessing to someone
else through my life,” she says. “I felt like
that was something great to do — to bless
someone else with the opportunity to have
children through me.”
A SECOND CHANCE
In August, Snowflakes had more adopting
families apply than in any previous month
of the program. The first Snowflake baby
will turn 25 at the end of the year, and the
program’s 1,000th baby will be born in
early winter.

“It is just really pleasing and exciting to
see how these lives that were born—and
would not have been born if somebody
had not given them an opportunity to be
born—are contributing to the world and
having wonderful lives,” Tyson says. “It is
really cool.”
Many donors are drawn to the idea of giv-
ing their embryos a second chance at life.

Kristy and George Cleaver had struggled
with the decision to start IVF from the
beginning. “Our belief is that life begins at
conception, so it was really important to us
that any embryo that we created would be
used,” Kristy says.

The couple recently moved from Frederick
to Fairfield, Pa., got married at age 40 and 38,
respectively, and, after having one baby natu-
rally, Kristy’s age began to make it difficult to
have a second child. One IVF cycle resulted
in their daughter being born when Kristy
was 46 years old. But the Cleavers felt
that Kristy did not have the time med-
ically to carry the six embryos remain-
ing from that process.

Cara Vest, a Hamilton, Va. mother
16 Washington FAMILY
T H E B R O D G I N S C O AT E S FA M I LY
W H AT I S A
snowflake baby?
THE TERM
‘SNOWFLAKE BABY’ REFERS
TO CHILDREN
BORN FROM
D O N AT E D
EMBRYOS. THE TERM SNOWFLAKES® IS
A REGISTERED TRADEMARK
OF NIGHTLIGHT WHEN
I T R E L AT E S T O E M B R Y O
ADOPTION. CARA VEST AND
HER CHILDREN
who adopted through Snowflakes, says she
liked the program’s hands-on approach and
faith-based foundation.

As an older new mother, she was also
drawn to the program’s willingness to
work with women who were in their
late 30s and 40s to achieve their preg-
nancy dreams. “They make you feel wel-
come and warm throughout the entire
process,” she says.

HOW IT WORKS
Participants do not need to be Christian to
be a part of the program, as the nonprofit
works with all faiths. Couples are referred
to Snowflakes through many different ave-
nues, including word of mouth, referrals
from fertility clinics and advertising.

Vest heard about the program on James
Dobson’s show “Focus on the Family”
while driving to work one day, and she and
her husband decided to give it a try. The
Snowflake process took about a year and
they met with a donor family who also had
four children.

Snowflakes requires couples who wish to
adopt be married for at least two years and
the individual carrying the child must get a
note from their physician stating they are
healthy and can carry a pregnancy.

But that still does not mean every preg-
nancy will be viable. As with in vitro proce-
dures, the expectation is that one or two of
the multiple embryos implanted will take.

Of the embryos the Cleavers donated,
one did not survive the thawing pro-
cess, two others failed to implant and one
resulted in the recent birth of a boy.

There are two embryos remaining.

But the opportunity for any success
was worth it to the couple. “It makes
us feel so much better after the jour-
ney we went through to be able to
help someone else.”
FAMILY PHOTOS PROVIDED:
T H E C L E AV E R
FA M I LY



PROSTOCK-STUDIO/ADOBE STOCK
B U I L D I N G R E L AT I O N S H I P S
Another aspect of embryo adoption that
sets it apart from other adoption routes is
its propensity towards maintaining donor
and adoptive family relationships.

Tyson advises couples to request open
adoption because it encourages sibling
relationships. “We want those two families over time
to develop a relationship with one another
because those two families have children
who are genetic siblings to one another,
and we think that is in the best interest of
the children,” she says.

The Cleavers have written contact with
the family that adopted their embryos
at least once a year. Lisa Alberta says she
has open communication with her adop-
tive family, sending photos and texts back
and forth. In October, the Albertas trav-
eled to Virginia to meet them for the first
time in person.

“We just had so much peace with the
decision,” Lisa Alberta says of donat-
ing to Snowflakes. “We could tell every-
thing leading up to this particular moment
was part of God’s plan in helping this
beautiful couple.”
Since donor families are able to choose
who adopts their embryos, there’s
also a natural bond that forms during
the process.

Tasha Brodgin Coates says she was
drawn to one couple who discussed how
they had tried for years to conceive unsuc-
cessfully and also shared about themselves
and their interests. “I feel like I got to know
them as a couple,” she says.

Vest says with hundreds of thousands
of embryos still frozen, she hopes adopt-
ing at the embryo stage becomes a more
well-known and understood way of start-
ing a family.

“My kids are my kids, and I got to carry
them,” she says. “I got to nurse them. I got
to be a mom.” T
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT SNOWFLAKES, VISIT
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