There's a new face on the Adoption Support Alliance team. Erin Bost has stepped into the role of Operations Manager as of March 1, 2021. She is excited to be further investing in the ASA since joining as a member in 2017. Having benefited from many ASA services to now growing alongside the organization, Erin is grateful for the ability to further serve the adoptive community in this capacity.
How did you first get interested in adoption?
Erin: When I was in elementary school, I was first exposed to the idea through a classmate that shared her experience as an adopted child. I did not have the language or world perspective to really understand all of the acts of love and challenges that encapsulate so many adoptive experiences, but I was able to grasp that there were other ways to complete a family.
Moving into adulthood and as I began to consider my hopes for a family, the opportunity to join into the adoptive community began to formulate in my heart. Even on the third date with my husband I brought up these hopes and fortunately he was willing to join alongside these considerations many years later.
Tell us about your family.
My husband, David, and I have now been married now for 5 years, and we have one daughter (as well as a fun-loving dog, Scrappy!). We decided to actively pursue adoption as we made plans to expand our family. However, we quickly realized we needed additional support to navigate through our journey of adoption and fortunately were connected to ASA soon thereafter.
How did you first connect with Adoption Support Alliance?
Erin: After about two years since we were married, David and I began to seriously consider taking the next steps toward expanding our family. While we have many wonderful friends and family, we did not know anyone else personally that was involved with the adoptive community in any capacity. I remembered seeing a high school friend post on Facebook about her family’s recent addition of a son through adoption. Although we had not connected in years, I reached out to her about her experience and she immediately recommended connecting with Erin Nasmyth, ASA’s executive director. I can remember that first call with Erin (yes we bonded over our shared name) and immediately felt like I wanted to be a part of whatever community she led. She connected us immediately to the Adoption 101 class and then we were fortunate to be able to work with Erin later as our home study social worker. It was so encouraging to meet other families during the brewery events with ASA as well as others shared their own unique experiences and hopes for their adoption journeys.
How did you begin working for ASA?
Erin: Since 2017, I have participated in several trainings, brewery events and attended an Adult Adoptee Panel. My relationship to the organization has changed over time as I became a mother through adoption myself and engaged with the community in a new capacity. Watching the breadth of ASA’s services continually inspired me in my own journey. After working in several capacities in the mental health field since graduating with my Master’s in School Counseling, I left my prior position to serve as my daughter’s primary caretaker in March 2020 during the pandemic. Like many of you, I did not anticipate the changes our world would take and the need for me to serve my family in this capacity for 12 months, but it came with many blessings, including spending more time with my quickly growing toddler. At the beginning of the new year, I began to actively pursue joining the professional world. I was open to how I might be called to serve and use my strengths, but had no formalized concept of what that might look like. One evening in January I saw a post from ASA about their decision to expand their staff formally through the addition of an Operations Manager. After talking with several board members and former staff, I was so encouraged about the opportunity and eagerly hoped that I would be able to fill this role. If you know Erin Nasmyth, you know what a blessing it is to serve as her right hand woman :)
What exactly is involved in this role?
Erin: Well, I am less than a month in so I am still learning a lot! Currently, my position allows me to serve behind the scenes to ensure that our events and programs continue to serve our mission along with Erin and our board. This includes all of our communication (emails, social media, blogs, newsletter, etc.) as well as more organizational tasks to allow us to continue to effectively engage with the greater adoptive community. It is such an opportune time to be joining in as a team members as we continue to grow through our participation in the Cultivate program. Erin and the board have already had so many wonderful conversations about how to best continue to serve this community and I can’t wait to help bring those ideas to fruition.