Miriam's Promise has over twenty years of experience in pregnancy counseling and adoption services.

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The Story of Miriam
History of Miriam's Promise
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Credits

The biblical story of Miriam inspired the name Miriam's Promise. Miriam's Promise has a history of serving families and children in Middle Tennessee for over twenty years. Please click on the links or read below to learn more about our agency, our staff, and our accreditation and professional memberships.

The Story of Miriam
The name Miriam's Promise is based on a story from the book of Exodus, Chapter 2, verses 1-10 in the Bible. The new Pharaoh of Egypt was alarmed at the growing number of Israelites in his country and was worried that they might side with Egypt's enemies. He ordered the Hebrew midwives to kill all the baby boys they delivered, but the midwives feared God and did not follow the Pharaoh's orders. So then the Pharaoh commanded all his people, "Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile."

Facing the infanticide of all male children of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt, Moses' mother, an Israelite woman, made a plan to save the life of her son. Placing him in a basket, she hid him in the Nile and sent his sister, Miriam, to watch and see what happened. The Pharaoh's daughter discovered him and decided to adopt him as her own son. Miriam stepped forward and offered their mother's services as a wet nurse for the baby. And so, through a birthmother's loving choice, a sister's brave advocacy, and an adoptive mother's acceptance, this tiny baby, a child of God, grew to become the leader of his people.

This agency does the work of Miriam, bringing together the birthmother and the adoptive family for the sake of the child. Like Miriam, the agency provides a safe place for women who must make difficult decisions about the future of their children. We give them hope for new life.
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History of Miriam's Promise
Miriam's Promise: Pregnancy, Parenting & Adoption Services was originally established in January, 1985, by the Tennessee Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church and Holston United Methodist Home for Children, Inc. of Greeneville, Tennessee. The program operated under the Tennessee child-placing license of Holston from its inception until June, 1988. Originally intended to be a small satellite office for the middle Tennessee area, Miriam's Promise quickly grew in response to the need for services. In 1988, Miriam's Promise received licensing through the State of Tennessee to operate independently.

In January 1996, the Board of Directors voted to change the name of the agency from The Tennessee Conference Children's Services to Miriam's Promise: Pregnancy, Parenting & Adoption Services. The new name is based on the biblical story of the baby Moses, his sister Miriam, and his adoption by the Egyptian princess. Like Miriam, the agency provides a safe place for women who must make difficult decisions about the future of their children.

In 1997, the Board of Directors underwent an intensive long-range planning process. Our desire to increase existing services as well as to expand services to older children in foster care and foster-to-adopt programs, to provide family counseling, to expand international adoptions, and to provide other services led the Board to investigate possibilities for making those dreams come true. The result of that process was a re-union with Holston United Methodist Home for Children. The re-union was accepted and Miriam's Promise became a program of Holston on July 1, 1998.

In January 2000, Miriam's Promise moved from their small office in Glendale United Methodist Church to a historic home in downtown Nashville. After four years of productive partnership, Holston scaled back its operations to concentrate in East Tennessee, and Miriam's Promise became an independent non-profit agency again on January 1, 2003. In the spring of 2006, Miriam's Promise moved to a renovated space at historic Tulip Street United Methodist Church.
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Staff
Deborah H. Robinson, Executive Director. Debbie Robinson has a B.A. with honors in Art and Psychology from Vanderbilt University and a M.A. in Counseling from Trevecca Nazarene University. She began working in the area of adoption in 1985. She has served as the Director of Miriam's Promise since 1991.

Allison Balthrop, Program Director. Allison Balthrop has a B.S. in Psychology from the University of Tennessee, Nashville and a M.S.S.W. from the University of Tennessee College of Social Work. She has worked in the area of adoption since 1987, and has been with Miriam's Promise since 1999.

Susan P. Smith, Training Coordinator and Counselor. Susan Smith has a B.A. in Sociology from the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga. She has worked in the area of adoption since 1979. She has been with Miriam's Promise since 1993.

Lee-Ann Higgins, Pregnancy and Adoptions Counselor. Lee-Ann Higgins has a B.A. in Psychology from Blackburn University and a M.S.S.W. from the University of Tennessee College of Social Work. She came to Miriam's Promise in 2000.

Anne Byrn Floyd, Pregnancy and Adoptions Counselor.  Anne Byrn has a B.A. in Sociology/Psychology from Rhodes College and a M.M.F.T. from Trevecca Nazarene University.  She providied volunteer services and contract counseling during the Spring and Summer of 2006, and joined our staff in September 2007.

Tami B. Schultheis, International Adoptions Counselor. Tami Bryant has a B.S.W. in Social Work from the University of Alabama, Birmingham and a M.S.S.W from the University of Tennessee College of Social Work. She completed an internship at Miriam's Promise in 2002 and joined our staff in May 2003.

Kim Warner-Hudy, International Adoptions Counselor. Kim Warner-Hudy has a B.S.W. in Social Work from Morehead State University and a M.S.S.W. from the University of Louisville Kent School of Social Work.  She has worked in the area of adoption since 1996, and came to Miriam's Promise in October 2007.

Polly Irvin, Office Manager. Polly Irvin attended the University of Tennessee. She joined our staff as Office Manager in 2005.

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Accreditation and Professional Memberships
Miriam's Promise is licensed by the State of Tennessee Department of Children's Services to place children in the state of Tennessee. We are also affiliated with GivingMatters.com.

In addition, Miriam's Promise is a member of the following professional organizations:

• North American Council on Adoptable Children (NACAC)
• Association for the Treatment and Training in the Attachment of Children (ATTACh)
• Child Welfare League of America
• Joint Council on  International Children's Services
• Middle Tennessee Inter-Agency Adoption Coalition
• Tennessee Council of Social Workers