Steffany Aye

• Master of Social Work (MSW), University of Kansas, 1998
• Master of Science, Family Life Education and Consultation, Kansas State University, 1993
• Bachelor of Science, Family Life Education, Kansas State University, 1992
• Licensed Specialist Clinical Social Worker (LSCSW), Kansas
• Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW), Missouri
• Founder and Executive Director, Adoption & Beyond, Inc., 1998 to present
• Former President, Metro Adoption Council
• Member, National Council for Adoption
• Adoptive parent

While earning her Master of Social Work at the University of Kansas, she interned at a maternity home, walking alongside young women through one of the most vulnerable chapters of their lives. When she graduated in 1998, the only job opening was in adoption. She told them, “I don’t know anything about adoption.” They told her, “You’ll learn.” Nine months later, she was running the child placement program.

What she saw there bothered her. Expecting mothers were choosing adoptive families from a single sheet of paper. No photo. No family story. No conversation. She thought about the fact that she had interviewed twelve babysitters before leaving her own three-month-old with anyone for a few hours, and the gap between those two realities was all the proof she needed. Something had to change.

She introduced photo-book adoption profiles with real family stories, real photos, and real messages. She encouraged birth mothers and adoptive families to meet each other, to build actual relationships. She became one of the earliest advocates for open adoption in the region, years before open adoption was widely accepted or understood. And in 1998, the same year she finished her MSW, she founded Adoption & Beyond to make that approach a permanent fixture, not a special exception.

Over 30+ years of practice, a few things have defined her work. They are the reasons colleagues, hospitals, and families across the country send people her way.

• Pioneering photo-book profiles and face-to-face matching. Replacing the single-sheet adoption profile with visual, narrative profiles that let expecting mothers actually choose the family, not just a paragraph of text.
• Championing open adoption before it was mainstream. Treating transparency, ongoing contact, and truth-first language as foundational, because the child always benefits from it.
• Establishing and maintaining Hague accreditation. Holding Adoption & Beyond to the international gold standard for adoption ethics and practice.
• Training hospital staff on adoption best practices. Developing continuing education programming that equips nurses and hospital social workers to handle newborn adoption placements with dignity and clarity.
• Guiding families across both sides of the relationship. Working with birth parents and adoptive families as equally important stakeholders in a lifelong connection, not as opposing parties in a transaction.

These are the external verifications of Steffany’s work and the agency she leads.

• Hague Accredited Child Placement Agency through CEAS (Center for Excellence in Adoption Services). Verify at ceadoption.org
• Platinum Transparency 2026, Candid (the highest level of nonprofit transparency recognition from GuideStar/Candid). Profile at Candid/GuideStar
• Member Agency, National Council for Adoption (NCFA, the leading national voice for adoption policy and best practices). More at adoptioncouncil.org
• Birthparent Support Alliance Member, (formerly On Your Feet Foundation) More info at birthparentsupportalliance.org
• All Children All Families Welcoming Agency, Human Rights Campaign Foundation Program info at thehrcfoundation.org
• Brave Love Partner Agency (a pro-adoption movement honoring birth mothers) Verify at bravelove.org
• AdoptMatch Approved Adoption Professional Verify at adoptmatch.com
• Faces of Adoption feature, HelpUsAdopt.org (profile of Steffany and her daughter Shayla). Read at helpusadopt.org

Steffany’s work and perspective have been featured in national parenting media and local Kansas City press.

• Parents Magazine, “How Baby Showers Can Save Adoptive Parents Money.” Read at parents.com
• VoyageKC, “Exploring Life and Business with Steffany Aye of Adoption & Beyond Inc.” Read the full interview at voyagekc.com
• HelpUsAdopt.org, Faces of Adoption featured story with Steffany and her daughter Shayla. Read at helpusadopt.org

Steffany publishes regularly on adoption topics across multiple platforms, covering domestic infant adoption, birth parent support, home studies, open adoption, and post-placement life.

• The Adoption & Beyond Blog, adoption-beyond.org/blog. New regular posts covering every major stage of the adoption journey.
• Adoption & Beyond YouTube channel, Watch here. New videos posted regularly, organized into five content pillars: Adoption 101, Adoptive Families, Birth Families, Home Study, and Post-Adoption.
• Your Adoption Success Path, a free educational program Steffany developed for families just beginning to explore adoption.
• Navigating Hospital Adoption Best Practices Training, a free online continuing education training approved for 1.5 ANCC contact hours for nurses and 1.5 CEUs for social workers, offered in partnership with KU Med AHEC.

He surprised her. He said yes immediately, not because it was planned, but because it was right. Shayla became their fifth child, and Steffany became something she had spent her career guiding other people through: an adoptive parent.

That lived experience, alongside 30+ years of professional practice, shapes every conversation she has with families today. She knows the nerves. She knows the heartbreak. She knows the joy. And she knows adoption works when you have the right information, the right support, and the right people walking alongside you, not just at placement, but long after the welcome balloons are gone.

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/steffany-aye-b1b91810
• Adoption & Beyond: adoption-beyond.org
• Phone: 913-381-6919
• Email: adopt@adoption-beyond.org
• Office: 16236 Metcalf Avenue, Overland Park, KS 66085