Steffany's Story: Breaking the Rules

Have you ever thought of adoption?

Prior to my 25+ years of experience in the adoption field, I never did.

In fact, the journey up to the adoption of our daughter was one I never even dreamed of.

My name is Steffany Aye and I am a licensed clinical social worker with 25+ years of experience in the field of adoption and mother to an adopted child myself.

Like any typical college student, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life after school. I only knew that family-life education (which is what I received my first master’s degree in), teen-pregnancy, and infertility are what interested me. However, after graduation I applied for a maternity home where there were no positions available — except within the adoption unit. I had absolutely zero experience during that time, but ended up developing a passion for all things adoption.

After four years of working there, I ended up leaving that position to finish up my second master’s degree in Social Work (told you I developed a passion for it). I started exploring the option of opening my own agency since and that’s exactly what I did!

My passion turned into opening my own agency

Eventually, I graduated with my second master’s degree, became licensed in Kansas, and started my own agency, Adoption & Beyond. Needless to say, I was beyond thrilled to further my newfound passion for the adoption process. In my 25+ years of experience and education, I have been able to work with all sorts of families on both ends of the spectrum: preventing issues and working through them once issues arose.

When we (my husband and I) finally traveled down the path of adoption ourselves, we did everything they normally tell you not to do.

In this week’s episode of All About Adoption, I share more about my journey from knowing absolutely nothing about adoption to starting my own agency, to adopting a child of my own!

You can watch the video here: WATCH