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Washington D.C., May 8, 2021 / 05:00 am (CNA).

A spokesperson for Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Arlington says the organization has seen a growing interest from prospective adoptive parents.

Meaghan Lane, program director of pregnancy & adoption support at Catholic Charities Diocese of the Diocese of Arlington, told EWTN News In Depth in an interview that the organization has seen “a dramatic jump” in applications to adopt.

Lane said she sees a few reasons for this increase. She said that families have re-examined their priorities during the COVID-19 pandemic, and that families who have adopted through the program have told others of their experience. 

“All of us in one way or another started to evaluate where we are in life, we’ve had time to stop and reflect,” Lane said of the pandemic. “I do think that families who were thinking about adoption stopped to say ‘hey, let’s go ahead and move on this.’”

Lane cautioned that Catholic Charities does have discussions with prospective adoptive families about whether they’ll still be open to the adoption process once their lives return to “normal.”

“All of our families have done really well with that,” she said. 

Lane said she believes her program’s growth can also be attributed to its holistic approach. 

“We have taken such an emphasis on the importance of how our work is done, that I believe people want to work with us more and more because they hear about that,” Lane said. 

“My program is ‘Pregnancy and Adoption Support’ and that ‘pregnancy’ component isn’t just a word in the title, we are providing pregnancy support to women who are considering adoption, and women who are not considering adoption,” she said. “I think that’s something unique to what we’re able to provide.” 

The interview with Catholic Charities Diocese of Arlington aired on EWTN News In Depth on Friday night.