07/23/2026
Long before she became an adoption caseworker, Paetyn Nowacki was learning the value of people.
She grew up in northern Minnesota, spending much of her childhood in her family's grocery store. She knew the regular customers by name. She helped shoppers find what they needed. She listened to stories. She learned that people matter.
Later, while being homeschooled, she spent time volunteering, working, serving in her church, and participating in mission trips. Those experiences shaped both her faith and her understanding of what it means to walk alongside others during difficult seasons of life.
"I've always known I wanted to work with kids and families," Paetyn says. "I just didn't know what that looked like."
She discovered social work while attending North Dakota State University. Around the same time, she found Christian Adoption Services. What started as a visit to an agency open house eventually became volunteer work. Volunteer work became an internship. And an internship became the very job she had once dreamed about having.
Today, Paetyn serves adoptive families throughout the adoption process, from home studies to placement and beyond. If you ask her what makes Christian Adoption Services different, she doesn't start by talking about paperwork or procedures, she talks about relationships. "I think our families feel very well supported," she says. "We're not just checking boxes and doing paperwork. We want to actually have a relationship with them."
That relationship-centered approach is one of the things she values most about CAS. Many adoption agencies assign a single worker to manage an entire case. At Christian Adoption Services, separate caseworkers support expectant and birth parents and adoptive families. That means each person involved in the adoption journey has someone fully focused on their needs, questions, fears, and hopes.
For Paetyn, that creates something deeper than a professional transaction. It creates trust, connection and it creates community.
"I think it's more relational than transactional," she says. That philosophy shapes everything from home study visits to hospital time to post-placement support.
Some of the families Paetyn works with remain part of her life long after an adoption is finalized. Conversations continue. Updates are shared. Milestones are celebrated. Relationships remain. Because adoption is not simply a moment -- it is a lifelong story.
One of the things Paetyn wishes more people understood is that every adoption story includes people whose courage is often overlooked.
"I wish people understood birth parents better," she says. "I wish people could see how hard the process is and how much love goes into that decision."
At Christian Adoption Services, birth parents are not an afterthought. They are not a footnote in someone else's story. They are part of the story. Their lives matter, their experiences matter, their healing matters. Their stories matter.
That belief is why Christian Adoption Services continues supporting birth parents long after placement. It's why relationships remain important long after paperwork is complete. It's why staff members spend hours in hospital rooms, answer late-night phone calls, celebrate victories, and walk through heartbreak.
Because this work has never been about transactions: It's about people, It's about relationships. It's about walking alongside others during some of the most important moments of their lives. For Paetyn, that is exactly where she wants to be. "I love my job," she says simply.
The families Paetyn serves remind us that adoption is never simply paperwork, appointments, or milestones. It is people choosing to walk alongside one another through seasons of uncertainty, hope, courage, and joy. You can be part of those stories.
Pray. Pray for the families currently navigating the adoption journey, for the children whose futures are still unfolding, and for the caseworkers who faithfully walk beside them every day.
Give. Your financial support helps Christian Adoption Services provide home studies, education, counseling, family support, and ongoing care for families throughout the adoption process.
Share. Share your own adoption story with us, or help us share the mission of Christian Adoption Services by forwarding this story to a friend, family member, or church community.
We believe every story matters because every person matters.
With gratitude,
Jean Nasers, Executive Director
https://ddock.co/FN05HAQ7B9
