Louisiana’s Kate Migues revolutionizing adoption education | Entertainment/Life

In 2023, Kate Migues started Placed, a nonprofit organization that opens up the conversation around adoption and how to talk about it with empathy and respect. Placed specializes in adoption education for people of all ages, especially students in public high schools that are required to teach adoption in health education. 

Migues, an adoptive mom of two and a certified teacher with 15 years of experience, was awarded the 2025 Louisiana Inspired Inspirit Award for her commitment to normalizing adoption through awareness and on-site educational programs. Since starting Placed, she has been to 52 schools, taught 304 classes and taught more than 6,400 students. 

The name Placed, often used in adoption, emphasizes the thoughtful process of providing a child with a stable and loving home. 

What inspired you to establish Placed? 

I taught high school since 2008. I was teaching chemistry at Catholic High in New Iberia. My husband and I adopted two children during that time, and I was asked to teach a health class. 

While looking through the curriculum, I found that every student in Louisiana who takes health is required by the state to learn about adoption. I went to our curriculum coordinator and asked for resources, and she said, “Oh, no, we don’t have to do that.” 

She suggested that we reach out to other schools to see what they’re doing, and no one knew what I was talking about. It was put in place by the legislature in 2006 and then expanded upon, and it’s required, but there was no information given to teachers to cover it appropriately. 

I saw an opportunity for a merging of two things that I love, which are teaching and the adoption world. I saw that there was a need and felt equipped to at least try to fill that need. 

How was your adoption process with your own children? 

We had a contested adoption with our youngest. Our kids have the same birth mom and different birth dads. Our son’s birth dad contested the adoption. We had to figure out if his birth father did what he needed to do to establish his parental rights. 

To make a long story short, he had not done what was needed, but that doesn’t make him a bad dad. He just didn’t know what he didn’t know. 

We still have a very good relationship with him. He has often said that people need to know what adoption is. He thought it was like foster care. Instead, he can continue doing what he needs to do and still see Sam. He told us, “Why are people not talking about this?” 

That experience was another push to start Placed and let people know what a beautiful gift adoption can be. 

What do people get wrong about adoption? 

A lot of times, we read things on social media or see things on the news. It’s always going to be the terrible stories or the Hallmark stories. So much of adoption is the in-between — normal people living normal lives.

If we don’t know that exists, then there’s kids who are missing out. There’s families who are missing out.

Whenever you described the situation with your son’s birth father, it reminded me of grace. What has this process taught you about having grace for people who may be different from you? 

OK, I have a smile on my face right now. A little backstory: I had a student we lost to a tragic car accident, and her name was Grace. Her death was one of the things that made my husband and me look at each other after nine years of infertility and say, “Life is short, and if we’re gonna do this, we better do it.” 

The adoption process was very quick for us, but we walked into that hospital room and they said her name is Eliza Grace. I thought, “OK, God, I see what to do in here.” 

I think that grace is something that we’re all given by God, even when we don’t deserve it. That’s kind of the point, right? Grace is something that we can either take and expect, or we can take it, turn it around and give to others. 

We can only do what we can with the information we have. A lot of times, people make uninformed decisions. Once you know more, you can do better. That’s what grace allows us to do. 

At the time, it felt like Sam’s birth father was the enemy. But we didn’t know his situation. Grace is giving other people the benefit of the doubt. 

What progress has Placed made since 2023? Can you tell us about the curriculum that you’ve implemented in schools? 

I go into health classes in public and private schools, and we look at adoption from each of the three sides of the adoption triad:

• How can we be better friends to people who were adopted or have experienced foster care, using adoption-positive language?

• How can adoption be the option of hope for someone who is experiencing an unexpected pregnancy?

• What does it look like to be an adoptive or foster parent one day, and what is the need for that? 

In public schools, I present Option Hope, which is state-approved curriculum. I have a Culture of Life program that I present in Christian schools, where you can have those pro-life conversations. 

In what way have students changed their opinions on adoption? 

Everyone, at some level, knows someone who was adopted or who has been in foster care. If nothing else out of it, you can at least understand what their perspective is — where they’re coming from and how to be a better friend. 

Something that shocks students is how common open adoptions are, where there is some level of communication between the child who was placed for adoption and their birth parents. They’re shocked at the fact that birth parents who choose to place their child for adoption are given all of these choices. They can choose the family that the child goes into, their name and how often they want to see the child.

They’re also surprised to learn that it’s completely free for birth parents and adoptive parents have to do an FBI background check. Overall, the students may have one friend or cousin who has a friend who was adopted, and whatever their story is, that is what that person thinks adoption is — whether it’s good or bad. 

It’s interesting to see their eyes open up and realize that adoption is a beautiful, life-giving option, and people who were placed for adoption have the same kind of normal life as them. They just have some extra family members.