Infertility Doesn\'t Mean Parenthood Isn\'t Possible!

by Beth Munoz

Posted on Thursday 9th of October 2008

There is nothing more annoying than those talk shows where teen mothers, and other women who should never have become mothers in the first place, show up demanding paternity tests. This is especially annoying because most of these women have at least two children, and have nothing to offer them.

All of this happens while some stable, married couples face infertility. Many couples who have infertility issues start by having in vitro fertilization. In this process, the egg is extracted from the uterus, and fertilized with the sperm in a laboratory setting.

While this does help many couples who have faced infertility issues with naturally conceiving, sometimes this costly procedure just doesn't work – the egg has trouble attaching itself to the uterus. Once that happens, the couple has to move onto the next step, or else keep trying and put themselves in danger of becoming in debt.

Another way that couples can work around the infertility issue is to hire a surrogate to carry their biological child for them. This is, again, a costly procedure, and one in which many legal documents need to be drawn up. The woman who is selected to have the child must have a clean bill of health, both physically and psychologically.

While in vitro fertilization and hiring a surrogate are the two most prevalent ways to still have a biological child, some couples simply don't have that option. Their problems might come from an illness, or a genetic defect. For these people, the only real way of being able to have a family is if they adopt.

Angelina Jolie has made the adoption trend in the United States more popular than it ever has been before. Unfortunately, many couples choose to adopt outside of the United States, when there are thousands of children being put up for adoption in the country who need a family.

Regardless, if a couple is thinking of adopting a child, especially from a foreign country, they need to have lots of patience. The adoption process can often take years depending upon the agency that the couple goes through. Also, it is important to note that it is not inexpensive to adopt a child. The adoption fees and legal proceedings alone cost thousands of dollars. Plus, the couple will have to travel back and forth to the country they wish to adopt from.

So, what does a couple do if they cannot have their own biological children, and they do not have the money to adopt a child? There is still another option, and that is to become a foster parent. Many adoption agencies select special, stable people to take in youths who are orphaned or have been put up for adoption. The foster parents are also given a monthly stipend to care for the children.

Unfortunately, some people in the past have taken in foster children, but have done so only because of that monthly stipend. Nowadays, such people are no longer allowed to care for children, which means that there are even more foster care opportunities for a responsible, loving couple.