There is no greater joy than seeing and hearing your giggling child. For many same-sex couples and those couples struggling with infertility or health challenges but are still wanting to start or expand their family, adoption or gestational surrogacy can be your best option. There is no right or wrong way to start a family. While the process is tremendously rewarding, there are also many challenges.
For instance, both adoption and gestational surrogacy usually take awhile. As much as we all wish it would be a short process, there are a lot of legalities that go along with adoption and gestational surrogacy. Having children is a wonderful but crazy experience you’ll have in life. Watching them grow and experience life is even more precious. The ultimate objection for anyone considering adoption or gestational surrogacy is to bring a child into their family. Adoption Choices of Oklahoma wants to ensure that you get all the information to make the best decision for your family.
Gestational Surrogacy as an Option
Many intended parents feel strongly about having a genetic connection to their child. This is one of the major advantages of gestational surrogacy. If there is a biological relationship to the child, the thought is that it can help simplify the legal process overall.
But having a genetic connection is not the only reason that people choose gestational surrogacy. As the intended parent, you have more control with prenatal care, as well as the health history of the gestational carrier. You can also find comfort in the intensive screening processes that occur with the gestational carrier to ensure that there is no substance abuse or mental health issues. The gestational surrogacy process is well planned, decreasing the risk of surprises along the way. What’s more, with gestational surrogacy, you know that — without a shadow of a doubt — the baby is yours and you will go home with it post-delivery.
Adoption as an Option
For hopeful parents who simply want a child to call their own, whether the child is genetically related or not, adoption can be an enriching experience. In adoption, the birth mother willingly chooses to place her baby for adoption. This can have legal and emotional implications that aren’t applicable to gestational surrogacy. These women facing unplanned pregnancies, more often than not, have more complicated emotions to process. Unlike with gestational carriers, who fully understand their purpose in helping intended parents grow a family.
Prospective adoptive parents have limited involvement with the baby’s care, depending on their adoption agreement with the birth mother. The birth mother has the right to choose a potential adoptive family and who is included during the hospital experience. Potential matches are sometimes waiting for months to be chosen.
Adoption vs. Gestational Surrogacy
There are many factors when considering adoption vs. gestational surrogacy. While you are ultimately the only one who can decide what’s best for your family, our professionals at Adoption Choices of Oklahoma can further explain what to expect from both. Remember there is no wrong way to start a family.
Adoption Choices of Oklahoma
Adoption Choices of Oklahoma is a private adoption agency, licensed by the state of Oklahoma and leader in the adoption community. We have been assisting birth parents, children, and adoptive families in Oklahoma for over 19 years. Our staff members are committed to providing an ethical, empowering, and personalized adoption experience to all involved in the adoption process. If you are currently in the process of adopting a baby and have any questions or concerns, feel free to contact us. You may visit our website here or call 405-794-7500 (Oklahoma City) or 918-982-6220 (Tulsa).
Support Adoption Choices
Adoption Choices, Inc. is partnering with Crowdrise, a fundraising website for nonprofits, to help our adoptive parents and birth parents with much needed financial assistance. We understand that expenses keep clients from fulfilling their dreams. Both with birth parents making a plan for adoption, and with adoptive parents growing their family. It is our mission to provide financial assistance through grants and scholarships, awarded annually in November, in honor of National Adoption Month. Funds assist adoptive parents with matching and placements, adoption finalization and helping birth mothers improve their lives through higher education — and much more.
However, we can’t do it alone. Please read up on our programs and donate money where you are able. Your donation will make a huge impact.
About the Author
Ashley Johnson is an Editorial Intern from Pendroy, Montana. She writes a weekly lifestyle blog which includes adoption and surrogacy. Before starting at Adoption Choices, Inc., Ashley worked for six years as a legal clerk for a judge in Montana. She has decided to go back to college to finish her degree in Communications in hopes of pursuing her passion for writing. Ashley is excited to share her experience with adoption as well as being able to bring a rural outlook on adoption and surrogacy.
In her spare time, Ashley enjoys working on her family ranch with her husband and two children, coaching high school basketball and settling in.
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Sources:
“Birth/Expectant Parents – Academy Of Adoption & Assisted Reproduction Attorneys”. Academy Of Adoption & Assisted Reproduction Attorneys, 2020, https://adoptionart.org/adoption/birth-expectant-parents/. Accessed 8 Apr 2020.
“Gestational Surrogacy Agency – Egg Donation | Surrogacy Choices”. Surrogacychoices.Com, 2020, http://www.surrogacychoices.com/intended-parents/.
