Why Might You Want to Adopt a Child?

For many people, a journey through adoption is the only way they may be able to become parents. For others, such as those dealing with grandparents’ rights issues, adoption may be a way to ensure a child can stay with relatives they know and who care for them if something has happened to the child’s parents.

Each unique adoption situation can blossom out of different goals, desires, and needs, and there are many good reasons to enter into this process.

1. Infertility

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 19% of married women aged 15 to 49 experience infertility, which the CDC defines as being unable to become pregnant in the year after you begin trying. This doesn’t mean women will never become pregnant, and there are many infertility treatment options.

However, many people consider adoption as an option for fulfilling their dream of growing their families when they are struggling to have children biologically. If you have exhausted your options for conceiving children or other options are too expensive, adoption can be a good next step. For example, while adoption does come with numerous costs, it’s typically not as expensive as something like surrogacy.

2. A Desire for a Large Family

Some couples desire to have a large family with many children. Adoption can help you grow your family while serving children in need and providing them with a caring home.

In some cases, a woman may only want to go through so many pregnancies or may find pregnancy especially trying. For example, a woman who experiences hyperemesis gravidarum or other complications during pregnancy may not want to put herself at risk in continued pregnancies. Adoption allows her to become a mother to additional children without going through those health issues.

3. To Provide a Loving Home for a Child

In many cases, people adopt because they want to provide a loving home as a service to a child. They may have kids of their own or have no intention or ability to have biological children. They might be single or be an LGBTQ couple who cannot conceive themselves.

Whatever the situation is, they know they have a safe, caring home and resources that they can share with someone else. Adoption is a way to share those resources with a child and make a difference in that child’s life as well as anyone that child may love or serve in the future.

4. To Pass on a Legacy

A single person or couple with a legacy to pass on might consider adoption. They may want a child they can raise as their own and teach about a family business, for example, or someone to pass on wealth to.

5. To Create a Legal Parent-Child Relationship

In some cases, adoption occurs when someone already has a loving relationship with a child and wants to add legal rights or protections to that relationship. One of the most common situations where this is the case is with stepchildren. Stepparents may want to adopt their spouses’ children so that those children are treated equally under the law when it comes to parental rights and other matters.

Other situations where this might be the case occur when grandparents or other relatives want to adopt a child because their parents have passed away or are unable to care for them.

6. Taking the Next Step After Foster Care

Many times, foster parents choose to adopt foster children in their care. This can occur when the foster child has no living birth parents or close relatives who might be able to care for them. It can also occur when the rights of birth parents are terminated because they have been repeatedly unable to demonstrate that they can care for their children safely and appropriately.

7. Worries About Biological Birth Due to Genetic Disorders

Couples may choose to adopt even if they can get pregnant because they are aware of genetic disorders or issues that could put biological children at risk. By adopting, they can become parents without worrying about genetic issues.

8. Marrying Later in Life

Couples who get married in their mid-30s or later may not want to risk getting pregnant—or may be unable to get pregnant. The healthcare system defines “advanced maternal age” as any woman who will be 35 or older at the time of delivery. These pregnancies are automatically considered high risk for a variety of issues due to the age of the mother.

By the time a woman is 40, her chances of getting pregnant each month are around 5 to 10%, and that can drop significantly by age 45. This doesn’t mean people can’t and don’t get pregnant in their 30s and 40s, because they do. However, a couple who marries later in life might also consider adoption as a way to grow their family when the time and options for biological birth are more limited than they would be for many younger couples.

Work With an Adoption Attorney to Make Your Dreams Happen

If you are considering adoption for any reason, working with an experienced adoption attorney can help you journey through the process with increased confidence. Call the Law Office of Deidra N. Haynes at 317-785-1832 to find out how we can help.