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questions adopted children ask

7 Questions Adopted Children May Ask

The summer edition of Pathway 2 Family is out. Articles include “What is Infertility?” and “Open Embryo Adoption: Radical or Common Sense?” Click the cover to read for free.

snowflakes on open adoptionMy colleague Dawn Davenport of Creating A Family has an article that discusses research on the emotional health on donor-conceived children.

And I wrote one that addresses the seven core issues of adoption, framed by seven common questions adopted children are likely to wonder about, maybe even out loud. Excerpt:

The question for parents isn’t whether or not your child will have issues to work through related to his adoptedness. The question is:  will he feel comfortable sharing his innermost thoughts with you? To allow for such intimacy between you and your child, let your guiding principle for responding to these questions be openness. With that you’re in position to walk alongside your child each step of the way.

questions adopted children askIf you’re looking for some summer reading on infertility,  third-party reproduction, or openness in embryo adoption, click on through.

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This post is part of #MicroblogMondays? Whazzat? A post that’s not too long. Head to Stirrup Queens to join the fun.

 

6 Responses

  1. Thank you for sharing! I found both those articles very helpful and interesting. I have wondered about what donor-conceived children might think on later, as they come to understand how they were conceived. I had a book on egg donation when we were exploring that option and it had some very interesting things to say about donated-embryo conceived children that were a little scary, but I think the openness in donor embryo that is recommended now is super helpful. I like the idea of anticipating questions my child might have about adoption and thinking on them early, so that hopefully I can work through my own emotions in an anticipatory way and focus only on their emotions later. It’s interesting thinking on the conversations the couple who is taking on our embryos might have with our semi-biological children, and how they might differ from the typical situation where embryos become available to another family. I hope they get this newsletter!

  2. Echoing Jess! Particularly with donor-conceived children who are aware of their story vs those who are not. They cite that those who are aware are indifferent. What if they don’t learn this information until they are adults, though? Do they feel the same way? I would suspect not, but am curious. In addition, are those who are unaware face issues surrounding this information being kept secret? Do they feel out of place? It’s hard because it’s self-reporting, but could be valuable for couples who are looking into this option for expanding their families.

  3. Excellent points! I can’t think of anyone I know of involved in the adoption process at the moment, but I will definitely reference this in the future.

  4. Great information and actually fun to read. I’m a little disturbed that the infertility statistic by age for “‘women'” having trouble getting pregnant” started at 15, though. Thanks for posting!

    1. “Having trouble getting pregnant or carrying a pregnancy to term”, now I do agree that 15 is a bit young to try and get pregnant, but 15 is not that young to get a diagnosis starting with seeing a doc about some menstrual issue or so, and hear something on the lines of “We medics, do not know how to treat your infertility, (some may add that miracles do happen, though)” or to experience pregnancy problems with going to term , maybe because of youth when pregnant at that age.

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