Why you are not giving up your baby
There are only one of the family creation options that involves giving up the baby, and that is adoption. In adoption, the baby is conceived naturally, not in a laboratory, and develops inside the mother’s body until birth. When the mother or the baby’s parents decide to give the child up for adoption, they are literally giving up their baby.
This is why medically-assisted family creation options don’t involve giving up the baby
On the other hand, in medically assisted family creation options, the embryo is created in the laboratory but develops either in the mother’s uterus or in that of a Surrogate/Gestational Carrier. When an Omega Family Gestational Carrier is chosen to birth the child, she does not give up her baby, she just returns the baby to its parents.
Adoption as a family creation option
Adoption requires giving up the parents’ biological child. Those who already have children understand how hard that decision must be to make. No matter what circumstances lead to an unplanned pregnancy, it is up to the parents or single parent to decide the fate of the child. According to American Adoptions, parents who choose to put their children up for adoption make a choice in which they believe their child will have an opportunity to a better life than if they were rearing it themselves.
Some parents put their child up for adoption because the time in their life is not right, or not suited for a child. The plans that they have for their lives do not include time, space, or resources a child would require. It is, in the opinion of the parents, in the best interest of the child to be placed for adoption, in hopes that a family who chooses adoption as their family creation method may have better means and a more appropriate environment to bring up a child as their own.
Adoption has gained popularity as a form of family creation through celebrities who have decided to adopt instead of having children themselves. Some of these celebrities are Madonna, Cheryl Crow, Meg Ryan, Sandra Bullock, and who can forget Angelina Jolie? This family creation option serves its purpose as a way to make a dream of becoming a parent come true, and to provide a home and a family for a child who would have never known one had they not been adopted.
Adoption should have the interest of the child at heart; this is the reason many unprepared parents choose it. It is much healthier for children to grow up in a nurturing environment, with adults who love them and take them into their life, than with unprepared parents that barely make ends meet. If a couple has a destructive relationship, or live in conditions that will not allow the child to grow and develop in a stable manner, it is in the best interest of the child to be removed from that environment. In some of these cases, the parents decide to put their child up for adoption, and sometimes Family Services has to make that decision for them. Giving up a child to adoption for its well-being is an act of love.
Surrogacy as a Family Creation Option
Surrogacy, on the other hand, does not involve giving up the baby. Surrogacy allows the Gestational Surrogate to realize her purpose. Her purpose is to provide a family with a baby. This baby would never come to be had it not been for her support and willingness to carry it. The baby is not genetically related to her, and she knows that once it is born, it is going to have a home, and parents await. This makes her and her support network… happy.
For Surrogates, giving the child to its parents is one of the most special moments in her life. The Surrogate is a mother, as is the Intended Parent. The Surrogate is a mother, she has children, and now she is providing that experience for the Intended Parents. Omega Family Surrogate Catherine DeWolf states, as she celebrates her third child’s birthday, that those moments are so special; she could just not imagine not being able to have had her own children. Giving the baby to its parents is what she has been waiting for during the whole journey, and it is one of the happiest moments in her life.
