Tuesday, June 21, 2011

The Adoption Option


Author Stefanie Iris Weiss recently wrote a post titled My Uterus is Officially Closed for Business in HuffPost Living. Is she childfree? No, Stefanie is planning for children:
As a woman who often cries at the sight of infants and coos at her friends' little ones, having biological babies always seemed like an inevitable step. But once I fully wrapped my brain around the relationship of overpopulation to climate change, especially in the West, I made a big decision: I won't bring more kids into the world. I learned that even if I spent the rest of my life recycling, having even one child would increase my carbon legacy by 9,441 metric tons of carbon dioxide. I still crawl around on the floor with toddlers when given the chance, and go ga-ga for goo-goos, but my uterus is officially closed for business. I'll be adopting kids when the time is right.

When I was interviewing childfree couples and singles for the Childless by Choice Project, I saw a pattern. When I asked the question, “What happens if you change your mind and decide you do want children?” the most common response was “I am not going to change my mind on this.” The second most common response was “I/we will adopt.” This was true even for married women who were still in their fertile years and very likely could have had a biological child if they chose.

There seems to be a movement or shift towards adoption. It used to be the adoption was the last resort for infertile couples, now it appears to be both a viable and desired option for conscious decision makers who are either environmentalists or hold a strong belief that we need to take of the souls who are already on this earth. Or might there be some other motives to adopt? You tell me…


Flickr Photo by nik_donna

3 comments:

Liz said...
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Liz said...

We have always maintained that if (BIG IF) we ever went crazy and changed our minds about our being childfree, adoption would be our only course of action. And we wouldn't be greedy and want an infant, either. Give us a toddler, a child, anyone who needs a loving home...

Laura S. Scott said...

I've met quite a few people who have said exactly what you have expressed, typically prefaced with IF, IF we went ________ fill in the blank! we would adopt or foster. I always laugh about what they anticipate would have to happen for them to change their minds!