title: Support groups for couples waiting to adopt.
abstract: Most couples who adopt have been through years of unsuccessful infertility treatment and a rigorous selection procedure by an adoption agency. Adoptions of healthy babies are rare nowadays and couples benefit from a parenthood education and support group where they can meet others in the same position. Couples want professionals to appreciate the special nature of the adopters' position and the long, demanding process they have been through. Don't assume that couples who receive an adopted baby will not need your time or help because (i) they must be competent if they have passed the adoption agency's selection procedures and (ii) they have not been through labor and childbirth. Adoptive couples want you to understand that they are first time parents of a baby with short, turbulent history whom they have received often literally a few days' notice. Sensitive support from midwives, health visitors and practice nurses both before and after the baby arrives is usually needed and appreciated. Adoption of a normal healthy baby is an increasingly rare event in the UK. Only about 1,000 babies under one year old are available for adoption each year, in contrast to about 16,000 in the late 1960s. A couple chosen to receive a particular baby cannot believe their good luck, knowing the huge number of couples still waiting. A happy ending surely-but is it?
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Fraser
mesh_terms: D000300:Adoption; D006801:Humans; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D012657:Self-Help Groups / Q000458:organization & administration*; D014850:Waiting Lists