Cost
Both fertility treatments and adoption can be quite costly. The cost of fertility treatment is largely dependent on how many treatments are needed – fewer treatments equals less money spent. Adoption, on the other hand, is almost always quite expensive. One of the hidden costs of adoption that often gets overlooked is the cost of legal fees. If an individual has a child after receiving fertility treatments, that child is legally the dependent of the parent– no different from a pregnancy initiated without fertility treatments. This is not the case with adoption. Expect a lot of legal paperwork for an adoption, and parents often end up paying a lawyer as much as they are paying the adoption agency.
Emotions
Emotional ups and downs are a difficult byproduct of fertility treatments and the adoption process. These emotions can range from frustration, to excitement, to guilt, to hope, and many other emotions. During fertility treatments, each new round of treatment can produce significant levels of anxiety and expectations – and then feelings of devastation if the treatment is not successful. Throughout the adoption process, the applications, the interviews, and the waiting can be quite stressful. Having other people decide if one is a fit parent for adoption can be frustrating and make couples feel like every aspect of their lives is under scrutiny.
Security
One of the comforting aspects of fertility treatments is that once the couple gets pregnant, that baby is theirs. There is still a risk of miscarriage; but there is no one who, at eight months, is going to stop the process and say the couple cannot have their child. Unfortunately, with adoption, more than a third of couples will experience at least one false start where they believe that they have a child to adopt but the adoption somehow falls through before completion.
