Coping with Infertility Grief After Adopting

We tell people to work through their grief at not having a biological child or being pregnant or breastfeeding BEFORE they adopt. The reality is that sometimes after adopting a baby adoptive parents still crave the experience of pregnancy and still feel sad at not having a genetic connection to their child. Host Dawn Davenport will interview Carole Lieber Wilkins, a licensed marriage and family therapist specializing in the field of reproductive medicine, adoption and family building options since 1986. She is known for helping patients transition to non-genetic forms of family building, such as donor conception or adoption. Having created her family through adoption and ovum donation, Carole brings a wealth of personal as well as professional experience to her work.

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Hit the Highlights

Adoptive parenting is the same as, and very different from, genetic parenting.
Ways in which raising adopted children is different. Ways in which it is the same.
How to know when you are ready to stop fertility treatments and move to adoption. What are the signs of readiness?
The importance of soul searching without judgement.
How can “throw away” IVF cycles or donor egg cycles, also known as “closure cycles” be helpful?
How have the advances in infertility medicine changed the landscape of moving to adoption?
How much uncertainty about adopting a child is too much uncertainty?
How to know when you are ready to adopt?
How to say good bye to your biological child that you never had?
Should you go back into infertility treatment after having adopted a child?
Tips for deciding whether you should go back into fertility treatment after adoption.
Techniques for saying good bye to your biological child that you never had.