(Taken from the Adoption Glossary)In Vitro Fertilization: In Vitro Fertilization, or IVF, is one of several types of Assisted Reproductive Technology that are in wide use today to assist in the creation of a family for couples who are experiencing difficulty in conceiving a child, or in carrying the child through a full term... [
more]
Microinjection: The Latest Advance in Treating the Infertile Man The introduction of Microinjection Technology into the in vitro fertilization laboratory has revolutionized our treatment of the infertile man. Intracytoplasmic sperm injection, or ICSI, is a new infertility treatment that uses micromanipulation technology for treating male infertility. What ICSI...
Making Sense of New Conceptions... in a Family Way
Introductory Sidebar: Language and New Forms of Family Building While language for building families via these routes is still evolving, marriage and family therapists (MFTs) should be aware that important distinctions have entered the lexicon. Assisted reproductive technology, or ART, refers to...
Depression: Introduction It was a sunny day in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, when the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), the Federal agency responsible for the Nation's mental health research, held the fourth of a series of trail-blazing mental health forums on March 26, 2001. But for the 400-plus...
The Greatest Gift: A Guide to Adoption One wintry day in 1982, my wife and I received a phone call that changed our life. A local adoptive mother in our community had a cousin in the deep South who was an obstetrician. One of his patients was a teenage girl who was pregnant and planning to place her baby for adoption. Were we...
What Other People Think About Adoption October 19, 2009, 5:30 am
Lots of people have been writing about the online article about in vitro fertilization (IVF) and the accompanying blog post about the issues surrounding multiple births from IVF in the online edition of Sunday's New York Times. The comments were astounding, especially reading them as an...
Is Your Adopted Child Predisposed to Cancer? Genetic Testing May Tell March 23, 2008, 4:35 pm
There are certain gene mutations that predispose a person to cancer. Through the miracle of modern medicine, genetic testing is available to identify gene mutations that may lead to cancer. A person armed with information about being predisposed to developing cancer can take preventative measures...
Reproductive Choice: Whose Business Is It Anyway? February 26, 2009, 7:45 am
I learned the very (very) hard way that each family has the unquestionable right to form their family in whatever way they so desire. When it comes to birth and adoptive families brought together by a shared child via open adoption, that unquestionable part becomes so important. I will first...