Are you hoping to expand your family by adding a child or children to your home? If so, then you are probably busy considering all of your options for becoming a parent. Of course, there is the option of having your own biological children, which most people go for, but then there is also the option of adoption.

Quite honestly, I had never seriously considered the option of adoption until quite recently. I have been married for many years and have had no problems getting pregnant, and I always just assumed that adoption was only for people who had trouble having biological children of their own. I am so grateful that my perspective was expanded recently by a friend.

I guess it was ignorance that led me to believe that adoption was only a backup plan for couples who were trying to have a family. Perhaps because I didn't know anyone who had gone through an adoption for a child simply because they felt like they wanted to. That is, until I met my friend Kate.

Kate and her husband have been married for several years. They are able, as far as they know, to parent biological children, yet they have decided instead to go with adoption for building their family. As Kate told me this over coffee one day, I couldn't help but stop her and ask why. Why would she and Mike go through the somtimes awful process of adoption when they could get pregnant on their own? And why, more importantly, would they put themselves through all of the emotional trauma that comes with adoption when they could just have their own kids?

Kate laughed and then began to explain the process that she and Mike went through in deciding on adoption. She explained to me that they simply have become overwhelmed with the amount of need in the world and they have determined that adoption is one small but significant way that they can contribute to making the world a better place. Kate and Mike believe that everyone has a role to play in making the world better, and for them, they are committed to adoption. They are committed to taking children into their homes that might otherwise bounce from home to home in the foster care system and never actually be adopted.

If you are looking for a way to do something great for a child, for your family, and for the world, consider adoption. Of course, it is a much more complex issue than I can discuss here. Do some research, talk with your spouse and anyone you know that has gone through the adoption process.

About the Author:

Analeese Burnabaker is a family therapist who has been studying the affects of adoption on the family for several months now. Kate and Mike's story intrigued her. See www.funadoption.info for more on adoption.