Parenting vs. Adoption
There are many difficult decisions that a teenage girl is faced with when finding out she is pregnant. Abortion is not a viable option for everyone, be it for moral, spiritual, or other reasons. Once the choice has been made to carry the pregnancy to term, the most important decision could be whether to place her child up for adoption or to raise the child. There are many challenges that will flood her mind. Will she have the emotional and financial support from her partner and family? Will she be able to finish school and obtain a career that will support herself and a child? Who will take care of the child when she is at school, or work, and where will they live? Will her religious values and beliefs weigh in on her decision? She is really still a child herself. Adoption can be made to seem like an easy way out. But is it?
When a teenage girl finds out that she is pregnant, it will consume her thoughts. She will start to realize that her entire life is going to drastically change. She has to tell her parents, but is unsure of how they will react. Telling her partner can also be a terrifying task. How is everyone going to take the news? After a girl shares the news of the pregnancy, she is then faced with many arduous decisions which need to be addressed in a small amount of time. Pregnancy is only a short nine months when compared to the 18+ years of raising a child, or the lifetime of emotional strain of placing a child for adoption. This determination is just the first in a long string of crucial, sometimes painful, choices.
Parenting
Choosing to give birth to, and then raising, the baby might seem like an easy decision to make. However, the financial strain that it can have on a teenager can be overwhelming. They are often forced to take on the help of state, and federal, government agencies for financial assistance to help pay for rent, utilities, and food. This assistance may be their only option if they are forced to raise the child on their own. When a teen chooses to keep their child, they are often forced to mature at a much faster rate than their peers. Often times, this results in the total loss of their teen developmental years and they are forced into adulthood. Choosing to become a teen parent will affect every aspect of the rest of their life, and potentially that of their partner. (Boehlke, 2015)
Adoption
If the decision is made to place the child for adoption, it should not be taken lightly, as it can create a great deal of emotional strain on all that are involved. There are multiple different forms of child adoption. These include “open” (identities exchanged), “semi-open/mediated” (information is exchanged through an agency), and “closed” (confidential) adoptions (Pregnancy Choices: Raising the Baby, Adoption, And Abortion, 2013). In some adoptions, the parents of birth will hand-select the adoptive parents. Once an adoption has been finalized, and the child has been relinquished to the agency, or new parents, the mother can experience a myriad of emotions like regret, fear, sadness, and even joy and relief. Not to mention the gift that she is giving to a couple that may not have otherwise been able to bear their own children. While adoption my not be accompanied by the same financial burdens as keeping a child, it can greatly tax emotions and place stress on relationships if the decision is not amicable.
Conclusion
When examining the options between parenting and adoption, the decision for the birth mother should be weighted in whether she is better equipped to handle the financial, or emotional, stress. The consideration of the best interests of the child is also a strongly mitigating factor. Is she ready to give up her childhood and become a parent? Or is she ready to give up her child and trust that someone else will provide the support that her baby will need? Both are selfless acts. Whatever the expectant parents choose to do, the decision needs to be theirs, and not made under duress.