Full Description

What options do I have on my path to parenthood?

Conceiving your own child is difficult. Innovative technologies in assisted reproduction explore new alternatives to traditional pregnancy, but legal matters and financial considerations complicate these choices. Educate yourself on the available options that are allowing families to bring a baby into their homes.

The Infertility Answer Book answers your questions regarding the advantages and disadvantages involved with all of the options available, including:
--How do find an egg donor?
--Will my insurance cover fertility treatments?
--What happens in cryopreservation if a parent dies?
--What are the risks with using a surrogate?
--Should I also be trying adoption?
--What laws are involved with insemination?
--How do I keep embryo donation private?
--When should I discuss my ART choice with my child?

The Infertility Answer Book is your complete guide to the family-building possibilities beyond traditional pregnancy.

Table of Contents

Introduction
-
SECTION I: Assisted Reproduction

Chapter 1: Understanding & Evaluating Reproductive Technologies -
- Understanding Your Condition
- What Technology Can Do for You
- What Technology Cannot Do for You
- Understanding Terminology
- Finding Medical Professionals You are Comfortable With
- Success Rates
- Your Right to ART
- Initial Visit
- Setting Limits
- Privacy
- Your Rights as an ART Patient
- Weighing Technology vs. Adoption
- Weighing the Use of Donors
- Ethical Considerations
- HIV and Assisted Reproduction
- Dealing with Risks
- Fertility Specialist Questionnaire

Chapter 2: Coping with ART -
- Deal with Emotions
- Making Time for ART
- Keeping Your Relationship Stable
- Live Your Life

Chapter 3: Affording Fertility Treatments -
- Insurance
- Thinking About Costs
- Medical Spending Accounts
- Financing Fertility
- Taxes

Chapter 4: Fertility for Singles -
- Finding Medical Providers
- Discrimination
- Considerations

Chapter 5: Gay and Lesbian Assisted Reproduction -
- Finding Doctors and Clinics
- Legal Parents
- Discrimination

Chapter 6: Insemination -
- Laws
- Types of Sperm Donors
- Legal Parents
- Future Considerations
- Choosing a Sperm Bank Questionnaire

Chapter 7: Egg Donation -
- Finding a Donor
- Donation Process
- Cost
- Agreement
- State Laws
- Legal Rights
- Future Contact with the Donor
- Ovarian Tissue Donation
- Choosing a Clinic Questionnaire

Chapter 8: Embryo Donation -
- Finding a Donor
- State Laws
- Costs
- Agreement
- Issues
- Privacy
- Clinic Evaluation Questionnaire

Chapter 9: Surrogacy -
- Laws Concerning Surrogacy
- The Legal Process of Surrogacy
- California Procedure
- Surrogacy Programs
- Finding a Surrogate on Your Own
- Surrogacy Agreements
- Payment Issues
- Insurance Coverage
- Problems with Surrogacy
- Other Steps to Protect Yourself
- Choosing a Surrogacy Program Questionnaire

Chapter 10: Emerging Technologies -
- Nuclear Transfer
- In Vitro Maturation
- Cytoplasmic Transfer
- Cloning

Chapter 11: Cryopreservation -
- Contract
- Cost
- Divorce
- Death of a Parent

Chapter 12: Raising an ART Child -
- Explaining Things to Your Child
- Coping with Other People
- Medical Information
- Helping Your Child Locate His or Her Donors or Surrogates

Chapter 13: Moving from Fertility to Adoption -

SECTION II: Adoption

Chapter 14: Understanding Adoption -
- Legal Effects
- Birth Parents’ Rights and Roles
- Extended Birth Family
- Legal Process
- Making the Decision to Adopt
- Preparing for the Adoption Roller-coaster
- Preparing for the Future

Chapter 15: Adoption Decisions -
- Open vs. Closed Adoption
- Domestic vs. International Adoption
- Agency vs. Private Adoption
- Finding and Choosing an Agency
- Finding and Choosing an Attorney
- Facilitators
- Affording Adoption
- Agency Evaluation Questionnaire
- Attorney Evaluation Questionnaire

Chapter 16: Adoption Procedures -
- Home Studies
- Consent
- No Consent Needed
- Notice
- Timing of Consent
- Consent Procedures
- Revocation
- Adoption Court Procedures
- Postplacement
- Birth Certificates
- Adoption Financial Credits
- Family Leave
- Insurance and Planning for the Future

Chapter 17: Second-Parent Adoption -
- Deciding to Adopt a Stepchild
- Qualifications to Adopt
- Notice or Consent
- Preadoption Procedures
- Second-Parent Adoption Process

Chapter 18: Domestic Agency Adoption -
- Public Agencies
- Agency Liability
- Private Agency Adoption
- Interstate Issues
- Ethnic Concerns

Chapter 19: International Adoption -
- Choosing an Agency
- Choosing a Country
- Choosing a Child
- Dealing with Paperwork
- The Process
- Dealing with Immigration
- Citizenship
- Readoption
- Changes in Adoption Law
- Forms Checklist for International Adoption
- International Agency Questionnaire

Chapter 20: Parent-Initiated Adoption -
- Adopting Independently with an Agency
- How to Find a Birth Mother
- Facilitator
- Advertising
- Choosing a Birth Mother
- Contact with Birth Mother
- Payments
- Counseling
- Waiting for Your Child to be Born
- Paperwork
- Adjustment Period
- Choosing a Facilitator Questionnaire
- Potential Birth Mother Questionnaire

Chapter 21: Single-Parent Adoption -
- Considerations for Single-Parent Adoption
- Bias Against Single Parents
- Home Studies
- Laws Governing Single-Parent Adoption
- Protecting Your Family
- Raising Your Child

Chapter 22: Gay and Lesbian Adoption -
- Single-Parent Adoption
- Second-Parent Adoption
- Couple Adoption
- International Adoption
- Finding Gay-Friendly Adoption Agencies
- Raising an Adoptive Child

Chapter 23: Coping with Adoption -
- Dealing with Reactions to Adoption
- Dealing with Others Involved in Your Case
- Dealing with the Waiting
- Dealing with Doubts
- Changing Your Mind
- Taking Time Off for Your Adoption
- Bonding with an Adopted Child
- Dealing with Adoption Disappointments

Chapter 24: Raising an Adopted Child -
- Celebrating Your Adoption
- Breastfeeding an Adopted Infant
- Talking to Your Biological Children about Adoption
- Raising Biological and Adopted Siblings
- Talking to Your Child about His or Her Adoption
- Keeping an Adoption a Secret
- Cultural Heritage
- Medical Issues
- Postadoption Support
- Finding Birth Parents

Epilogue -
Glossary -
Appendix A: Resources -
Appendix B: Forms -
Index -
About the Author -

Excerpt

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