The media is full of reports on the growing number of single parents. While two parent families are still the norm, it is increasingly clear that more single women are mothers. There are a lot of life circumstances that lead to this statistic, but for many it is simply a choice: they have the love, the calling and the capability to raise a child, and they want to do that. We are seeing reflections of this in the family-builders coming to our adoption team: more single women with strong family values who wish to become parents.
It’s also clear that there are some children, even including infants, who are available to single mother prospects. While most foreign countries prefer, or even insist on, two parent families, not all of them do. There are also moderately special needs children for whom a single mother would be a good match. And some birth parents ask for a single mother for their child.
What does this news mean to you? Typically, the single women we hear from who are interested in adoption have a strong family and spiritual tradition, a good career path, a sound personal adjustment to life, and the kinds of skills that lead to good parenting. They want to be parents and will do an excellent job of raising a child if they have the chance.
• If you are a single woman who has not found a suitable marriage partner but does not want to wait to begin raising a child, this can be very meaningful.
• If you are a single woman who may have no specific plan to marry, but you have a strong family background and a heart’s desire to be a parent, adoption may be a choice to consider.
• If a family member has a child that for any of many possible reasons they will not be able to parent, you should consider yourself to be a good candidate to step forward and ask for the chance to adopt that child.
In keeping with the Adoption Associates of Iowa team belief that Adoption Is Normal we recognize that throughout history, single mothers have raised many of our children and have done so very well. Single mother adoption is normal. Look for more single mother adoptions to appear in your neighborhood, church, school and family.
William N. Pearce, Director, Adoption Associates of Iowa.