Pregnant? Adoption is an Option

For some women, seeing the plus sign on the little white stick isn’t a joyful moment. Instead, it is a moment where you find yourself consumed with fear, worry, and panic.  You’re pregnant. You didn’t mean for it to happen, yet the proof is right there in your hand. You begin to think about all of the ways this is going to affect your life and how you could ever possibly manage being a parent. Will you finish school? Can you afford to have a baby? What is the father going to say?  
According to the website www.dosomething.org, more than half of teen mothers never graduate from high school and less than 2% of teen moms earn a college degree by age 30. This is most likely due to the fact that it takes a considerable amount of money to raise a child, so these young moms must forfeit their education and maintain full time employment instead. Unfortunately, without an education, the earning potential for these young girls is not going to be nearly enough to meet the needs of a newborn. A simple package of diapers averages about $18 and a new baby will go through ten to twelve of those in a day. Many times, teen moms find themselves forced to rely on government assistance for health care, groceries, and even housing. CNN recently reported that it will cost a middle class couple $241, 080 to raise a child born in 2012 for eighteen years. That amount does not include the cost of college. Sadly, most teen moms find themselves alone with little or no support from the baby’s father.   
Unplanned pregnancy doesn’t have to be a hopeless situation; there is a way to be a wonderful parent without having to go through the struggle of trying to make ends meet and giving up on your goals. Adoption provides you with a solution that not only enables your child to have the best life possible, but for you to have your best life, as well. With adoption, you can be certain that he/she will never go without, will never feel like a burden to you, and will be loved unconditionally by parents who have longed for, even prayed for, the very child that you have entrusted to them.   
There is sometimes a misconception that allowing someone to adopt your child is selfish and you only did it so your life wouldn’t be disrupted. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. The love that it takes to realize you aren’t able to provide for another life at this time is immeasurable, the strength is takes is admirable, but the future that it provides for everyone involved is what makes adoption the best thing that you could ever do when faced with an unplanned pregnancy.