' [Birth Mother] First Mother Forum: Beggars and Choosers
Showing posts with label Beggars and Choosers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beggars and Choosers. Show all posts

Monday, March 12, 2012

Choice is largely a myth when it comes to relinquishing a child

Jane
SURRENDERS BASED ON MISINFORMATION ARE NOT CHOICES
"Julia,"* a 30-year-old married professional woman who learned her husband was having an affair gave up her new born son for adoption, a story that we have been writing about in the last two posts.  We wrote critically of her decision, but back tracked somewhat, recognizing that Julia was more sinned against than sinning. “Anonymous” commented that Julia was “a woman who has freely chosen to surrender, evidently was not forced to this choice. … Whatever happened to the concept of informed choice, even when another person's choice is not the one you wish you had made?” (Emphasis added.)

Since the infant adoption system in the U.S. does little to assure that mothers surrendering their babies are informed about the consequences, it's almost certain that Julia did not make an informed choice as Barbara Thavis, one of First Mother Forum readers, commented: