Experiencing infertility--social work dilemmas in child adoption procedures

The research deals with experiencing infertility and its consequences in the adoption of a child and focuses on infertile couples that have wished to adopt a child and joined a program preparing them to be foster parents. The results show that most of the infertile couples experience infertility very much as being different from couples with children as well as having to cope with the feelings of deep emotional loss resulting from the inability to reproduce biologically. There is therefore the question whether these facts should be taken into account by the profession (i.e. social workers) when dealing with child adoption as, according to most of the respondents of our survey, the process of coming to terms with infertility and its consequences is an important factor in establishing healthy family relationships and the child's identity within the adoptive family. We concluded from the results of the research that the infertile couples preparation program for adopting a child carried out by the Society of Adoptive Families "Deteljica", is a comprehensive autopoietic social workers' answer to the needs of participants for a successful adoption of a child, as it makes it possible to supply these future adoptive parents with the requisite information and experience and provides support to the entire family upon accepting a child in its midst, while its fundamental attribute is offering help to couples in overcoming the traumas resulting from their infertility.