Adoption and the Juno Fairy Tale

On our first blog entry, we received a comment from Joi regarding adoption and teen moms:

I am a former high school teacher turned teen pregnancy presentor. Started a program 6.5 years ago talking to teens about the 3 options they face if they are in an unplanned pregnancy. Use this site quite a lot for facts, ideas, etc. Would like to know why adoption doesn't get much of a mention here?

Joi's comment is actually a pretty common one in our circle and every so often we are asked about the prevalence of adoption among teen moms. While adoption is obviously another option for teens if they face an unplanned pregnancy, the fact is that less than 3% actually choose adoption - fewer than 12,000 each year. In the absence of government statistics on adoption, and the small number of adoptions that occur, research on adoption, including the reasons for adoption and consequences of adoption (for both mom and baby) is rare.

So, while movies such as Juno might suggest that adoption is a common alternative to teen pregnancy, most teenagers decide to keep their baby and take on the daunting task of raising a child themselves at a very young age.