Healthvues

The Backstory
One of the aspects of infertility I wanted to explore in Infertility Explained was adoption being an option. This, of course, is a misnomer because it makes it sound like adoption is a second-best alternative to starting or adding to one’s family. The reality is that adoption is NOT an “alternative” but rather an equally rewarding (and difficult) journey. Making the decision to get off the infertility roller coaster and explore adoption (or remain childless) - or explore adoption while undergoing treatments - is the reality of many infertility patients, including us. I wanted to at least present the notion of exploring adoption while undergoing treatments and what additional emotional challenges that path brings. After all, that was our personal decision - whichever worked first, treatment or adoption, would be our path. Whether that dual path made our journey more difficult or not is a moot point now, but with some forethought (based on information), we may have done things differently.

Alice Domar was instrumental in opening up doors to get nationally recognized experts to appear on Infertility Explained. We had a list of topics, she attached potential participants to those topics and made the initial contact. I took it from there. The name she thought of for this adoption aspect was Patricia Johnston, noted adoption author, publisher and multiple adoptive parent herself. She recognized the value of what we were doing, but also thought that a similar empowerment tool (the DVD) could be done for adoption. While trying to figure out the logistics of meeting her somewhere in the country for her interview, she suggested I attend the NACAC conference in Minneapolis where there might be opportunities to interview other adoption experts who were all assembled in one place.

I developed a list of topics that I would like to get in the can. These topics were based on what we, as adoptive parents ourselves, had experienced during our own journey - how to decide that adoption is right for you; how to decide which path to go; legal and contractual issues; special needs and medical issues; and others. The questions I developed led to more questions, and with her guidance and suggestions, I quickly had a lengthy “to-do” list. Pat was instrumental in contacting participants for this production and introduced me to many experts.

I rented a hotel suite and over an intensive 2-day period, I (along with Pat’s help) interviewed these participants, resulting in about 8 hours worth of raw footage. Initially, these interviews were supposed to be incorporated into Infertility Explained as an adoption topic, but I quickly realized that there was far too much compelling information to effectively edit down to sound bites. I decided that Adoption Explained would be Healthvues’ second title.

But it became clear that a single DVD would be limiting, so I made the decision to split the content into two DVDs: International and Domestic. Beyond the basic differences between the two bureaucratic processes, many of the topics that we have categorized into one type of adoption are actually very applicable to the other. For example, the role of the Medical Review (international), its indicators and results are also applicable to the photos and videos one might receive from a domestic agency. The issues that might affect a child in an orphanage in an Eastern Bloc country are the same issues that some neglected kids face here in the States. As more countries adopt levels of disclosure and openness in their foreign adoption processes, domestic open adoption issues become borderless. Legal contracts… transracial considerations… medical and cultural background differences… all are almost transposable to either type of adoption.

Currently, we offer the DVDs separately, but to those first considering adoption, they are both valuable.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 1st, 2008 at 9:50 am and is filed under Healthvues Products. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.