For many people, becoming a parent is a long-held dream and central to their life plans. However, the journey to parenthood can take multiple forms in today’s society. Traditional routes are not the only option, and an increasing number are exploring diverse paths to raise children and form a family. Keep reading to learn about some of the varying routes to parenthood available to those in the UK today.

Traditional Pregnancy

The most common path to parenthood remains trying to conceive and carrying a biological pregnancy. This traditional route sees couples or single women attempting to get pregnant through natural conception or assisted reproductive treatments like IVF.

Adoption

One major path to parenthood for those unable to conceive or who wish to welcome children in need of a stable home is adoption. The adoption process involves rigorous assessment of potential parents to ensure they can provide a loving, stable environment. Adoption permanently transfers the legal rights and responsibilities for a child to the adoptive parents.

In the UK, children adopted from care are typically aged 2-4 years old. The adoptive family become the child’s legal family for life. Many find adoption deeply fulfilling. However, the often-lengthy process and lack of newborn babies can mean long waits for a match. Prospective adopters must be resilient, patient and open to welcoming a child of any age.

Surrogacy

Surrogacy involves a woman carrying and giving birth to a baby for another person or couple. She then hands over the infant she carried to the intended parents. Surrogacy is legal in the UK, but commercial arrangements are banned. Only altruistic surrogacy is permitted, where the woman receives reasonable expenses but no other payment. Surrogacy can enable those unable to carry a pregnancy, such as same-sex male couples or women with medical conditions, to have a genetically related child.

Co-Parenting

Co-parenting has emerged as a new model of shared parenting between friends or those seeking collaboration. Typically, a committed couple has a child together with a single person or same-sex couple, sharing parental rights and responsibilities. While less common currently, co-parenting provides an alternative route to raising a child within a diverse, extended family environment.

Fostering

Fostering provides temporary care for children unable to live with their birth families. The aim of fostering is to provide stability while issues within the child’s own family are resolved. If this is not possible, longer-term fostering or adoption may result. Fostering isn’t a direct route to parenthood, as the fostering arrangement remains temporary. However, being a foster carer enables people to make a real difference in children’s lives. Many foster carers find it incredibly rewarding to support young people through difficult times. In the UK, foster agencies like Active Care Solutions recruit, assess, train and support foster carers to care for children with varying needs.

In today’s society, there are expanding opportunities to experience parenthood through varied arrangements. From adoption to surrogacy, fostering to co-parenting, traditional nuclear families are not the sole option. For those open to less conventional routes, it is possible to form loving families via diverse paths.