ABSTRACT
This chapter takes a look at the different ways families come to be, and the unique stresses and issues associated with each path to parenthood. For a pregnant couple, the nine months of physical gestation are also a time of psychological gestation during which feelings about impending parenthood start to surface. Adoptive parents have their own parallel psychological transition period. Certain issues can arise when a couple decides to build a family with a son or daughter who is not their biological child. Many adoptive parents struggle with the question of when and how to tell their children that they are adopted, or even whether to tell them at all. Gay couples commonly become parents via surrogacy or adoption. Lesbian couples can also go the adoption route.
