This is Infertility is a bi-weekly podcast where we fuse narrative storytelling with experience and science to give you a new perspective on what it’s really like to go through a family building journey. Each episode dives into the emotional, physical, and financial burdens carried by those who experience infertility on their path to parenthood. Be it IVF, IUI, egg freezing, surrogacy, adoption, etc., the path is never the same and it can be long, painful, and lonely. It’s our mission to give those struggling a platform to be heard, a community connection, and an opportunity to raise awareness of the 1 in 8 who, for many reasons, struggle with infertility.

Episode 25: The Miracle of Adoption and Helping Others

When people are having trouble having a baby, they often want support from their friends and family, but sometimes this support backfires, and arrives as unwanted advice. There are few pieces of advice more unwanted by those trying to conceive than the suggestion to “just adopt” a baby. This idea is a double-edged sword, as it minimizes both the experience of going through fertility treatments and the experience of adoption. Choosing one does not mean you are giving up on the other, and both can be incredibly difficult in their own ways.  

In this episode, we hear from Becky Fawcett, who, along with her husband, spent years trying to have a baby through fertility treatments, before deciding to pursue adoption instead. After enduring multiple rounds of IVF and devastating miscarriages while trying for baby number two, Becky realized that adoption was now her preferred path to parenthood.  

The complex nature of adoption, along with the prohibitive costs led Becky to create HelpUsAdopt.org, an organization that helps bridge the financial gap for those looking to build their families through adoption. Becky shares her own experience of adopting her two children, as well as the discriminatory adoption practices she discovered along the way, and how that motivated her to help other families navigate the costly adoption process.   

Guest: Becky Fawcett, founder at HelpUsAdopt.org 

Host: Dan Bulger, Producer at Progyny 

For more information, visit Progyny’s Podcast page and HelpUsAdopt.org.  

Be sure to follow us on Instagram, @ThisisInfertilityPodcast and use the #ThisisInfertility. 

Have a question, comment, or want to share your story? Email us at thisisinfertility@progyny.com. 

Host

Dan Bulger, Producer at Progyny

Dan has been in the healthcare industry for the last six years as a multimedia content producer. Better known as ‘Video Dan’ he as interviewed numerous doctors, patients and other experts in the world of fertility. He’s also the producer for this podcast, This is Infertility. On a personal note Dan’s parents started fostering kids when he was four years old, and he considers himself a proud older brother to over 100 foster children.

Guests

Becky Fawcett, Founder and President of HelpUsAdopt.org

HelpUsAdopt.org is an equality based national organization that seeks to reduce the financial burden of adoption by awarding large, life-changing, problem-solving grants. Becky’s career began in media, first for Baltimore magazine, and then for Philadelphia magazine as the director of marketing. In 1999, she founded The Fawcett Group, a full-service public relations and marketing firm with offices in New York City and Philadelphia.

Becky lives in Manhattan with her husband Kipp and her children Jake and Brooke. Becky and her husband Kipp adopted their son, Jake, in 2005, and their daughter, Brooke, in 2009. In 2007 they founded Helpusadopt.org to help make adoption more financially accessible to all.

Becky has received a number of accolades as the founder of Helpusadopt.org. She was named one of CNN’s 2011 Heroes, and a “Hero Among Us” by PEOPLE Magazine. She received the Congressional Institute’s Angels in Adoption Award in 2013. She was recognized by The Wall Street Journal as a Donor of the Day, and last year, she was recognized by Neiman Marcus as a strong woman who is making noise within her community. Her groundbreaking work has also been featured on The Today Show, Good Morning America, The Steve Harvey Show and People.com.