Examining Lived Experiences of Infertility and Perceptions Toward the Adoption of Children in Urban India

Abstract

Infertility is emerging to be a key health concern in urban India. As a result, infertile couples in urban India tend to rely on assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) for a child. Several media reports have highlighted that infertile couples in urban India intend to adopt a child only when all possibilities of becoming biological parents have been exhausted. Several studies have examined the relationship between infertility and assisted reproductive technologies in urban India. However, there is limited academic scholarship on the attitudes of infertile couples toward the adoption of children in India. Adopting a qualitative lens and using the functionalist theoretical framework the present study examines the different factors that shape the perceptions toward child adoption among infertile couples in urban Goa, India. In the process, the study also reflects on the intersections between infertility and gender role fulfillment among these couples to understand the lived experience of infertility on a regular basis.

Keywords:

• Infertility
• child adoption
• functionalism
• perceptions
• genetic lineage

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the respondents for their time and responses which shaped the paper. The authors are also thankful to the two anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions which benefitted the paper immensely.

Disclosure statement

The authors have no conflict of interest.

Notes

1 Information taken from the main website of Central Adoption Resource Authority: http://cara.nic.in/Parents/eg_ri.html

2 https://indianexpress.com/article/parenting/family/child-adoption-cara-india-girl-all-you-need-to-know-6153189/

Additional information

Funding

This study did not receive any funding.