Teen Chooses Adoptive Parents for Baby

April 30 -- Imagine five couples vying for the same unborn baby. Then imagine the mother of the baby, a teenager, trying to decide which couple should raise her child. What if there were a round of interviews, in which each of the five couples would try to convince the teenager they are the best parents?

This scenario is one that's playing itself out more and more frequently in America today. Many would-be adoptive parents are finding themselves essentially pitted against each other when trying to adopt a baby, and birth mothers are learning they have a unique power.

"I was basically deciding if they're going to have children or not," said 16-year-old Jessica Bohne of Cleveland, who became the center of just such an emotional drama after learning she was pregnant. "I was kind of playing God."

Jessica's parents, Beth Anne and Michael, counseled the high school sophomore to consider adoption. Jessica was determined to decide for herself her child's future, but the decision was not an easy one.

As the baby grew inside her, the desire to keep him grew too. Becoming a mom seemed an exciting and rewarding prospect. Weighing against her maternal instincts were personal and career goals, Jessica wanted to attend nursing school, eventually get married, and later, with the support of a husband, start a family.

Her parents continued to push for adoption, but it seemed an unnatural choice to Jessica. At night, alone in her room, she wondered how she could carry a baby for nine months only to hand him over to another family.

Beth Anne and Micheal sensed their daughter's growing attachment to the baby and reminded her that choosing to become a parent would not only be an unrealistic burden for her but would make unfair demands on them as well. Eventually Jessica consented to a first step, looking into what options existed for her if she chose the adoption route.