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Introduction: Single by happenstance, mother by choice
Chapter 1: Looking back, and where we are now
1.1 A brief history of single mothering
1.2 The current situation
Chapter 2: Choosing to go it alone
2.1 Who are the solo mums?
2.2 The nature vs. nurture debate
2.3 Support networks and needs
2.4 Dealing with negative reactions
Chapter 3: Choosing donor conception
3.1 A brief history of assisted conception
3.2 Is donor conception right for you?
3.3 Getting ready for treatment
3.4 Choosing a fertility clinic
3.5 Choosing a donor
3.6 Treatment options
3.7 Using informal systems
3.8 Travelling abroad for
treatment
3.9 Double donation and embryo donation:
the added genetic element
3.10 Miscarriage
3.11 When things don’t work
Chapter 4: Pregnancy, birth and the early days
4.1 Antenatal care
4.2 Diagnostic tests
4.3 Records and
confidentiality
4.4 Building networks for
the future
4.5 Planning for the birth
4.6 Bonding
4.7 Postnatal depression
4.8 Lining your nest for the first few weeks
4.9 Top ten tips to survive the first few
weeks as a solo mum
Chapter 5: Choosing adoption
5.1 Adoption legislation and history
5.2 Why adopt?
5.3 The adoption process
5.4 Overseas adoption
5.5 The financial aspects of adoption
5.6 Long-term fostering
Chapter 6: Telling & talking
6.1 What to say, to whom
and when?
6.2 Family and Friends
6.3 Workmates and
acquaintances
6.4 Dealing with negative reactions
6.5 Whose information is it anyway?
6.6 Talking to children
6.7 Children with different origins
in the same family
Chapter 7: Solo mothering
7.1 Building your village
7.2 Developing a new identity
7.3 Returning to work
7.4 Finances
7.5 Raising an only child
7.6 Twins & multiples
7.7 Trying for two, or more…
7.8 Raising kids without a dad
7.9 Preparing for the empty nest, eventually
Chapter 8: How do our children fare?
8.1 Bringing the child’s needs to the fore
8.2 What do children need?
8.3 Our children's developing
identity
8.4 Fatherless children
Chapter 9: The legal and ethical context
9.1 Ethics
9.2 Your child’s rights
9.3 The donor’s rights and duties
9.4 Donor siblings
9.5 The rights of the donor’s extended
family
9.6 Gametes and embryos:
permissions,
ownership and storage
Chapter 10: Sibling and donor tracing
10.1 Why seek to trace donor
siblings?
10.2 Why not?
10.3 The early days of sibling tracing
10.4 The obstacles in the UK
10.5 Unique features of double or
embryo donation
10.6 Background to provision of
donor information in the UK
10.7 How to start tracing
10.8 DNA testing
10.9 Sibling tracing registries
10.10 For those having treatment abroad
or outside the licensed system
10.11 Donor tracing
Chapter 11: Contingency planning
11.1 What to plan for and why?
11.2 Paving the way
11.3 Emergency measures
11.4 Convalescence
11.5 Appointing a guardian,
power of attorney,
making a will and advance directives
11.6 Financial Planning
Appendices:
Appendix 1: Who are the solo mums?
Survey of solo mums in the DCN,
June 2015
Appendix 2: What if your child is disabled?
Appendix 3: Grateful to receive, glad to give
- Emma’s egg-sharing story
Appendix 4: Lottie’s story: How she came
to have a known donor
Appendix 5: Notes from the empty nest
home
more about
solo mums survey
reviews
European resources
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