Jen was a 20-year-old college student and working part-time when she learned that she was five months pregnant. “I felt such angst and stress. I was going to school and I could see my life unfold, having a kid and struggling. I wanted to be able to give my child everything.” Jen and the father of her child, Mark, talked about how they would handle their situation and he suggested they consider adoption.

“I knew I didn't want to be a single mom. My mother raised my older sister by herself. My younger sister is a single mother. I had seen the struggle that was involved there and I didn't want to do it.”

“I thought that I was unique and different in that I am 32 years old; I have two children at home…But when the Web site said that Spence-Chapin deals with people like me, I said, 'Oh, my goodness, so I'm not alone.”

“People that I graduated from high school with were a little surprised when they found out I was pregnant. I was a straight A student with a scholarship.”

“Before I got pregnant there were little things that could have been such humongous problems. Then, after that, it just showed me how intense things could be. It was a really big deal.”

“I wanted to keep her. I struggled with the idea, but I knew I couldn't give her the best possible life.” Already the mother of five children, Cheryl knew that she couldn't care for them as well as meet the demands of raising a child with Down syndrome.