By Jane Mattes, L.C.S.W., Founder and Director of SMC
(Paperback, 243 pages, ISBN # 0-8129-2246-8)
Jane Mattes, L.C.S.W., founded the national organization, Single Mothers by Choice, in 1981. She has been a psychotherapist in private practice in New York City for over twenty-five years and is a single mother by choice. In this book she addresses the many unique issues relevant to making a decision about whether or not to become a single mother by choice, as well as the issues that come afterward — in particular, the “daddy questions”. Some sample agreements with a known donor are also included.
Partial Contents
Becoming an SMC by conception: Conception by donor insemination, Insemination with an unknown donor, Insemination with a known donor, Conception with a sex partner
Becoming an SMC by adoption: Agency or independent adoption? Open or closed adoption? Should you adopt a newborn or a toddler or an older child? U.S.or foreign adoption?
Pregnancy, birth, and postpartum: Telling people, Complications of pregnancy, The hospital, How to fill out the birth certificate, The postpartum period — home alone
The daddy questions: Preparing for the child’s daddy questions, Handling the daddy questions during each developmental stage, Dealing with the daddy questions in the community, If you conceived with someone you know, If you conceived with an unknown donor
Special child development issues for children of SMCs: Separation issues, The importance of a man in a child’s life, Disciplining when there is only one parent
Social life and the Single Mother by Choice: Social life, Dating, Marriage