I am Claire, the founder of myHoPE&CO. I only learnt about embryo adoption in 2020. Prior to that I was not aware that that is even an option for people looking to grow their family, and for people looking for a loving family for their remaining embryos.
A little bit about myself
Professionally I started out as a school teacher. I loved teaching elementary and secondary students for a number of years. I also fell in love with esthetics, and studied that part time. I worked as an esthetician on a part-time basis, and still do – I love it. I find it so rewarding and relaxing. I moved to Toronto, and was looking for another career as it is hard to get into teaching in Toronto. So I decided to study social work. I did my BSW and MSW. I worked for 4 years in child welfare, working closely with children in care and their families. Part of this work involved working closely with the adoption team. I learnt a lot at this work about the importance of maternal wellbeing during pregnancy for the wellbeing of baby, the long term impact of ACEs (adverse childhood experiences), and the buffers that support children’s mental wellbeing. I then moved on to an Individual and Family Therapist, supporting children, youth and their families with strategies to manage their lives better, which includes infant mental health and positive parenting. I currently am on parental leave, and learning a lot from our little one.
On a personal note
My husband and myself adopted 2 embryos after several other failed fertility treatments. We only learnt about embryo adoption after a failed IVF, when I was scrolling through my YouTube feed and suddenly (perfect timing :)!) came across a video about a person talking about giving birth to her adoptive twins. Living in Ontario it was quite a journey to navigate this. When we were signing all the documents for our IVF cycle, the only options for any remaining embryos was to discard or give to research. There was no mention about the possibility of donating any remaining embryos. So when we decided to pursue embryo adoption, it was quite a long journey for us because there seems to be such a shortage of embryos in Ontario, and a shortage of organizations. However, we all know that a lot of families go through IVF, even in Ontario, which means that there are a lot of remaining embryos.
I decided to start myHoPE&CO in the hopes of educating and spreading the word about the option of donating any remaining embryos – this is a wonderful gift for everyone involved. And also to share experiences about the journey of embryo adoption.
In case you are wondering :), my husband and I have welcomed one of the embryos/child in March 2022.
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