# How the family grows

**Would we consider adoption, fostering or fertility treatment?**

How your family might grow: biologically only, or also through adoption, fostering or fertility treatment.

In short: Parents choose between 4 main approaches: Biological only; Open to adoption; Open to fostering; Blended; fertility treatment options. Evidence: your call. No outcome evidence picks a winner. Preference, culture, money and logistics decide. Best settled: during pregnancy.

- Area: Family size and siblings
- Evidence: Your call
- Best settled: During pregnancy
- First published: 2026-10-03
- Last updated: 2026-10-05
- Page: https://www.raisingyourchild.com/topics/family-size-and-siblings--how-the-family-grows

## How the family grows: what are the options?

1. **Biological only**: You would have children only by birth.
2. **Open to adoption**: You would consider adopting.
3. **Open to fostering**: You would consider caring for foster children.
4. **Blended; fertility treatment options**: Your family includes children from earlier relationships. You also decide how far you would go with treatments such as IVF.

## How the family grows: what does the evidence say?

**Your call.** No outcome evidence picks a winner. Preference, culture, money and logistics decide.

No outcome research gathered on this yet — treat it as a preference.

## What else is worth knowing?

Families are formed by birth, fertility treatment, adoption, fostering and remarriage. Each path has its own costs, waits and emotional demands. It helps to know in advance how far each of you would go.

## Questions to ask each other

- What would we consider if having a baby were hard?
- How do we each feel about adoption or fostering?
- What would we want to know first?

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General information, not medical advice. Two parents can each answer this and compare: https://www.raisingyourchild.com/explore?cat=family-size-and-siblings&topic=family-size-and-siblings--how-the-family-grows