NETWORK OF SOLUTIONS

An estimated one out of every five couples is infertile. With the emotional stress, preponderance of
information (some good, some not so good) to sift through and the sheer desperation, couples
struggling with infertility can find themselves on a long and lonely winding road to nowhere.

Resolve logo Resolve: The National Infertility Association is a truly progressive nonprofit
organization created to support couples in the face of this epic disease.
Offering everything from education to advocacy to compassion in time of crisis,
Resolve is a trailblazer of a charity in concept, construction and consequence.

“Resolve was started by a nurse, Barbara Eck Menning, who experienced infertility. Barbara joined forces with another nurse, Diane Clapp, who also experienced infertility. At that time, they both felt that there was no reliable, unbiased information or support for infertile couples. It was a grassroots beginning born out of need,” says Director of Development Jennifer Jones.

With a mission to provide timely, compassionate support and information to people who are experiencing infertility and to increase awareness of infertility issues through public education and advocacy, the 35-year-old organization has an agenda that’s clear and powerful.

“Basically, at our headquarters, we are all about educating and advocating for the masses. We have a national help line. We offer information and education through printed materials and our website. We also advocate for insurance coverage. Our immediate goal is to change insurance practices,” Jones says.

Resolve on the Capital steps She continues, “Our stance on affordability goes the route of having more mandates for insurance coverage. Right now there are only 15 states that have mandated insurance coverage, and many of those have a lot of loopholes. In a lot of those states, the legislation is always in jeopardy. For example, in Massachusetts—a state that has some of the best coverage and best success stories (in terms of showing the insurance coverage for infertility can actually reduce cost because it helps reduce the incidence of multiples)—the insurance, however, is challenged from time to time.”

While it’s commonly known that fertility treatments are costly—the average fertility treatment ranges from $10,000 to upwards of $30,000 to $40,000—most don’t know how expensive adoption is. Jones tells us that Resolve is also very much about the adoption alternative.

“We also support legislation for adoption. There’s an adoption tax credit right now—people can write off a very small portion of the adoption, but the average adoption can be $10,000 to $20,000. We’re always pushing to have that adoption tax credit be more,” she says.

“Resolve, hence the name, is all about resolving your infertility. It can also be helping to support a couple, who after whatever journey they’ve gone through, decides that they’re not going to have children. Our stance is we don’t advocate any medical treatment over adoption or adoption over living child-free. It’s about supporting the individual or the couple through their journey with compassion, education and information,” Jones adds.

One way Resolve helps is through its regional outreach programs. “We’re the only national organization that also has a regional structure. It’s at the local level that all that face-to-face support happens. Locally we have peer-to-peer groups and expert-led support groups that conduct educational seminars all over the country on adoption and medical treatment. In addition, we give people all the unbiased information and all the support we can so they can make it through and come to some sort of resolution,” Jones adds.

We at THE FAMILY GROOVE support Resolve for the life-changing and compassion-breeding work that it is doing.

For more information, to get involved, to make a donation, or to seek support, go to www.resolve.org.