Read a story by Bonnie Rochman at Time magazine today that breaks my heart. It’s about the mother of a daughter who was recently murdered, who placed this daughter for adoption as a baby because she had severe postpartum depression.

I don’t hear about this happening often, but I can tell you that over the 6+ years I’ve been doing this blog, I have heard from a handful of women — maybe 3 or 4 — who placed their children for adoption while sick with PPD, only to feel they had made a mistake once they recovered and wished to get them back. They were struggling so severely that they felt, or in some cases were made to feel, that adoption was their only option. I don’t think any of the ones with whom I’ve spoken were able to regain custody.

I’m not implying that adoption is a bad thing, of course, or that all mothers who relinquish custody have PPD, of course, or that all women who choose to put a baby up for adoption regret it, of course. Adoption can be wonderful. I’m just sad to see some women with perinatal depression make choices out of desperation, regretting them later, because they didn’t think they had other options.