Senior Pastor, Trinity House, Lagos, Ituah Ighodalo, has urged childless couples not to be stigmatised about adoption but embrace it wholeheartedly.

Speaking with journalists at the seventh edition of Parents-in-waiting Conference held in Lagos recently, he noted, ‘adoption is part of life. Sometimes God put you in a corner because there is a little baby somewhere waiting for your love, time and attention. Like one of the speakers said, whether you conceive naturally or it is given to you through adoption, a child is a child.

The idea that it must come from your womb is not totally necessary anymore.’ With the theme, ‘God never fails,’ he added, ‘we are one of the advocates for adoption awareness. Aside from the Ibidunni Ighodalo Foundation, we also run Heritage Home for motherless babies.’

Speaking further, he revealed, ‘we create awareness about infertility and provide support to waiting couples. My late wife too went through that process of being childless for a season. She decided she would spend most of her resources in making sure she could provide an alternative to people who couldn’t conceive naturally. So we came up with the In vitro fertilisation (IVF).’

“It is been quite successful. The average success rate is about 30 to 40 percent. Year on year, we have achieved that in terms of conception. If we deal with ten people, minimum three of them conceive. The icing on the cake is when you have multiple births. For instance, last year, we had two sets of triplets. About four people got pregnant out of ten. So that is notable and source of joy to me. They come from all parts of the world and to see them carry their bundles of joy has been extra ordinary.’

Executive Secretary Ibidunni Ighodalo Foundation, Grace Ogunniyi disclosed, ‘at the Parents-in-waiting conference, we bring seasoned professionals that deal with issues pertaining to infertility. We also give fertility grants to couples that must have undergone screening exercises.’