How do we view alternative families?

Most cultures are advocates of procreation partly because it stabilises communities, it makes individual and collective economic sense, and it is culturally the norm. Consequently, not being able to conceive naturally sets infertile individuals and couples apart from the fertile majority of people who do not have to think about their reproductive capacities. A diagnosis of infertility, its treatment and the uncertainty about the outcome are therefore accompanied by psycho-social hardship as is reported in much (though not all) social sciences research.