With 29.6 of every 1000 girls between 15 and 17 in Freeborn County pregnant, according to the Minnesota Department of Administration Office of Geographic and Demographic Analysis 2000 Census results—and a dramatic rise in private adoptions, Melissa Marcello and her husband Eric Steen chose to place an advertisement for adoption in a high school newspaper in small town Albert Lea, Minn.

"I’ve always wanted a child, but I’ve had some infertility issues that have prevented me from actualizing it," said Marcello, a Rhode Island native.

Marcello was encouraged by her

former college roommate and current social

studies teacher at Albert Lea High School,

Jennifer Vogt-Erickson, to place an advertisement in the school paper. The two

reconnected through wall posts and status updates on social-networking site Facebook after 10 years apart. Vogt-Erickson knew Marcello was searching to initiate a private adoption and suggested the school

newspaper as opposed to the local one. Marcello also said she chose to advertise in the Midwest because of the values of the people who live there.

"It’s almost like Juno, I guess," Vogt-Erickson joked.

Vogt-Erickson looks up to her previous roommate as a mentor, someone who was always very together, supportive and a great listener. She acknowledges the sacrifice involved with giving up a child, but encourages teenage mothers to know it’s OK to give a baby up for adoption, as Vogt-Erickson said only 2 percent of unmarried mothers give up their child for adoption.

Marcello, 42, and Steen, 40, recently made the move to a town, population 5,000, in Vermont from Washington D.C. The married couple of six years have made conscious decisions to welcome a child to their home. Both work out of their home: Marcello via satellite to her company, Pursuant Research, based in Washington D.C. and Steen as a LEED certified architect teaching green design at Vermont Technical College. The two chose the community based on the quality of

education and established a flexible lifestyle there. Marcello describes her small town as "one-of-everything"—one movie theater showing one movie per week, one college, etc.

"We’re both prepared to be a parent because we know this is what we want,"

Marcello said.

The couple is already expecting a baby boy in mid-May from a teenage mother in Virginia, who shares Marcello’s fondness of the television show "American Idol," and texts back-and-forth weekly. Marcello attested this kind of friendship and comfort level might not be possible with an adoption agency and is one of the reasons she chose domestic private adoption. This positive experience allows them to know the mom, establishes a good relationship, and as much contact as the mother wants; the potential mother even asked her to be in the delivery room. Marcello said each situation is different.

Marcello and Steen want their boy to have siblings, whether they are boys or girls, Hispanic or Caucasian, they have no

preference, but they have faith and trust that things will happen. Marcello said there is no "one-size-fits-all" adoption and no right or wrong answers for anyone. She wants any

potential mother to know, though it is a tough decision, there are many people

waiting to adopt babies in this country and she needs to find parents she is comfortable with.

"It just takes one," Marcello said of her advertisement being answered. "It’s just like finding the right guy."