Alexandria Cruz
Amy Santiano
Alexandra Arnold
Mariah Jacobs
http://i1-news.softpedia-static.com/images/news2/Adopted-Children-Learn-the-New-Langauge-Like-Babies-Do-2.jpg
In the United
States between the years 2006 and 2010, there was about a 10% infertility rate
in women who are between the ages of 15-44. One in six couples are struggling
with infertility issues. To many families who try to conceive, infertility can
be devastating. As we saw in class with the movie ’18 Ways to Make a Baby’,
there are many alternative ways to create and/or raise children. IVF, egg
donations, and transfers are just some of the more scientific ways to create a
child. But what about the children who were already created but unwanted? Or
the ones that cannot be taken care of by their parents? There may be millions
of families looking to have a baby, but there are also millions of children
looking for a family.
Adoption is very
important to the development of these children who do not have homes or
families who can support them.
Some children who’s parents are unfit to raise them but keep them
anyways can grow up with serious problems. Abuse and neglect are some of the
serious problems that many children go through. Sometimes, even though it is
hard, parents must make the hard decision to put their child up for adoption.
Adoptions can be hard on both sets of parents. This leads to the different choices
that are available for both sets of parents.
There
are many types of adoptions. Agency adoptions have families go through the
local public agencies such as foster care or welfare to adopt. They also
include licensed private agencies. Independent adoptions are when prospective
adopting parents and prospective placing parents locate each other on their
own. They can use attorneys, do the work themselves, and use adoption
facilitators. When it comes to international adoptions, state laws, U.S.
Citizenship and Immigration Service, and the laws of that country all apply. As
a sub category to the ways in which you can adopt, there are options you have
when it comes to information and keeping in touch with the birth parents. In a
Semi-Open adoption, information that is non-identifying can be shared between
the two sets of parents. They can exchange letters, photos, emails, etc. They
can do so directly or within an agency. This type of adoption does not usually
involve post placement face-to-face contact. In a closed adoption, both sets of
parents never meet and know little to nothing about the other. International
adoptions are usually considered closed but it is not uncommon for adopting
parents to know medical histories and cultural information. An open adoption is
when both families can communicate and face-to-face meetings are not uncommon. No
matter the choice of which adoption parents choose, once a child reaches the
legal age, it is ultimately up to them or their birth family to decide if or
when they want to interact with their birth families.
There
are also many risks in adoptions. Some families are unaware of medical
histories of the child they are adopting. Other families must worry about their
birth families changing their minds. Another issue is cost. It can be very
expensive to adopt a child and could take an average of two years to go
through. An adoption can average from $20,000 to $40,000. Adoption is a serious
choice that must be looked into and is not right for everyone.
Other issues
some families worry about with adoption include how the child will react once
they find out. Some adopted children could feel betrayed once they find out
they are adopted. They could feel unloved or unwanted. Other children are fine
with accepting their parents to be the ones that raised them. Personally, my
best friend is adopted and she recently got in touch with her birth mother. She
visits with her birth mother twice a year and is very please to have her in her
life now. Unfortunately, her mother who raised her now feels threatened. It is
a difficult situation but we all realize that adoption was the best choice at
the time and the alternative would have been worse.
Discussion Questions:
1. Would you ever consider adoption as an option?
If so, which do you think would be the best-fit option?
2.
What do you believe are some advantages and
disadvantages of adoption?
Sources:
Good use of graphics and sources. Nice discussion questions!
ReplyDeleteWhere are kids adopted from? Aren't some countries placing strict regulations?
ReplyDeleteKids can be adopted from all different countries and locations! It is true that some countries place very strict regulations on adoption, which contributes a great deal to why adoptions can take years to go through. International adoptions have to govern by the laws of the country the child is born, and the country the parents live in. In 2008, the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Inter-country Adoption went into force in the U.S. This establishes rules and regulations on international adoptions and if you choose to adopt from a country that participates in these regulations your adoption process will be known as a Convention adoption. The earlier a parent decides to adopt this way, the better.
Delete- Alexandria
I would certainly adopt. I think it's wonderful. There are so many kids out there who need a home. The only thing is that it tends to be expensive.
ReplyDeleteChaline
I agree! Adoption is a wonderful thing, and can help out both many families who cannot conceive, and children without families. Unfortunately it is very expensive and hopefully one day it might be easier to adopt, however I do not foresee that soon, if at all.
Delete-Alexandria
Do you know why adoption is so expensive and takes so long to go through the adoption process?
ReplyDeleteWell as I have stated above, adoption can take so long due to the strict laws and regulations that the agencies have to go through.The average adoption process could take up to two years. It is a lot of paper work and legality issues. The longer adoption cases tend to be international cases, however even within the same country it can take up to a year. Unfortunately I believe this is due to legal issues such as income, status, ethnicity, etc. It also has to do with whom you wish to adopt. Say a family wants an infant within the same geographical location, well now a mother needs to be found that is in the right term of pregnancy, and must wish to have the same type of adoption as you (i.e. open-adoption, closed-adoption, etc.) The birth mother has to pick the family in many cases too. Internationally, it depends on the country due to the policies within that country. As for expense, there are many fees that go into adoption. In a domestic adoption, there are application fees, placement fees, service fees, foster care fees, etc. It all adds up and could be up to $17,000. In an international adoption there are many of the same fees. Traveling fees and documents are also accounted for and could even be as expensive as $30,000. The fees and expensive are to weed through the people who could raise a child correctly from those who might not be as financially stable. Unfortunately this is a costly process. The process to make sure the family is a good option is timely and costly with many legal hoops to go through. If all the documents are not signed correctly, and all parties involved do not fully understand every aspect, it can be more costly and dangerous legally if things go south. It is a tedious process, but worth every step if a family truly wants a child.
Delete-Alexandria