Inter-country adoption has become increasingly difficult over the past few years. In 2004, at its peak, there were about 22,991 adoptions whereas in 2012, there were 8,668 adoptions (Bureau of Consular Affairs, U.S. Department of State), a significant decline. Many countries have put in place policies that have, in effect, made it difficult to adopt. With these restrictive regulations, inter-country adoption has been opening and closing in many countries, leaving the prospective parents and children in an undetermined state.
There are two different processes for International Adoptions; the Hague vs. the Non-Hague process. Under the Hague process, children receive more protection as it is more thorough and requires more documentation on the child’s country of origin. The Hague Adoption Convention took place in 1993; the US signed the convention in 1994 and it was enforced in April 2008. About 90 countries were involved and signed this treaty. According to the U.S. Department of State, the main purpose of the convention is to certify that every child adopted is eligible for adoption. A child that is considered to be eligible means that the child was truly given up by the biological parents and was not abducted or sold; this process has decreased the rate of adoptions. Steven Whitehead, Vice President of Overseas Adoption Support and Information Service, stated, ‘Instead of Hague cleaning up a potentially corrupt situation, everything close[d] down’ (Greenblatt, 2011).
Initial identification of this concern was via the media presenting international adoptions decreasing with a vivid graph. From there, research was obtained through the U.S. Department of State/Bureau of Consular Affairs. Their website presents statistics over the l...
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...ntry will also be important once agreements are made. Advocacy and awareness is still important even after the bill is passed. Supporting agencies and sponsors will be requested to regularly speak to the community and those in position of power to express continued concerns and progress updates.
There is no answer or easy solution; there is, however, an opportunity to take steps in the right direction. While there will always be obstacles to overcome, with continued perseverance, we hope to help get children out of institutions, off the streets, and into safe and nurturing homes. Leaving children on the streets and in institutions is unacceptable. Putting aside all other political and social concern, the goal is to place children in happy and safe homes while maintaining processes to deem the child eligible for adoptions and decrease the amount of abuse and fraud.
The foster system intends to place children in homes where they will remain until they can find permanent residence with an adoptive family. Sadly, this is often not the case with children placed privatized homes and they end up bouncing from home to home until they eventually age out of the system forced to enter into adulthood with no permanent family ties. Over the past decade the number of teenagers aging out of the system without a permanent family has risen from 19,000 to 23,000 per year. These teenages enter into the world without emotional, relational, or financial support and therefore possess a greater risk of poverty as well as low academic achievement. This causes many of these teenagers to rely on government benefits during their adult lives which places a heavier burden on taxpayers. The National Council for Adoption reported that the 29,000 teenagers that aged out of the system in 2007 will cost over one billion dollars per year in public assistance and support. These teenagers who age out are also found to be at greater risk of concerning behaviors, such as: creating disciplinary problems in school, dropping out of school, becoming unemployed and homeless, becoming teenage parents, abusing alcohol and drugs, and committing crimes. The privatized system does not have the best interest of the children in mind and
Stolley, K.S. (1993). Statistics on adoption in the United States. The Future of Children: Adoption, 3(1), 26-42
Many potential adopted parents have experienced heartbreak, anguish and other problems that can be associated with adoption. There is an imbalance in the Nations foster care system and the system needs to be strengthening and the quality of services improved.
When I heard the clicks of heels in the hallway, I sat up attentively on the waiting couch. A pleasant looking woman came to greet me. She was in her mid fifties and introduced herself as Celeste Drury. She worked with the children home society, an adoption agency that is located in Oakland. I found Celeste through a family friend. The family friend knew my interest in learning about adoption and the criteria used for adoption processes. I was excited to meet Celeste and to learn about what she did. Settling in my chair, Celeste slightly cheered me. Celeste orphanage was licensed under the adoption agencies act. It has been in existence for many years. Children home society is in charge of providing adoption services in the entire state of California. I asked Celeste of its role and she said that it “helps parents to make informed decisions about their children, and also give tips on the adoptive parents” (Drury).
In 2002, 51,000 children were adopted through the foster care system. The federal government tracks the number of adoptions from the United States foster care system, and all of its international adoptions. It’s estimated that around 120,000 children are adopted by U.S citizens each year. Half of these children are adopted by individuals not related to t...
There’s a high rate of homelessness among the children who was been in the foster care but age out. Many children are going to the foster care because of many tragedies they already had before they even understand what is life all about. Fortunately, for them, there are some people who try to help them out and give them a second shot at life. And having a child of my own gives me a full understanding how much a parent 's guidance and love mean to their lives and I am trying to introduce adoptuskids.org to help raise awareness of homelessness and adoption to all the people and hoping that the children in the foster care system will get a lot of help, support, and love.
Adoption is a process where by a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the biological parent or parents. Unlike guardianship or other systems designed for the care of the young, adoption is intended to effect a permanent change in status and as such requires societal recognition, either through legal or religious sanction. Adoption has changed considerably over the centuries with its focus shifting from adult adoption and inheritance issues toward children and family creation; its structure moving from recognition of continuity between the adopted and kin toward allowing relationships of lessened intensity. In modern times, adoption is a primary vehicle serving the needs of homeless, neglected, abused and runaway children (Wikipedia, “Adoption”).
The Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) was as a response to growing concerns about “foster care drift”; that is, children experiencing multiple, unstable foster care placements over extended periods, children virtually lost within the child welfare system (Rockhill, 2007). The ASFA has become a very important and much needed policy that helped with placement and safet...
Adoption is in place to balance, to nurture and create a structural environment of safety in which the child can thrive and develop into a productive individual contributing to society. Also, it allows older children to abandon old maladaptive behaviors and make their first steps toward the construction of new behaviors influenced by their new environment. In years past, parents who adopted a child as an infant often debated whether to tell him or her about the adoption. Many children grew up not knowing they were adopted, and the birth mother’s identity was kept secret from those who did know (Ashford, LeCroy and Lortie 249). This paper provides facts on widely acceptance option of open adoption rather than the traditional practice of closed adoption. Adoption separates real biological family members, removing the adopter heritage whether the adoption is open or closed. Open adoption can lead to problems, but there are proven facts that open adoption is the best option for all parties working together in the best interest of the children.
Many people grow up in loving families and cannot imagine not having their parents and siblings around, but each year, 18,000 or more American born babies are put up for adoption (Newlin Carney). That means at least 18,000 children face the harsh truth of maybe not having a family to grow up in. Childhood is a very important part of one’s life and helps shape who one is. These children that are eligible to be adopted just need loving parents, good homes, and stability. And who is to say the high price of adopting is not ho...
There are many forms of adoption available. The most common form is closed adoption, an adoption in which neither birth parent nor child is ever supposed to meet. Adoptions occur best within a non-profit agency setting in which there is accountability of all documents relating to the adoption and in which the agency has the best interests of all parties involved. Most adoption agencies are reliable on providing correct information and do not strive to meet all the interests of the parties involved. Stricter regulation of what information is needed to complete and adoption and what is done with that information is needed for the best interests of both parties involved.
Adoption is the complete and permanent transfer of parental rights and obligations, usually from one set of legal parents to adoptive parents(Ademec 27). Not until the late 19th century did the U.S. legislative body grant legal status to adoptive parents. This is when children and parents started to gain rights and support from the government. Through the years new laws have been passed and amended to keep the system fair to all adoptive parents. In 1994, Congress passed the Multiethnic Placement Act, making it illegal to delay the placement a child to find a racially matching family. In 1996 the Multiethnic Placement Act was amended to say, “One can not use race as a routine consideration in child placement”(Lewin sec.A). Before 1994, it was difficult to place a black child with white adopters. Last year 5,000 children were adopted from Europe, and 6,000 from Asia, while 183 came from Africa.(Lewin sec. A). The number of out-of-country adoptions are so high because of the requirements and regulations one must follow in the U.S. The requirements include being 21, and include being committed and loving. The home income must be adequate enough to support the family. Passing all of the medical exams and filling out the personal information is mandatory. But the main reason people adopt from overseas is because it is much quicker. A person can adopt a child from another country in a matter of months. In the U.S. the wait can exceed 5 years, which is why some people choose international adoption.
When contemplating adoption, families begin to ask themselves a great deal of questions. Determining options including gender and age can generate a great impact on your adoption decision. A primary component of the adoption choice is whether you are adopting domestically or internationally. When families look into international adoption multiple risks begin popping into your mind. Will I ruin the child by taking them away from their home country? Is it too expensive to adopt internationally? Is my orphan child HIV positive? If so, is adopting this child actually safe for my family? Though it is said we should help those in need, why should we endanger ourselves bringing them into our home? With HIV being a life threatening disease, it makes these questions easy to answer. If you do not want to risk HIV being in your home, then simply do not adopt children that are HIV positive. As the media and adoption organizations try to persuade their audience by saying it is safe to adopt these children, there is a risk in everything and this one could be a life threatening risk to you and your family. It is not safe for them, the expenses are immense, and America is already HIV infested so why should we add more?
International adoption stunts the growth of domestic adoption in the United States. While many kids are available for adoption in the U.S, more kids are being adopted internationally. The reason for this may be because “many people choose to adopt internationally because there is a less chance that the biological parents will try to find their children later in life; whereas if adopted in America, there is a greater chance that the biological parents will search for the child” (Databasewise.n.d.pp 1-2). Not only do the adoptive parents want to be sure that the biological parents do not find their biological child, but they also want to avoid confrontations that can eventually have volatile results. Since there is a great need for domestic adoption in the United States, many American citizens believe that people should be banned from adopting children overseas (carp.1998.pp 135). For example, recent studies have shown that the USA is faced with a very serious problem. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, between “1999-2006,an average of 129,884 children are in public foster care every year waiting to be adopted” (adoption alternativ...
In the essay “Sexuality and Globalization,” it is stated that globalization “is ensuring an increase in individual freedoms and affluence” (Altman 67). This is supported through same-sex marriage recently being declared as legal in the United States. Unfortunately, some countries are far from making any similar steps to progress the lives of all individuals. It is a crime in certain areas of the world to be gay, and it can result in being imprisoned or sentenced to death. As gay rights continue to improve in the United States, globalization will diffuse these ideas across the world, and in time, countries will remove their anti-gay laws. Hence, in the future, being a homosexual will be seen as normal as any other sexual identification, regardless of what part of the world I am in. Eventually, I plan on settling down and having a family. Consequently, this trend would also affect issues associated with adoption. Because the chances of adoption are higher and the waiting times are shorter, international adoption is usually the most viable option for same-sex couples. However, there are many restrictions concerning them adopting children from countries like China. The essay “Globalization and International Adoption from China” discusses “the CCAA restrictions [that are] now in place around adoptions by single and gay adopters, older prospective parents, divorced and re-married