Romanian Adoption
Abstract
During my research on Romanian Adoption, I first believed that the law had no relevance and was just a stupid law so that Romania could get into the European Union. However, during my research I saw that Romania did have the children at interest but the law was too extreme. The law has both upsides and downsides to it.
The most effective and persuasive evidence that I have found is the letter from Emma Nicholson. This quote is pretty strong:
“Adoption is the giving of a family to a child and not a child to a family.” This statement was made by the Stratsburg Court when they ruled in favor of the two Romanian girls who wished to stay in Romania but was adopted against their wishes.
Even though I do not agree with Emma Nicholson completely, she is very persuasive and she makes very strong claims. Emma Nicholson does not live in Romania but she is very concerned about the children of Romania. Since she doesn’t live in Romania she doesn’t have too much concern for the country which makes her seem she is more for the children.
I understand that Romania does not want to be a “baby producer” for other countries and I understand that European Union was threatening Romania about adoptions and I also understand that child trafficking is a problem in Romania. I do believe that Romania has interest for the child but the law is too harsh and some exceptions should be made to the law.
The process of the assignment was tiring. Although there was not much more to do then research, pulling all the research together into one cohesive paper was tiring. My most valuable research tool was the internet. With my topic there were not any books. Most of my research was done on the database search on the Penrose Library. But I did have a lot of research through the US embassy and Joint Council.
During my research I learned a lot about the history of Romania. I learned that the orphan problem in Romania was because of the Communist Regime and the Dictator.
Since the beginning of time, people have been adopting. Whether or not the adoption process is for everybody is a debatable topic. Adoption occurs all over the world and is the cause for an impact on not only the children being adopted, but also an impact on those who adopt. Whether it’s nationally on internationally adoption is everywhere and will continue to grow in popularity as the years go on.
Many countries experience different forms, and different people experience it in different ways. For example, a phrase referred to as “birth mother trafficking,” by Taylor Brown of University or North Carolina and Jini Roby of Birmingham Young University, happens very frequently (71). Chad Turner shares an account of birth mother trafficking in Samoa, where mothers were approached in a market place and were convinced to give away their children to the American adoption agency, Focus on Children (97). Along with the other forms of emotional tacticss used by adoption agencies to get children, they scare their victims into abiding by their wishes. This is why children hesitate to tell their adoptive parents what actually happened to them, or biological parents are reluctant to fight for their children back. The fear tactics used are damaging to all parties involved. Anti-adoption groups exist in many of these countries, and were once viewed as the “bad guys” by those trying to adopt. Looking further into their views, they oppose the evil practices and trafficking involved in intercountry adoption. Adoption agencies are a huge market in third world countries, and they have tremendous power and
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”).
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.
Immigrating to the United States in not a simple process. Millions immigrate to America but many millions more are denied a visa or forced to cross the border illegally because of the limited number of applicants that the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services, now a department of Homeland Security, provides as well as the extremely stringent process that is imposed upon migrating applicants. Even getting a simple tourist visa can be a tiring ordeal and beyond reach of most foreign citizens who are not wealthy. This results in numbers of people who are forced to look for other means such as resorting to coyotes, people who smuggle people into America, or corporate coyotes, "executives who would sanction the smuggling of illegal immigrants" (Talton). In the last decade the attitude towards migration, especially in the Southwest, has worsened as many Americans blame illegal immigrants for causing economic hardships and fear diversification to American culture. "Immigrants, particularly so-called 'illegal' immigrants and their children, were represented as depleting both California's fiscal and natural resources" (Lindsley p. 176). The downside is that many Americans have required that fewer immigrants be admitted as well as imposing a more stringent application process and a return to a quota system based on one's national origins. The current system, after the Immigration Reform Act of 1965, created a process where visas are issued on a first come, first served basis that promotes allowing the immigration of family members (Small p. 52).
The uniform adoption act of 1994 was drafted by the National Conference of Commissioners on Uniform State Laws (NCCUSL). The Uniform Adoption Act of 1994 seals adoption records for 99 years, makes it illegal to search for birth parents by anyone including the adoptee, shortens revocable consent periods that many states have enacted to a dismissal 8 days from birth of the child (Uniform Adoption Act, 1). This proposal of the uniform adoption act just shows what is wrong with the adoption process, adoptees should have the right to search for their birth parents for medical and personal reasons.
“I am not a social worker. I am not a teacher, even. That is my fear, you know, that I really can’t do anything. Helping them to get and education is not going to do anything, but without help they are doomed (Born into Brothels, 2004).” Zana Briski made this statement in her documentary Born into Brothels, referring to the children of sex workers in Sonagachi. This statement exemplifies child saving, a dominant theme in children’s discourse, that portrays children as vulnerable, innocent, and in need of “saving” from poverty and immorality according to a view of a universal childhood (Wells, 2009, pg.28). Child saving efforts remove children from their homes and families and place them in new homes or schools to discursively separate them from their parents (Wells, 2009, pg.28). Therefore, they would have the opportunity to be successful. Saving children based on the western conception of childhood has proved to be ineffective and culturally inappropriate when applied to international circumstances. By examining Zana Briski’s method of saving the children in Sonagachi and reviewing the criticisms of the film, it can be determined that her method of saving the children was unnecessary and contributes to the dominance of western political discourse based on the concept of a universal childhood and what western culture considers to be the “best interests” of the child. This essay will address Briski’s method of saving the children in Sonagachi, explore alternative options to child saving through structural reformation and rights based approaches, and examine how the use of images to save children and the globalization of childhood create political problems on an international scale.
The topic of child welfare is quite a broad one. There are numerous programs and policies that have been put in place to protect children. One of these policies is that of Adoption. Adoption was put into place to provide alternate care for children who cannot live with their biological families for various reasons. One of the more controversial issues surrounding adoption is that of Transracial adoption. Transracial Adoption is the joining of racially different parents and children (Silverman, 1993).
Infanticide is a way to alter the reproductive stream before the child has the status of a real person, which is culturally defined (source). The deaths of weak, illegitimate, excess, deformed and unwanted infants are not defined as murder when the infants have not yet been born into the social world. Infanticide occurs cross-culturally for a multitude of causes. The reasons for infanticide can be summed up into three categories: biological (including the health of the child and twin stigmas), economical (relation to other children, women's workload, and available resources) and cultural (preferred gender, illegitimate children). This essay will examine cross-culturally the biological, economic and cultural factors for infanticide.
Although the codes and laws of ancient civilizations include adoption, the Massachusetts Adoption of Children Act of 1851 is held as the first modern adoption law. Joan Hollinger (1993) in her book Adoption Law and Practice asserts that American adoption law was unprecedented and "purely a creature of the statutes which have been enacted in this country since the mid-nineteenth century.” Early adoption law “was usually employed to provide male heirs to childless couples, to maintain family lines and estates” “and any benefits to the adoptee were secondary.“ (Hollinger 1993) Nor was there precedent in English common law which did not mention adoption and only in 1926 did England enact its first adoption law. (Sokoloff 1993) English custom accommodated orphan and indigent children by giving them to craftsmen as apprentices or families as in...
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.
Have you ever wondered what your parents look like or if they are thinking of you? Adoption can have that effect on children. What is adoption? Adoption is the process of providing parents with children and children with families when birth parents are unwilling or unable to care for their offspring. Adoption can make a child feel abandon, unloved, and have low self-esteem.
...g with NGOs working in Moldova, as well as working towards complying with international trafficking laws. As of 2006 they started working on prevention programs to deter girls and young women from ever entering the sex trade to begin with. Little success has yet been seen from the steps that have been taken to prevent and end the trafficking of persons in Moldova. Some suggest that this is because the poverty levels are still so high, while others believe it is simply because women have yet to reach equality in Eastern Europe. Either way the issue of sex trafficking is a rampant problem in Eastern Europe, and specifically in Moldova. The collapse of the Soviet Union sent Moldova on a spiraling path toward economic struggles and corruption that left lasting effects. The consequences of which are still seen today through the atrocious industry of human trafficking.
The practice of adoption began over 4,000 years ago. All adoptions are arranged in 3 ways private, independent, and closed. Private adoptions are adoptions where you can place your child with anybody you choose with the courts approval. Independent adoptions are adoptions where a child’s placement is put arranged by a lawyer or doctor, in some cases the adoptive parents put in the expenses of the pregnancy and deliver of the couple their getting the child from. There are also black market groups that will illegally adopt your baby (with the birth mother’s permission) in some cases you will have nothing to do with your birth if and when the baby is handed over to the adopted parents. Closed adoption is where there is no information about either families, the birth parents or the adoptive parents, after the adopti...
Web. 10 Feb 2014 Radu, Roberta. “Romania’s Child Brides”. The Guardian.com. 29