Adoption

Adoption is the legal act of permanently placing a child with a parent or parents other than the birth parents. Adoption results in the severing of the parental responsibilities and rights of the biological parents and the placing of those responsibilities and rights onto the adoptive parents. After the finalization of an adoption, there is generally no legal difference between biological and adopted children, though in some jurisdictions, some exceptions may apply.

Reasons for adoption

Adoptions occur for many reasons. Many children are placed for adoption as a result of the biological parents' decision that they are unable to adequately care for a child. In some countries, where single motherhood may be considered scandalous and unacceptable, some women in this situation make an adoption plan for their infants, whereas others may come under financial, societal or family pressure to choose adoption. In some cases, they abandon their children at or near an orphanage, so that they can be adopted. In some cases and some cultures, a parent or parents prefer one gender over another and place any baby who is not the preferred gender for adoption.

Some biological parents involuntarily lose their parental rights. This usually occurs when the children are placed in foster care because they were abused, neglected or abandoned. Eventually, if the parents cannot resolve the problems that caused or contributed to the harm caused to their children (such as alcohol or drug abuse), a court may terminate their parental rights and the children may then be adopted. Only a small percentage of adopted children are those orphaned because of the death of their biological parents.

The main reason for adopting varies from one country to the next, depending largely on social and legal structures. The inability to reproduce biologically is a common reason. The most prevalent obstacle to producing a biological child is infertility. Another obstacle is the lack of a partner of the opposite sex or a lack of desire to use a surrogate or sperm donor. Single people and same-sex couples often adopt for this reason. In many Western countries, step-parent adoption is the most common form of adoption as people choose to cement a new family following divorce or death of one parent.

Some couples or individuals adopt children even though they are fertile. Some may choose to do this in order to avoid contributing to perceived overpopulation, or out of the belief that it is more responsible to care for otherwise parent-less children than to reproduce. Others may do so to avoid passing on inheritable diseases (e.g., Tay-Sachs disease), or out of health concerns relating to pregnancy and childbirth. Others believe that it is an equally valid form of family building, neither better than nor worse than the biological route. Many are motivated by the desire to help others that are in need no matter what race or culture they represent.

Applying to adopt

Methods of becoming an adoptive parent also vary from one country to another, and sometimes within a country, depending on region. Many jurisdictions have varying eligibility criteria, and may specify such things as minimum and maximum age limits, whether a single person or only a couple can apply, or whether it is possible or not for a same sex couple to apply.

In some countries, applications must be made to a state agency or agencies responsible for adoption. There may also be private, licensed adoption agencies, who may operate either on a commercial or on a non-profit basis. Agencies may operate only domestically, or may offer international adoptions, or may facilitate both. Some jurisdictions allow lawyers to arrange private adoptions, and some allow private facilitators to operate.

On applying to adopt, the potential adoptive parent(s) will generally be assessed for suitability. This can take the form of a home study, interviews, and financial, medical and criminal record checks. In some jurisdictions, such studies must be carried out by an independent or state authority, while in others, they can be carried out by the adoption agency itself. A pre-adoption course may also be required.

Infants are more commonly sought than toddlers or older children, and many adoptive parents seek to adopt children of the same race. As a result, governments, as well as agencies, actively seek families who are interested in adopting older children, siblings, and children with special needs.

Cost of adoption

Adoption costs and assistance vary between countries. In many countries, it is illegal to charge for an adoption, while in others, adoptions must be facilitated on a non-profit basis. On the other hand many adoption programmes will give financial assistance to adopters, especially with their expenses. Some jurisdictions offer tax credits to offset the cost of adoption. In the United States there has been a $10,000 tax credit for adoption of special needs children. Generally, in the United States, adoptions through the child welfare system do not cost the adopting family anything. The same is true in Canada.

Where there are charges for adoption there is often controversy, even in the case of non-profit agencies. Regulations may also specify to whom payments may or may not be made, e.g., in some jurisdictions, no money may be paid to a birth mother above her medical expenses.

International adoptions tend to be more expensive and often incur additional costs, as the adoptive parent(s) may be required to travel to the source country. Translation fees will also apply to legal documents.

Adoption numbers

The number of children available for adoption inside Western nations has dropped considerably, in part because of lower fertility rates, legalization of abortions, and the increased acceptance of single parenthood. In the USA, the number of children awaiting adoption has dropped from 132,000 to 118,000 during the period 2000 to 2004 USA Adoption Chart

Issues surrounding adoption

Loss of Family Heritage

Preserving an adopted child's heritage has become a central issue in adoption in the United States. It is often assumed that adopting babies at a very young age (1-2 months) bears no emotional consequences for the child. In the past, many adoption professionals believed that because most people have no recollection of their own birth, an adopted baby would not have a childhood any different from that which he would have had if he had been raised by his biological parents. However, while some adoptees do not feel that adoption has raised any special difficulties for them, others report that adoption has posed certain problems.

Recent work on openness in adoption has attempted to address these issues. Researchers such as Joyce Maguire Pavao and others have advised all three sides of the adoption triad (birthparents, adoptive parents, and adoptees) on how to establish healthy relationships, and make it easier for adopted people to discuss their feelings and maintain meaningful contact with both genetic and adoptive families. These efforts are relatively recent, and full openness, while on the upswing, is still not the norm in adoption.

International adoptees face additional challenges. It has been argued that children adopted through international adoptions are best served when adoptive families commit to integrating the child's birth nation cultures, traditions, stories, languages and relationships. Some countries now require adoptive parents to keep the birth names of their adoptive children, and many adoptive parents choose to do this as it makes sense in helping their child develop a strong sense of self. This can be very difficult to do in a meaningful way, especially for adoptive families who are not themselves experienced cross-culturally.

Mental Health

Another issue for prospective adoptive parents to be aware of is reactive attachment disorder (RAD). Many children, especially those beyond infancy in system care (e.g. foster, orphanage), domestic or foreign, develop this disorder due to the early trauma of loss, and/or lack of a primary caregiver.

For all adopted people in adoptions where information about the family of origin is withheld, secrecy may disrupt the process of forming an identity. Family concerns regarding genealogy can be a source of confusion [1]. Another common concern is the lack of a medical history, which can affect the adopted person and also his/her subsequent children.

Adoption is problematic for some birthparents. When a parent chooses to place the child with adoptive parents, the process of separation can be difficult for all parties. Those emotional difficulties may carry on for many years past the date of the adoption, with families of origin missing and longing for the children they have placed.

Adoption may also pose lifelong difficulties for adoptive parents. Charting a course among the various schools of thought about openness, maintaining a child's connection to his or her family of origin, answering a child's difficult questions, and helping a child deal with birthparents who may not maintain regular contact are all issues that adoptive families may struggle with. For anyone involved in adoption—birthparent, adoptive parent or adoptee—there are no hard and fast rules about how to build appropriate relationships that are in the child's best interest.

Honesty Issues

Some adoptees report that they were made to feel - consciously or not - as if they should forever be grateful to have been "chosen". This confuses children who otherwise feel very good about their adoptive families, and so expect an unconditional love relationship with their adoptive parents.

This kind of ambiguity in adoption, along with the strongly emotionally charged nature of the subject, can make it difficult for adoptees to feel free to discuss their own concerns honestly, for fear of being ungrateful, hurting their adoptive parents' feelings, raising subjects they sense are taboo (such as the adoptive parents' true reasons for adopting, especially if this involves infertility) or incurring rejection.

Abuse, Neglect, and Carelessness

Some may show less than normal interest in their children's well-being. Some studies indicate that parental neglect, carelessness, and abuse is dramatically higher for adopted children, the majority of whom are adopted through the child welfare system in the U.K., Canada, and the U.S. As such, adopted children are much more likely to die prematurely, on the whole, than those raised in birth families. (The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature, 1995, Penguin Books, ISBN 0-14-024548-0, chapter 7, claims 65 times increase in risk of death) (For additional citations see: Google Answers: Research on Child Abuse of Adopted Children)

The National Adoption Center found that 52% of adoptable children (meaning those children in U.S. foster care freed for adoption) had symptoms of attachment disorder. A study by Dante Cicchetti found that 80% of abused and maltread infants exhibited attachment disorder symtoms (disorganized subtype).

Children with histories of maltreatment, such as physical and psychological neglect, physical abuse, and sexual abuse, are at risk of developing severe psychiatric problems . These children are likely to develop Reactive attachment disorder (RAD) . These children may be described as experiencing trauma-attachment problems. The trauma experienced is the result of abuse or neglect, inflicted by a primary caregiver, which disrupts the normal development of secure attachment. Such children are at risk of developing a disorganized attachment . Disorganized attachment is associated with a number of developmental problems, including dissociative symptoms , as well as depressive, anxiety, and acting-out symptoms .

Effective treatment for children who have experineced early chronic maltreatment generally must be multi-modal and family-based. See main articles at Complex post-traumatic stress disorder, Dyadic Developmental Psychotherapy, and Theraplay.

Adoption by same-sex couples

Certain jurisdictions prohibit homosexuals and bisexuals from adopting children, or have a policy of providing heterosexual adopters with adoptees before applications made by homosexuals are considered.

The issue of adoption by homosexuals and bisexuals is tied in with the debate on homosexuality. Preference to heterosexual couples may be done in the belief that heterosexuals who adopt generally have fertility problems and must be given preference on medical grounds. Opponents say this system is untenable in a truly permissive, free society. The contraversy regarding this subject is high profile in the United States. From an international perspective, the culture and moral norms of the society play a role in the considerations about adoption.

Adoption from same-sex civil unions or marriages are allowed in Australia (regions: Western Australia, Tasmania, ACT), England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Canada, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Spain and in the USA (regions: California, Massachusetts, New Mexico, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, District of Columbia, Vermont, Washington and Wisconsin). Only Stepchild adoptions from same-sex couples are allowed in Denmark, Iceland, Norway, France and Germany.

Ireland (which does not recognize same-sex unions) does not allow joint applications to adopt from same-sex couples, but does permit applications from one of the partners.

Addressing adoption in schools

Adoption rights organizations have long focused on issues such as the adoptee’s right to access his or her birth information, including names of birth parents and birth family medical information. They also focus on improving classroom sensitivity to adoption issues. Familiar lessons like "draw your family tree" or "trace your eye color back through your parents and grandparents to see where your genes come from" can be hurtful to children who were adopted and do not know this biological information. New lesson plans can be substituted easily, that focus on "family orchards" or steer away from personal medical histories. Discussions about these sensitive topics, advocates argue, are the same as those we’ve conducted around issues of disability, race, and gender, and foster respect for differences in the same way as these earlier national conversations.

Adoption in the wake of disasters

After disasters like hurricanes, tsunamis, and wars there is often an outpouring of offers from adults who want to give homes to the children left in need. While adoption is often the best way to provide stable, loving families for children in need, new research suggests that adoption in the immediate aftermath of trauma or upheaval may not be the best option. Traumatized children need time to adjust, in the most familiar environments available, before they should be placed. Moving them too quickly into new adoptive homes among strangers may be a mistake: with time, it may turn out that the parents have survived but were unable to find the children, or there may be a relative or neighbor who can offer shelter and homes. Providing safety and emotional support may be better in those situations than relocation to a new adoptive family.[2] There is also an increased risk, immediately following a disaster, that displaced and/or orphaned children may be more vulnerable to exploitation and child trafficking.[3]

Adoption reform

Two important influences on the reform of voluntary infant adoption have been Nancy Verrier and Florence Fischer. [4]. Verrier describes the "primal wound" as the "devastation which the infant feels because of separation from its natural mother. It is the deep and consequential feeling of abandonment which the baby adoptee feels after the adoption and which continues for the rest of his life. [5]"

In some cases, however, the separation of the parent/child bond is necessary to protect the child. For children who have been neglected or abused, adoption is often necessary to ensure stability and the opportunity to bond with a new family in an emotionally healthy way. Where, in the past, neglected or abused children were often kept in foster care for many years while birthparents attempted to resolve issues of addiction, domestic violence, or mental illness, new theories of social work now encourage government agencies to move quickly to free such children for adoption and to find them new, permanent homes. This new philosophy is enshrined in the United States in the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, a law aimed at preventing foster care drift. By keeping children from bouncing from foster home to foster home, state agencies now hope to preserve children's abilities to trust and attach, and hence to maintain and improve their mental health.

Reunion

Some adopted people and birth-parents who were separated by adoption have a desire to reunite. Brodzinsky & Brodzinsky (On Adoption, 1990) report that only about twenty percent of adoptees engage in an active search to find their birth-parents. In countries which practice confidential adoption, this desire has led to efforts to open sealed records. In the United States, for example, there are organisations such as the Adoption reunion registry and Bastard Nation, which seek to establish the right of adoptees to access their sealed records.

In the United Kingdom, adoption law has been amended to allow for open adoptions, the right to access one's records, and a state-run adoption reunion registry has been established, while in Ireland, a National Adoption Contact Preference Register was launched by the state Adoption Board in 2005.[6] This Register, set up in consultation with organisations representing adopted people, natural parents and adoptive parents, is unusual in that it was widely advertised on both radio and print media, and an explanatory leaflet, with contact details for the Adoption Board and the voluntary support organisations, was delivered to every household in the country. This register allows adopted people over the age of 18 and natural parents to state their preference for contact, what form that contact may take (e.g., post, e-mail, telephone or meeting), and/or their willingness to share medical or background information even if they do not wish actual contact.

Adoptism

Adoptism is a prejudice against adoption defined by several beliefs:

• The belief that adoption is not a legitimate way to build a family
• The belief that birthing children is always preferable to adopting
• The belief that making an adoption plan is never a preferable option for birth mothers who are unable or choose not to raise their children

Sometimes, adoptism is limited to certain kinds of adoption, such as adoption by gays and lesbians, or adoption of children of color by Caucasians.

Adoption.com library definition of Adoptism: [7]

The language of adoption

The language used in adoption is changing and evolving. It became a controversial issue in the 1980's, when adoption workers invented a new way to describe adoption, called "Positive Adoption Language"[8]. However, the traditional language of adoption, "Honest Adoption Language,"[9] is still most widely used. The controversy arises over the use of terms which, while designed to be more appealing or less offensive to some persons affected by adoption, may simultaneously cause offense or insult to others. This controversy illlustrates the problematic nature of adoption, as well as the fact that coining new words and phrases to describe ancient social practices does not alter the feelings and experiences of those affected by them. See also: euphemism and political correctness

International variations in adoption

Intercountry Adoption

Population statistics of international child adoption provided by the CIA World Factbook sites the top eleven countires that have accomodated adoptions to citizens. These are; Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, USA, France, Netherlands, Canada, Italy, Finland, and Australia. Conversely, the countries that provided the most orphans for international adoption were China, Ethiopia, India, Korea, Thailand, and the Philippines (www. aidan.org/statistics.php.

Adoption need not always entail assuming the title of "mother" and/or "father" to an orphaned child. Traditionally in Arab cultures if a child is adopted he or she does not become a “son” or “daughter,” but rather a ward of the adopting caretaker(s). The child’s family name is not changed to that of the adopting parent(s) and his or her “guardians” are publicly known as such. Legally, this is close to other nations' foster caring but often with closer parental feelings.

In Korean culture, adoption almost always occurs when another family member (sibling or cousin) gives a male child to the first-born male heir of the family. Adoptions outside the family are rare. This is also true to varying degrees in other Asian societies.

On the other hand, in many African cultures, children are regularly exchanged among families for the purpose of adoption. By placing a child in another family's home, the birth family seeks to create enduring ties with the family that is now rearing the child. The placing family may receive another child from that family, or from another. Like the reciprocal transfer of brides from one family to another, these adoptive placements are meant to create enduring connections and social solidarity among families and lineages.

There is no uniform adoption law in India. The 1956 Hindu Adoption and Maintenance Act of 1956 allows only Hindus to adopt. Muslims, Christians, Jews and Parsees can only become guardians under the Guardians and Wards Act of 1890. Guardianship expires once the child attains the age of 18 years [10].

Islamic Countries

Islamic regulations regarding adoption are distinct from western practices and customs of adoption.

Adoption in Islam is not forbidden, but naming an adopted son after his adopted father is not allowed if the child's biological father is known.

Islam also rejects the notion of an adopted child becoming a biological part of the family, hence, the adopted child is counted as a non-Mahram.

This can be sidestepped by having the child suckling the adoptive mother in the first half years of life.

An important fact to keep in mind is that Muhammad himself had adopted a child. Muhammad himself also was once given suck by an adoptive mother during the first two years of his life.

Relevant issues include the marriage between Zayd ibn Harithah's ex-wife and Muhammad, and also the narration involving Aisha's, Abu Hudaifah ibn Utbah and Salim mawla Abu Hudaifa.

Narrated 'Aisha:

(the wife of the Prophet) Abu Hudhaifa, one of those who fought the battle of Badr, with Allah's Apostle adopted Salim as his son and married his niece Hind bint Al-Wahd bin 'Utba to him' and Salim was a freed slave of an Ansari woman. Allah's Apostle also adopted Zaid as his son. In the Pre-lslamic period of ignorance the custom was that, if one adopted a son, the people would call him by the name of the adopted-father whom he would inherit as well, till Allah revealed: "Call them (adopted sons) By (the names of) their fathers." (33.5) [11]

United States

Adoption in the United States refers to the legal act of adoption, of permanently placing a person under the age of 18 with a parent or parents other than the birth parents.

The 2000 census was the first census in which adoption statistics were collected.

The United States has a system of foster care by which adults care for minor children who are not able to live with their biological parents. Most children are placed for adoption through the foster care system. In fiscal year 2001, 50,703 foster children were adopted in the United States, many by their foster parents or relatives of their biological parents. The enactment of the Adoption and Safe Families Act in 1997 has approximately doubled the number of children adopted from foster care in the United States.

Adoption agencies can range from government-funded agencies that place children at little cost, to lawyers who arrange private adoptions, to international commercial and non-profit agencies. Adoptive parents can pay from nothing to US$40,000 for an adoption.

There are also individuals who act on their own and attempt to match waiting children, both domestically and abroad, with prospective parents, and in foreign countries provide additional services such as translation and local transport. They are commonly referred to as facilitators. Since in many jurisdictions their legal status is uncertain (and in some U.S. states they are banned outright), they operate in a legal gray area.

In 2004, 26 percent of African-American children adopted from foster care were adopted trans-racially. Government agencies have varied over time in their willingness to facilitate trans-racial adoptions. "Since 1994, white prospective parents have filed, and largely won, more than two dozen discrimination lawsuits, according to state and federal court records."

Americans have adopted more than 200,000 children from overseas between 1990 and 2005, half of which come from Asia. This trend has helped lower the resistance to trans-racial adoptions in the United States. There is also a great need to place these children; in 2004 more than 45,000 African-American children were waiting to be adopted from foster care.

No sooner were US adoptions made sceretive with original birth records sealed, than those adopted began seek reforms. Jean Paton, founder of Orphan Voyage, is regarded as the founder of adoption reform and renuification efforts. On the east coast, Florence Fisher founded Adoptees Liberation Movement (ALMA) and then birthmothers joined the fight for Open Records forming Concerned United Birthparents (CUB) in 1980.

Great Britian

In 2005, 238 children were adopted from the public care system. The average age was four years six months. The average entry time from care to adoption was 3 years. These statistics are roughly representative of tghe situation of public care adoption throughout the United Kingdom including England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as referenced by the British Association for Adoption and Fostering.

External links

• "International adoptions: the role of the media". MercatorNet, 29 December 2005 - Adam Pertman, Executive Director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, on the media perceptions.
• Adopting.com - "The largest adoption resources index on the Internet." Huge volume of resources for adoptive parents and adoption professionals. Extensive listings of adoption agencies and adoption-related organizations.
• Adoption Agencies List - An online adoption agency directory. It is unique because you can sort agencies by location or services provided.
• Asian-Nation: Adopted Asian Americans (C.N. Le, Ph.D.)
• Family Attachment Center - resource for reactive attachment disorder
• Child Welfare League of America
• State and Nationwide Adoption & Related Child Welfare Links (Michigan Adoption Resource Exchange)
• Bastard Nation Adoptee Rights Organization
• State Child Welfare Agency and Photolisting Web Pages (National Adoption Information Clearinghouse)

International

• Adoption News - Headlines and up-to-date adoption information

Australia

• AICAN - Australian Intercountry Adoption Network
• Adopted Vietnamese International, Australia (AVI)
• Origins
• Origins Queensland
• Intercountry adoption support and advice (ASIAC)
• Intercountry Adoptees Support Network

Canada

• Adoption Links (Adoption Council of Canada)
• Canadian Council of Natural Mothers
• Origins Canada

Iceland

• Homepage of the only adoption agency in Iceland
• Page maintained by adoptive parents in Iceland

Ireland

• The Adoption Board
• AdoptionIreland: The Adopted People's Association
• The Natural Parents' Network of Ireland

United Kingdom

• After Adoption
• British Association for Adoption & Fostering
• NORCAP Supporting Adults Affected by Adoption
• NCH Adoption FAQ for children and adults

United States

• Adoption.com, central location for general and specific adoption information
• Adoption: An American Revolution
• Adoption Crossroads USA
• Bastard Nation
• Mothers Exploited by Adoption
• adoptingback.com - An anti-adoption website
• Origins USA
• Out Of The Fog: Mothers Speak About Adoption
• Triumph Over Shame: On Being Adopted

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