Adoption For Children And Families

The majority of the children awaiting adoption are not simply sitting in institutions with little human contact and no sense of family. Most children waiting to be adopted are in foster care. Foster care provides temporary placement in a family setting. "Over 500,000 children in the U.S. currently reside in some form of foster care" (Foster). This is not to say that there are over 500,000 children waiting for adoptive parents. Actually, the number needing to be adopted ends up being much lower. "Two out of three children who enter foster care are reunited with their birth parents within two years. A significant number, however, can spend long periods of time in care awaiting adoption or other permanent arrangement" (Foster).

Multiple visits are scheduled between the child and adoptive parents and, finally, the child can be placed in the home. Even though the adoption process seems extensive, there are still faults within the system.

Foster Care and Adoption are the most multi-faceted areas of child welfare. Foster care consists of placing children outside of the custody of their parents or legal guardians. This out-of-home placement can be temporary or long-term. Adoption on the other hand, consists of the legal and permanent process that establishes a parent/child relationship between individuals not related biologically (Downs, Moore, & McFadden, 2009). These two areas of child welfare are constantly evolving and the decisions made on a child’s behalf can affect many areas of their biological, spiritual, social, and emotional wellbeing.

According to the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting system, in 2011 there were 104, 236 children waiting to be adopted in the United States (p. 4). Adoption is the legal process an individual or family goes through to gain legal custody of a child in foster care. This child’s parents have lost custody of their child because they have been deemed unfit to raise the child, either because of neglect or abuse. After the child is removed from the horrible situation, he or she is taken by child services and placed in a foster home or with a family member. This system is in place to protect children from further abuse, neglect and trauma. Today, children in foster care are in the system for a very short period of time; there is a

Millions of children are living without parents around the world and they need help. Over 153 million youths around the world are without one or both parents, and 7 million of them are in institutional care (qtd. in “Children’s Statistics”). Worldwide, minors are suffering from living without a family and a stable relief system. International adoption, although often in the limelight, is on a slight decline and domestic adoption is increasing. Despite the fact that the percentage of people considering any form of adoption has decreased from 2007 to 2013, the percentage of foster care adoptions has experienced more growth than international and private adoptions (“BAAF Adoption

Adoptive Families are special; they have a desire to grow their families by reaching out to children that need homes. These families face many unique challenges, but also receive many rewards, associated with the decision to adopt. These challenges continue for many families, through the process of adoption, legal finalization, and for many years post-adoption. The challenges are different in many ways from those faced by biological parents. Adoptive parents not only face the normal challenges faced from raising a child, but also the psychological issues of the child/ren adopted. Some children placed for adoption have social, psychological, or physical problems that many adoptive families may not be able to address. Previous research has shown an association between post adoption services and successful adoptive placements. “Post adoption services often respond to the effects that separation, loss, and trauma can have on children and youth who have been adopted. They can facilitate adjustment processes; promote child, youth, and family well-being; and support family preservation” (Child Welfare Information Gateway, 2012). It is because of these issues, and many others, that placement agency must consider when providing wrap around services for families.

4). In the scope of adoption, it is evident that child welfare agencies use the majority of their available resources for placing children in foster families, investigating child-abuse cases, and providing other family services. “As a consequence, they do not possess adequate additional resources for efficiently placing children in adoptive homes once they are available for adoption, depriving many children of the benefits a stable, permanent home provides” (Snell, 2000, p. 2). The current government operated child welfare system is detrimental to the children involved due to its inability to ensure their safety and

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.

Being a teenager can be difficult enough because during this time people learn so much about themselves and begin to develop into the person they are supposed to become, and doing so can be even more difficult when the teenager is bouncing around from different homes, schools, and families without a mom or dad to support them. Having a good foster or adoptive parent is crucial for these teenagers to have some stability in there life, and someone to look up to and guide them through life. With a good foster care parent or adoptive parent these older children can have the stability in their life that they need, along with a good role model and guide to teach them life lessons. Jessica Sullivan wrote an article that suggests several ways people can improve and change a teenagers life entitled “Why More People Should Consider Fostering Teenagers.” Sullivan writes about how a foster parent can help guide them through life and the important decisions people need to make. A foster parent can guide someone through their first heartbreak, help someone with homework, call someone to catch up and chat, support someone in their first varsity game, help someone decide which college to go to, and support someone at their wedding. Sullivan also claims a foster parent can teach teens important life lessons that teens can not learn in school, lessons such

Open adoption allows birth parents to stay in touch with their child. Birth parents are able to build relationship with the child. They have also given a chance to ease the adoption process and to allow the child a smooth transition to the adoption. They are available to resolve unresolved conflicts and answer puzzled questions.

Adoption Agencies: One of the most popular ways to adopt is through an adoption agency. This is beneficial for the birth mother because the medical expenses can be paid for, help will be received to find the right adoptive parents and other desires can be met. Some of the agencies also offer support to the birth parents after the adoption is complete. A national adoption agency serves families all over the world which gives the birth mother a wide variety of adopting parents to choose from. Adoption agencies each birth mother is given their own specialist to guide them through the entire process and to help them decide whether or not adoption is right for her.

What is adoption and what does the adoption process consist of? Adoption is a process in which children become part of another family legally. In 1997, the Adoption and Safe Families Act was passed. The act aimed to clarify the health and wellness of children in the foster care system, as well as move them more quickly to permanent housing. “With the passage in 1997 of the Adoption and Safe Families Act, increasing numbers of U.S. children are being adopted. In 2001 alone, 50,000 children in the child welfare system were placed in adoptive homes” (Schweiger & O’Brien, 2005). However, there is a strict adoption process to go through when considering adoption. “The adoption process, involves discrete steps or stages including: changing case plan goal from reunification to adoption, terminating parental rights, identifying a resource family, trying placement in an adoption family, and finalizing the adoption” (Billings, McDonald, Moore, & Press, 2007). There is a criminal background check for prospective parents as well as a home study.

In the last four decades, the concept of the American family has undergone a radical transformation, reflecting society¡¯s growing openness. Among all segments of society, there is a greater acceptance of a variety of family structures ¨C from single parenting to blended families to same sex parenting of children. The introduction of openness into the process of adoption offers new opportunities for children in need of a parent or parents and prospective parents wishing to create or expand their families. Meeting the requirements to become eligible to adopt no longer means being constrained by the conventions of an earlier generation.

Further, applicants for adoption should be accepted on the basis of an individual assessment of their capacity to understand and meet the needs of a particular available child at the point of adoption and in the future (Rosario, 2006, p.8). The United States is facing a critical shortage of adoptive and foster parents. As a result, hundreds of thousands of children in this country are without permanent homes. These children deteriorate for months, even years, within state foster care systems that lack qualified foster parents and are frequently faced with other problems.

     Adoption is metamorphosing into a radical new process that is both sweeping the nation and changing it. But this process is not an easy one, there are many steps to go through. Through research it is made a lot easier. Adoption is a also a highly visible example of a social institution that has benefits from and been reshaped by both the Internet and the exponential growth of alternative lifestyles, from single to transracial to gay. It is accelerating our transformation into a more multicultural society; even as it helps redefine out understanding of “family.” The process includes three main steps including a type of adoption, the techniques for location a baby for adoption, arranging