Adoption and Nature vs Nurture

1. Some people have argued that the Johns Hopkins psychologist used this opportunity as an experiment to test his nurture theory of gender identity. What are the expected results of this experiment, assuming that the nurture theory is valid?

When a couple or individual decides to adopt a child, they know they are going to take on the responsibility of taking care of someone else’s child. Due to the biological parent(s) who can’t take care of that child anymore, because of either drug abuse, alcohol abuse, abuse to the child or if the parent(s) had died and there is no other care for the child. So that’s why this gives other couples who cannot have kids, the opportunity to promise themselves to be a great parent to a child in need. Though there are some bad things about adoption as well. Like adopting a child from another country of another race, because once that child is adopted into an American family, he or she will be cut off from their culture and never know about their

The old and popular debate between ‘nature vs. nurture’ has generated a lot of interest in newborns, who were previously thought to be ‘blank slates’, and has contributed a lot to developmental psychology, a field of psychology focusing on studying infants. It is now generally accepted that both nature and nurture make equal contribution to the infant’s development.

When considering adoption, couples need to be aware of what happens to children when they are taken out of foster homes, or homes with unfit parents. Couples are improving the child 's life, and even possibly saving their life. There are many effects of adoption on children to consider when thinking of adoption. It is a phenomenal experience when couples have the opportunity to do this for children, but couples need to know all the information before deciding on adoption.

Ethnic identity is the major reason why many African Americans do not approve of interracial adoption. Adopting a child outside of your race is interracial adoption(Godwin 258). The National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW) are strongly against interracial adoption. They think that only black people can give the children a positive racial identity. Also that only black parents can help the children develop skills for coping in a racist society. This statement is proven to be wrong in the Grow/Shapiro study in 1974(Bender/Leone 198). The study consisted of 125 white families who all adopted black children. Seventy-seven percent of the adoptions went smoothly without any problems at all. They found that the tests of the transracially adopted children verses those of white adopted children matched very closely (Bender/Leone 200). The tests compared the problems that the white and black children face like racism. The numbers show that the child’s age, not transracial adoption, has the most impact on adjustment and racial identity(Bender/Leone 202). The longer the child is in an orphanage or foster home, the more problems the child will have with an adoptive family. Because the child has no parent, it often becomes confused. The child does not know who to call mom or dad. The children wait two to five years in a foster home or orphanage before being adopted. There are not enough adoptive black

This article will inform the reader on the psychological and emotional effects that giving their child up through open adoption has had on the biological parents. This will allow the reader to see both perspectives of the adopted child’s life that an open adoption allows for.

What makes someone an unique individual? Centuries of ancestors, genetics, evolution and heredity, or is what makes someone who they are based simply on how they were raised and what sort of environment they were raised in? The idea of Nature vs Nurture was created in 1869 in a book called Hereditary Genius by Francis Galton. In his book, he explains his findings on his exploration of the inheritance and evolution of human traits. The issue and debate of and over Nature vs Nurture has been prevalent to this day. It has also been a extremely prevalent in the social debate of Adoption. The basis for nature vs nurture is the idea that people are affected either more by nature, which would be an individual 's genetic makeup and heredity, or by nurture, how an individual is raised and the environment in which they grew up. Both sides of the argument are strongly backed and supported with facts and research. There is no “One or the other”, both nature and nurture are what makes human beings who they are, but the question is not which. It is which of the two effects who an individual is the most?.... Nature is what we are born with. Every person is born preset with different/unique natural abilities and capabilities because of their DNA, adopted or not. Nature plays a bigger role than Nurture when it comes to what makes an individual unique .

A child who is adopted is always a good thing, yet there are those who wish to return to the days of racial segregation when it comes to adoption. The “National Association of Black Social Workers, in 1972, likened whites adopting black children to ‘cultural genocide’” (Clemetson & Nixon, 2006, para 16), which is a completely racist view of how White people would poorly raise a Black child based solely on skin color. Their stance on interracial adoptions has changed somewhat in the last 40 years. The wording has been softened to a more politically palatable and sustainable “transracial adoption of an African American child should only be considered after documented evidence of unsuccessful same race placements has been reviewed and supported

Adoption can be a wonderful and joyous situation for a child and parent. I personally feel like the ideal of adoption is the birth mother or father, basically giving their child a better chance at life. “About 10% of couples in the United States are affected by infertility. Both men and women can be infertile. According to the Centers for Disease Control, 1/3 of the time the diagnosis is due to female infertility, 1/3 of the time it is linked to male infertility, and the remaining cases of infertility are due to a combination of factors from both partners. For approximately 20% of couples, the cause cannot be determined”(webmd.com). Adoption gives these families a chance of having a family that includes children. “Compared to long-term

‘People are realizing that closed adoptions do more harm than good, because adoptees tend to imagine one of two extremes about their birth parents — they’re either famous, exotic royalty or celebrities, or they’re villains with loose morals’.

One of the main, and most controversial topics discussed in a child’s development is, nature vs. nurture. Nature pertains to genetic influences that a child has inherited from their parents, such as traits, abilities, and capacities. For instance, what color eyes the child may have, how athletic they may be, and even their brain development. Whereas nurture, refers to the environment the child is raised in and how this shapes their behaviors. Such factors can include, the family’s socio-economic status, schooling, parental discipline, as well as whether the child is provided with enough resources. When it comes to nature or nurture having a stronger influence then the other, the answer is both, nature and nurture, influence the outcome of the child. This idea that both nature and nurture, play a part in how the child will develop, is known as the nature-nurture continuum.

“Older children of adoption can benefit from open adoption in additional ways. These children have likely formed some type of bond with their birth parents and possibly with other relatives such as siblings and grandparents. Suddenly severing the connection with these birth relatives once the adoption is finalized is almost always going to be detrimental to the emotional well-being of the child. Relationships with people from the child's past may minimize feelings of abandonment and strengthen the child's self-esteem as he or she transitions into the adoptive family” (Berry,

Does the environment that one grows up in contribute to alcoholism or is alcoholism determined by genetics? It wasn’t until 1991 that alcoholism was considered both a medical and psychiatric disease by the American Medical Association. Alcoholism is defined in the dictionary as a chronic disorder characterized by dependence on alcohol, repeated excessive use of alcoholic beverages, the development of withdrawal symptoms on reducing or ceasing intake, morbidity that may include cirrhosis of the liver, and decreased ability to function socially and vocationally. (dictionary.com). It is also defined as an addiction to the consumption of alcoholic liquor or the mental illness

This has caused me to want to further research the issue. What are the social and emotional effects that adoption has on children?

In conclusion, adopting is absolutely something to consider. The most important thing to remember is that every child needs a safe and loving home. Any family who believes that they can provide security, love and safety to a child in need should consider taking this role. It is an unforgettable, life changing experience not only for the parent but for the child as well. Parents have the opportunity to provide that child a normal life which would otherwise be missing. Some researchers say that adopted children who were once in a foster care tend to misbehave or act a certain way in order to create a feeling of rejection, anger, pain and abandonment in their parents. This testing behavior may actually indicate that the child feels comfortable enough with the parent to communicate his or her own true feelings. (Welf Info Gateway 2012). This is a positive reaction which only solidifies the strong bond that parents will be able to attain with the new member of the family. The benefits of adopting are endless, and will only gain love in a child’s heart. Parents will absolutely bring tremendous joy to that child’s life. One thing is true, and this is that no one will ever know unless they experience this.