Child Adoption Research Paper

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.

The affects that adoption plays on the development of an individual are somewhat difficult to gage. Researchers tend to agree that is indeed does play a role on the development of a person. Children who are adopted very early in their lives tend to have a better outcome on their life than a child who is adopted at an older age. There is a study in which shows that the later the adoption took place, the more trouble the person seemed to have. Research has also shown that that adopted children and adolescents had more psychological problems and trouble in school. A large study also found adopted people was more likely to have a learning disability (Santrock, 2009). Not all the research about adopted children is negative however. One study shows that adopted individuals tended to be more altruistic, caring, and supportive of others (Santrock, 2009).

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

In multiple studies such as Grow and Shapiro, 77% of the interracial adoptions had the same out comes as same race adoptions. In a study by McRoy and Zurcher in 1983 “strong bonds between the parents and adoptees developed in both groups [same race and interracial adoptions]…authors found no differences in self-concept and self-esteem [between the two groups]” (Silverman, 1993, p. 109). Silverman cites multiple other studies that show a similar trend that adopted children who grow up in interracial families do not suffer from psychological, emotional, or other adjustment problems more so than other types of adopted children. The results of the studies clearly refute any claim from the opposition that Black children raised in White homes should be a last resort because they will come out misadjusted and poorly

Now there are some things to consider when it comes to adoption. One of these being that transracial adoptees do not always want to be adopted by people from a different race. Meaning that skin tone and ethnicity plays a factor in the adoption process. Many people question if placing an adoptee in the home of a different race family fits the need of the child, and in the long run that’s the main goal of adoption, fitting the needs of the child. This situation has become very common, and are not always bad. However, “Trans-racial adoption can have very good outcomes, but one issue keeps cropping up – and that’s a sense of loneliness and isolation, a sense of not belonging. Adoption is a new identity and when you get the added challenges of people

Many children in the United States and throughout the world have been orphaned, put under foster care, or had something similar happen that results in the child being alone, in a sense. These children will often be entered into an adoption agency. All the children on the records of these adoption agencies have something in common no matter what race or religion they are a part of; they all need a home and a family. Through adoption any person of any race can provide a child of a different ethnicity or of the same ethnicity as himself or herself, so long as he or she qualifies; however, the ethnicity of a child in comparison to his or her adoptive parent or parents may affect the ability of the

Trans-racial adoption- Is defined as placing a child who belongs to a particular race or ethnic group with adoptive parents of another race or ethnic group. The motivation to adopt has been altered by changing family demographics,

428,000 Children are in foster care in the United States and a total of 135,000 children are adopted each year (Adoption Network Law Center 2018). Adoption is to take voluntarily a child of other parents as one’s own child. Adoption is an incredible step couples can take to change a child's life forever as well as their own. Once a child has been adopted they are taken into a new family who will love them and help them grow up well. Usually when a child is first adopted they have trouble with fitting in because they feel they have to fit into an image of a perfect child and it sometimes has to do with the way they look whether it be via race, culture, gender, or sexuality. This affects the child, but soon they are accustomed to their new life and begin to love and accept their new family. U.S. couples should be allowed to internationally adopt children because it changes a child's life completely and teaches them to love and be themselves.

In addition, studies have shown that children’s self-esteem, adjustment, and the capacity to form bonds were not adversely affected by their adoption. Still, parents should be aware that children of a racial minority group develop their sense of ethnic identity differently. Parents need to make sure their children are showing proper and positive environments.

This source helps to understand how there are things out there to bring children closer to their culture. The American Adoption Agency has an article named Transracial Adoption in America. It gives examples of each type of transracial adoption and the way that they should handle adoption from this culture. It also states tips given by experts in order to help the parents understand the differences in culture. “Families considering transracial adoption should also note that adopting a child of a different race also comes with its own set of unique considerations. They should be prepared to teach their adopted child about their ethnicity and should foster a home environment that is open and loving of all races and cultures. As the child grows, adoptive parents should be prepared to answer questions their child may have about their own ethnic and cultural identity” (American Adoption,

In 2015 there were a total of 5,648 adoptions in the United States (FY 2015). In 2010 there were approximately 400,000 children in foster care. 6% are ages 0-2, 9% are ages 3-4, 30% are ages 5-9, 19% are ages 10-12, 14% are ages 13-14, and 23% are ages 15-17. 52% being male and 48% being female. The average length of stay in foster care ranges from 14 months to 25.3 months. 37% of children are White, 23% are Black, 15% are Asian, 15% are Hispanic, and 9% are “other.” (Adoption USA)

All three corners of the adoption triad are affected I many ways. Birth mothers are the first to be psychologically traumatized by the adoption. For the adoptees that are a part of the closed era, many of the birth mothers were young, unwed and forced to give her baby up for adoption. No other options were suggested along with no counseling on how to deal with the loss of her child, left a trauma that was not easily forgotten. Some were sent to maternity homes to hide the shame from the rest of the family and the public. The child was to be a very close kept secret mistake to be undone. While giving birth, they were shielded from seeing their child, some not even knowing if they gave birth to a boy

Engaging in a private adoption can sometimes be a bit risky. Here are two reasons to retain a family lawyer for a private adoption process.

Many young and married couples are frustrated because people are constantly asking them about when they are going to get married and have a baby. Matt and Abby also felt that frustration. Because they were so tired of people asking them about when they were going to have a baby, they decided to adopt one.

     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