Why They Should Not Locate Their Biological Parents
Introduction
In United States of America, it is estimated that approximately one hundred and twenty thousand cases of child adoption take place each year. Some causes of parents giving their children up for adoption are unstable finances, young age pregnancy, and involuntary circumstances. These children that are put into adopt end up growing up in foster care or in the home of their adoptive parents’ home. As the adopted learn that they are not with biological parents, some gain the courage to start the journey of finding their birth parents. An adopted child being introduced to his birth parents should be thought of carefully. This situation has pros and cons attached. Being that this can result in a negative way, should children be allowed to locate their biological parents when they are of age to understand?
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This interaction is possible to hold great outcomes such as a strong relationship, replace a feel of emptiness, and provide self-encouragement.
This also may act as a kind of reunion for the child, biological parents, as well as the adopting parents. A strong relationship is bound to develop as everyone bonds and get to know about each other. A new, positive relationship could change a family in many ways. The parents and child are most likely to have an everlasting bond throughout the rest of their lives.
Along with a relationship, the adopted child be able to get additional information. Is it only through clear and answers and reasoning from the biological parents that will allow relief to the affected individual from deep thoughts.
The choice of locating an adopted child’s biological parents should completely be their personal decision
It would definitely help for the parent seeker to have support through their journey. The adopted parents are the primary people who should
Many adoptees feel out of place, they struggle finding a place to settle and when they do they often times feel as though they need to work to prove their worthiness. As an adoptive shield grows he as long The begins to question. He question why his birth parents didn 't want him and why he wasn 't good enough for them. He may begin to wonder why he act and looks the way he does. Being an adoptee can cause crippling anxiety, in the case of Lesli Johnson, " I went to therapy for the first time when I was 6 years old because I had begun to suffer from sleep issues and crippling separation anxiety from my mom." ( Johnson ). An adopted child has the right to know their birth parents; so that they can have some sense of self worth and identity, they can learn something of their past, and find acceptance in the way things are.
No one wants their child to have to face additional difficulties in addition to those that life will hand them so worrying about whether or not providing your child with information regarding their birthing and adoption process is only natural. Some worry that the knowledge that they were adopted would be one of these “additional” difficulties if they were to share the information.
May cause different emotions for adopted child as they have the right to know their origins
The later research is what I have found to be true in my own experience with adopted children. My very good friend Justin Jahanshir is adopted. Justin was born to an alcoholic, drug-abusing mother. Justin was taken in and adopted by Sharom and Shelly Jahanshir as an infant. Justin was raised in a warm and very loving family. He is absolutely nothing like his mother. I asked Justin where would he be in life if he was kept with his mother and he responded, “I’m pretty sure I would be in jail.” Justin has recently
Finally, there are open adoptions. In an open adoption, your child will grow up knowing who there birth parents are. You will provide updates a few times a year to your child’s birth parents, and you may even help your child foster a relationship with their birth
The sorrowful events that came with opening our adoption proves that if a closed adoption is chosen, it needs to stay that way. Adoptive children need protected from unhealthy lifestyles. Closed adoptions need to remain closed to protect children from experiencing a life they were supposed to be taken away from. Children need to feel loved and should be able to live life as a child instead of fearing situations out of their control. They can contact their biological family if they chose at the legal age, until then closed adoptions should remain just
In the 1960s, adoptees began The Adoption Reform Movement to make sealed adoption records accessible. Before then, traditional or closed adoptions were thought to be the best option for everyone involved in the adoption triangle. This triad consists of the adoptee, adoptive parents, and biological parents. In a closed adoption, the adoptee is not allowed access to medical records and does not know their birth parents. Prior to the reform, people did not consider the ethical or moral problems that would arise from these kind of adoptions. The belief was that sealed records would protect everyone, but this is not the case. As adoptees grew into adults, the demand for more information on their birth parents increased. This led to the debate of whether or not adoptees were entitled to know the identity of their biological parents. The opposition from birth mothers appeared almost immediately after the reform set about. These mothers were not ready to give up their own rights to make the decision between open or closed adoption. Even though biological parents have the ability to choose, adoptees have the right to know their biological parents because of the search process being emotionally damaging, their need to access medical records, and their development as a child.
Not many children who are put in closed adoptions get to know who they are and their family history. Closed adoption children do not get to know any of their historical background, and this sometimes gives children self-esteem issues (“Adoption Emotional Issues”). They can also deal with loss and grief issues at times because they do not have their biological parents around to help raise them. It is not until the age of eighteen for the child to legally find their biological parents on their
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.
72 percent of adopted adolescents in the U.S. want to know why they are adopted, 65 percent want to meet their birth parents, and 94 percent want to know which birth parent they look like. These are all statistics from a study done by the Search Institute and they show how important it is for adoptees to know who their biological parents are. This is a very debatable topic with the question of should adoptees have the right to know who their biological parents are? Many people who think that adoptees should not know their birth parents are the ones in favor of closed adoptions. Closed adoptions refer to an adoption process where there is no interaction between birthmothers and prospective adoptive families. Also in closed adoptions, there is
Relationships between biological, adoptive parents, and the adoptee have the potential to increase when allowing contact between families. “Legislators often don't understand how deeply the issue affects adoptees and how many people's lives can be enhanced by having birth parents and children they gave up for adoption make contact, said Pennsylvania Republican state Rep. Kerry Benninghoff. (Bergal, 2016, para. 8). Contact between families allows for a foundation to lifelong relationships. Building
Plenty of information about adoption is misunderstood or not known at all. Numerous individuals do not know the difference between a closed adoption and an open adoption and the pros/cons that accompany these different types of adoption. “Confidential (closed) adoption is where the birthparents often do not know the identity of the adoptive parents and could not maintain any contact with the child or adoptive family after placement.” (9-NP) The problems in a closed adoption are more than just a lack of information. (5-31) One situation that most people take for granted is knowing his or her family history. This is something that adopted children in closed adoption don’t get. (5-30)Nearly all the time, files are physically sealed in a closed adoption. (3-NP) Up until the late 1980’s closed adoptions were considered a regular occurrence. (3-NP) Harold Grotevent, a University of Minnesota professor, has been working with 35 adoption agencies for the last 2 decades and has said there’s been a clean-cut swing from closed to open adoption. (6-NP) “Open adoption refers to the sharing of information and/or contact between the adoptive and biological parents of an adopted child, before and/or after the placement of the child.” (9-NP) Open adoption has become a considerable alterative to abortion or single
For those who are a part of the adoption world one of the most hotly debated issues is whether birth records should be open or closed to adoptees. With this issue comes strong feelings on both sides. In most states adoption records are fully sealed and inaccessible, unless the adoptee petitions the court. In 16 states these records are fully or partially available upon request with no court involvement, and also may depend upon when you were born. In a few states records are completely prohibited and the adoptee will never have any access to them. Alaska and Kansas have always made original birth records available.
Some assert that an adoption is not open unless there is direct person-to-person contact among the birth parents, adoptive parents, and the child who was adopted, with full disclosure of last names and addresses (Melina and Rosiza, 1993).” (Siegel) For many, open adoption is a very loose term. This is because almost any amount of direct contact makes an adoption open. This can be by phone, mail (email or paper), or face-to-face contact. “The open communication, sometimes begins before placement and can continue through the adoptees lifetime.” (adoption.com) Open adoption is a term that is supposed to apply to many different arrangements that people may set up. All of these arrangements still involve the birth parents in one way or another in the child's life. The ideas that surround open adoptions are generally good or have good intentions. This is because the openness does not just extend to the birth mother. Some open adoption arrangements give other members of the birth mother's family opportunities too. So, for example, if the birth mother were to not want contact with the child this would allow other members of the family such as grandparents. The get the opportunity to meet the child. “The nurturing culture of a healthy open adoption system brings out the honor in people.” (Gritter) When big events happen that people cannot always understand people rects the best that they can. People have to make vital decisions that drastically affect others lives. At that moment people will inevitably show who they really are. For birth parents this is especially
It is not only the involvement of two families but two countries. I think before any international adoption should proceed, the adoptive parents must make the effort to know the child’s homeland. They must also demonstrate that they are willing to protect the rights of the child against any threat. I think in that way the child won’t lose part of his cultural and ethnic identity. The sending country should make sure the international adoption is the last option after visiting the other options such as extended families that might be able to take care of the child or orphanage agencies or even domestic adoption. Only after these options have been exhausted, only then international adoption should be considered. Once it is done, they need to assure the child is guaranteed to have a better future. I don’t think it should stop at a simple background check or to check if the adopters are good citizens. It should go beyond that; like take for instance the case of Carleton Gajdusek; he was an extraordinary scientist and he received a Nobel prize for his research. Given his background and how he was perceived in society, Gajdusek was given the opportunity to bring back with him in the US 56 children from New Guinea. Parents trusted the scientist and believe that he will offer those kids a higher education. However, he was later accused of molesting those kids. Shouldn’t this be a lesson to society? Therefore, I