Biology does not make someone a mother, it is their ability to provide a loving and caring environment. For those people unable to have their own children, many turn to adoption. Five million people living in the United States today were adopted as children and 2.4% of American families have adopted children. Additionally, “Twenty five to forty percent of people say they have considered adoption themselves”(Brown 1). Even with this interest in adoption, it is estimated that 408,425 children are in foster care in the United States. In fact, statistics show that a child can live in twenty foster care homes before they are permanently adopted and “More than 60% of children in foster care spend two to five years in the system before being adopted” (Brown 1). Although there is clear interest in adoption, the number of children available for adoption and not getting adopted indicates the process is not simple. Barriers to adoption still exists that have nothing to do with a person 's ability to provide a loving and caring environment. Sexual preference, race, income, religion, and relationship status affect individuals chances to adopt. Sexual preference is viewed by some to affect a person 's ability to raise a child. This information is still believed across the United States although in all of the trials and studies conducted there has been no findings that gay men or women are unfit to be parents. While sixteen percent of children
There is a 50 percent rate that a heterosexual parents become a parent accidentally.(“Pappas2”) Supporting the idea that homosexual people would obviously be further committed, since they know when they are actually ready to become parents and it is impossible they would have a child accidentally. The majority of people argues that having gay parents causes children to be bullied, but kids also get bullied whether they have homosexual parents or not. Maybe for different reasons, but nonetheless still bullying. If anything, it is a society that can make having gay parents a disadvantage. Their parents’ gender isn’t what bothers the kid, but the way that society might see it is what affects them negatively.() If everyone was more supportive of gay adoption, everything wouldn’t be as hard as is right now for these people. According to Goldberg, a psychologist at Clark University in Massachusetts, people that were raised by gay and lesbian parents”feel like their perspectives on family, on gender, and on sexuality have largely been enhanced by growing up with gay parents.” (“Pappas3”) Many people that have been raised by gay couples can agree with this because it is true. They don't judge so
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.
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
In a perfect world, all children would be loved and nurtured and live in a cozy home with a stable family. Unfortunately, that is not always the case. In the United States “over 400,000 American children are in foster care, taken away when their families are in crisis and can’t take care of them” (“Statistics on Foster Care”). Out of all those children in the foster care system about “114,556 of these children are available for adoption”, which means the biological parents’ rights have been legally terminated through the court system (“Adoption Statistics: National Adoption Month”). That is an immense number of children who do not get to have the same bond and love that a biological child would get from their own parents. The foster care
To the thousands of children in foster care, adoption means being part of a family. Adoption signifies a chance to be loved, wanted, and cared for properly. Every year thousands of children enter the foster care system. In the year 2010 alone, 245,375 children entered foster care, of that number over 61,000 were black. An astounding 30,812 black children were waiting for adoption in 2010 (AFCARS). With so many children needing homes, it would seem their adoption would be open to any and all loving families, yet this is not the necessarily the case. Transracial adoption, which traditionally alludes to black children placed with white families, is riddled with difficulties. While transracial adoption can be a successful solution, many
“When children enter foster care, the initial plan is for children to return to live with their families once they have adequately resolved the problems that made their children unsafe and made foster care necessary.” “While a little more than half of children who enter care return home to their birth families, the rest will need other plans to end the temporary placement of foster care.” (childrensaidsociety.org) Even with foster care some children hope to find a permanent family to live with but according to research, today adoption is viewed as a last resort, even for couples with fertility problems. (Reed, Leslie,) Today people have fears of bonding with the child, unknown health issues and behavioral issues. (Patricelli, Kathryn). In the future adoption will revolve around securing information with international adoption, getting more access to original birth certificates and other legal
“There is no scientific basis for concluding that lesbian mothers or gay fathers are unfit parents on the basis of their sexual orientation” (Armesto, 2002; Patterson, 2000; Tasker & Golombok, 1997). Ever since gay and lesbians have been parents people have questioned how the parents’ sexual orientation impacts child and adolescent development. Opponents of same-sex parents argue that sexual orientation has a negative impact on child development, while proponents argue that the relationship between the child and parents is what matters. National, state, and local governments are faced with the controversy surrounding same-sex parenting. People have very strong opinions on both sides of the argument. Children and adolescents who are under lesbian or gay parents have normal child development compared with children under heterosexual parents. These children develop normally socially, mentally, and academically.
Adoption remained for a long time a rather homogeneous action, with the placement of children in the homes of middle-class, married couples. Over the course of the last three decades, adoption went through a metamorphosis, from being merely a source for married, middle-class couples to create families to being a pathway for a number of diverse and
More than 60% of children in foster care spend two-five years in the system before being adopted. Almost 20% spend five or more years in foster care before being adopted. Some never get adopted. Of the 400,000 children in foster care in the U.S., 114,556 cannot be returned to their families and are waiting to be adopted. Among these children, males out number females, African American children are disproportionally represented and over half are six years old or older. One in three children adopted by parents who are a different race, most adopted children from foster care are non-white. Majority (73%) of the children’s adopted parents are white. Nearly 40% of children adopted from foster care live in families with three or more adopted and/or birth children, making their family structures more complex than other adopted children. Both domestic and international adoptions have similar total costs, typically ranging from $25,000-$50,000 but they both have their own unique costs. The time it takes a couple to receive a child domestically or
The necessity of adoption in the world is astounding. Currently, there is an estimated 143 million orphans worldwide (Wingert, vol.151). As of 2007, there were 513,000 children living in foster care within the United States alone (Rousseau 21:14). International adoption in the United States was jumpstarted post World War II as a way of helping those children who were left homeless, after war had taken their parents. Although there are thousands of healthy children awaiting adoption in the United States, several American couples still turn to foreign adoption when seeking potential children. Americans often fail to realize the need for intervention within their own country and their duty to take care of domestic affairs before venturing to
When the average American citizen today thinks about the concept of adoption, what images are typically the first that come to mind? Although different people are sure to have equally as different experiences in this field, one picture continues to remain the most commonly-accepted. This image consists of a man and a woman who cannot have children of their own, a newborn baby, and a single mother who will certainly be unable to provide for the infant due to her young age, lack of financial support, or another variety of unfortunate circumstances. Making the decision to adopt a child is without a doubt one of the best options available for couples who are unable to conceive, but by thinking of adoption as nothing more than the fallback
The development of children raised by homosexual couples is not significantly different from that raised by heterosexual couples. “Children whose parents are gay or lesbian have no more problems with self-esteem, psychological adjustment, intellectual capacity,
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
An adoptive family, whether they are gay or straight, is better than being in the foster care system. Adoption rates have risen a great amount since gay marriage was legalized. Four percent of children adopted in the United States are raised by same-sex couples (“LGBT”). In the past ten years, about six to fourteen million of children have a gay or lesbian parent. During that same time, eight 10 ten million children are raised in a LGBT household (“Adoptions”).