Apparently I'm all about adoption around the world as of late. I find it increasingly interesting to look at how other countries are handling the same issues. Today's news blurb comes out of Amsterdam.

While I don't know much of the underlying issues, the article seems to report that there are some fights going on with regard to medical ethical issues. While euthanasia is mentioned, the second half of the article talks about abortion which leads straight into a discussion on adoption.

Rutte also pointed out that the coalition wants to urge pregnant women to consider adoption as an alternative for abortion.

The government plans to conduct a study into the psycho-social effects of abortion, but adoption can also have negative effects on both mother and child, Rutte says. He wants to get a motion passed asking the government to first conduct an investigation into the effects of adoption on children and parents.

A politician understands that adoption can have negative effects on the child and the mother? He wants a motion passed asking the government to conduct an investigation into the effects of adoption?

Can we move this guy to the United States? Stat? That's a politician I could get behind. That said, I know absolutely nothing about Mark Rutte, what he stands for or whether or not he's a genuinely good guy... or if he's using recent adoption talk to promote himself and his own causes. (You know, like American politicians tend to do.) Either way, a call for an investigation into the effects of adoption on mothers and children by someone in power is a huge step for any country.

While the recent Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute's study looked at birth parent rights, including some statistics on who places children, I still think a larger scale study on the emotional (and physical) effects of placement is needed. How are these mothers coping with day to day life two months later? One year later? Five years later? Fifteen years later? How does it effect their love life? Their social life? Their family life? Their professional life? How do they value themselves post-placement? Then, on top of all those questions, factor in the varying responses from adults who were adopted as children and give me a REALLY IMPORTANT STUDY. (Though, it could and probably should be argued that people who were adopted as children need their own separate study. However, then you run into the problem of whether or not the data is compatible or just simply comparing apples and oranges. Oh, dilemmas all over the place!)

Anyway, I got off on a minor (semi-major) tangent. All that said, it will be interesting to see if a study does come from the Netherlands regarding adoptions' effects on mothers and children. I'll be keeping my eyes and ears open.