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Continuing on with ways to educate yourself about adoption.
6) Seeking the Opinions of Experts -This is a somewhat loaded option. Adoption experts might be considered those who facilitate adoptions, however, their opinions can be partial and biased. Adoption is how they make a living after all. Some adoption experts who are triad members and have either background, personal experience or education in adoption can be extremely useful. Social workers at agencies, lawyers who profit from adoptions may be conditioned to urge that their “adoption” is generally the best option. If someone profits financially in any way from adoption, their abiity to be objective comes into question. That is not to say that they can never be impartial, however you do need to carefully weigh the information that they may provide.
7) Religious Advisors or School Counselors – Most religious advisors have little understanding of the long term affects of adoption on birth parents or adoptees. Generally they have little or no training about adoption and the basis for their conclusions may not be well-informed. Religious doctrines against premarital sex or unwed parenting may also cloud their objectivity. School counselors may not be educated in adoption, and their personal bias may affect their views.
Crisis Pregnancy Centers – Until the past few years, Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPIs) were thought to be useful in helping young women reach an informed decision as to the fate of their unborn child. Lately, a great deal of information has surfaced that indicates that many crisis pregnancy centers have close ties with adoption agencies, and hence are not impartial. Some CPIS that are religiously based and anti-abortion use scare tactics and exaggerate the affects of abortion while downplaying the affects of adoption.
You could do all these things, or you could form an opinion based on meeting one birth mom, adoptee or adoptive parent. Some people read one book or ask one adoption expert at an agency. If you want to be fully informed, it takes a great deal more. Any one can have an opinion, but to have an informed, educated opinion takes a great deal of effort.
