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Round and round we go – is adoption a good thing or a bad thing? Would the world be more perfect if we had more adoption? How about if we had more children who could remain with their families and grow up strong and healthy?
Is adoption the answer to all the woes that children in the world face? In our discussions, how often do we debate whether adoption is a good thing or not? Most reasonable people agree that adoption is a good thing when it is necessary for a child.
However, on the reverse side of the coin, I also believe that most reasonable people agree that newborn babies should be raised by their original families when possible. It boggles my mind that we even keep discussing whether adoption is a good thing or not. Like much in life, adoption is not simply all bad or all good.
For the life of me, I also cannot fathom why some seem to believe that the practice of adoption itself is threatened. Although adoption is under attack, it is not generally the institution as a whole that is criticized, but certain bad practices. I see no signs that adoption as a whole will come to a screeching halt.
How many countries have outlawed adoption? Are there really that many? Do people in America really believe that by calling for reforms in adoption, adoption may cease to exist? In my wildest imagination, I cannot see the end of adoption in our country. Nor do I see that as a viable solution.
Even in countries where placing babies for adoption is extremely low like Australia, adoptions do exist. People in Australia still adopt, but generally adopt from other countries. Pro-adoption advocates foam at the mouth when Australia is mentioned partially due to their guardianship policies. However, whether you can buy the legal guardianship concept or not, there are other positive aspects of Australia’s system of adoption that we can learn from. (More about this later.)
Our world would be a more perfect place if there were less wars, less poverty and fewer children without homes. It would also be a better place if adoption went back to its roots as solely a service to provide homes to children who need them. There are many ways to made our world a better place, and I see a need for adoption in some instances.
However, more adoption for children who need homes to make the world more perfect is only a small part of the solution. What else can we do? Have more sex education available? More parenting classes? Better treatment of pregnant women in the midst of an unplanned pregnancy? More ethical adoption practices? More education for potential birth or adoptive parents? An improved foster care system? Better treatment of women in general?
Adoption is sometimes a good thing. However, so is providing resources for women to parent. We need more adoptions for children who need homes and less unnecessary relinquishments. Will we run out of babies for potential adoptive parents? Do pigs fly?
Further Reading:
Is Adoption From Guatemala Wrong?
What you Should Know – Carefully Consider
Photo by Jan Baker 2007
Dear Jan Baker, I hope this will reach you as moderator of this blog. My name is Fenella Cannell and I am on the anthropology faculty of the London School of Economics in the UK (please see http://www.lse.ac.uk to check my credentials and to see my books pls see http://www.amazon.com and look for Cannell 1999 and ed. Cannell 2006.) I am currently in the middle of a research project on adoptions involving people from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am seeking birth mothers or pregnant women considering adoption through any LDS-connected agency or with LDS adoptive parents. I am not LDS myself (this is an academic study) but I should stress that this study is designed to give a truthful, respectful and sympathetic account of the relationship of faith and family in present day LDS experience and is in no way ‘anti’ LDS.
I would be happy to provide any more information you may like. But before I take up any more of your time may I ask whether you would consider allowing me to put a notice (worded appropriately) on your website inviting any women who may be interested to contact me with their experiences? Of course all identities are protected in my published work (I use pseudonyms or anonymous quotation, change identifying details etc) , unless interviewees wish to have their real names associated with their stories, in which case I will be glad to oblige. Thank you for your time in reading this enquiry. Fenella Cannell.