Adoption

Adoption is the legal act of permanently placing a child with a parent or parents other than the birth parents. Adoption results in the severing of the parental responsibilities and rights of the biological parents and the placing of those responsibilities and rights onto the adoptive parents. After the finalization of an adoption, there is no legal difference between biological and adopted children. Different jurisdictions have varying laws on adoption and post-adoption. Some practice confidential or ''closed'' adoption, preventing further contact between the adopted person and the biological parents, while others have varying degrees of ''open'' adoption, which may allow such contact. ==Reasons for adoption== Many children are placed for adoption as a result of the biological parents' decision that they are unable to adequately care for a child. In some countries, where single motherhood may be considered scandalous and unacceptable, some women in this situation make an adoption plan for their infants. In some cases, they abandon their children at or near an orphanage, so that they can be adopted. Some biological parents involuntarily lose their parental rights (called termination of parental rights or TPR in the United States). This usually occurs when the children are placed in foster care because they were abused, neglected or abandoned. After about 15 months, if the parents cannot resolve the problems that caused or contributed to the harm caused to their children (such as alcohol or drug abuse), a court may terminate their parental rights and the children may then be adopted. In fiscal year 2001, 50,703 foster children were adopted in the United States, many by their foster parents or relatives of their biological parents. The enactment of the Adoption and Safe Families Act in 1997 has approximately doubled the number of children adopted from foster care in the United States. Only a small percentage of adopted children are those orphaned because of the death of their biological parents. In some cases, parents' rights have been terminated when their outgroup culture << can someone explain waht this is? >> has been deemed unfit by the controlling government. Stolen Generation in Australia were affected by such policies, as were Native Americans in the United States and Canada. Moreover, unwed mothers in many countries still are often pressured or forced by families, religious bodies or governments into relinquishing their children for adoption. These practices of the past have become emotionally-charged social and political issues in recent years. People make decisions to adopt for various reasons; however, the inability to produce a biological child is the most common reason. The most prevalent obstacle to producing a biological child is infertility. Another obstacle is the lack of a partner of the opposite sex or a lack of desire to use a surrogacy or sperm donor. Gay and single people often adopt for this reason. Some couples or individuals adopt children even though they are fertile. Some may choose to do this in order to avoid contributing to a perceived overpopulation problem; others may do so to avoid passing on undesirable genetic traits. Still others adopt because they wish to share their love and open their homes to more children. ==Adoption agencies== Adoption agencies can range from government-funded agencies that place children at little cost, to lawyers who arrange private adoptions, to international commercial and non-profit agencies. Adoptive parents can pay from nothing to US$40,000 for an adoption. Infants are more commonly sought than toddlers or older children, and many adoptive parents seek to adopt children of the same race. However, individuals adopting children from other countries, such as in Eastern Europe, should be aware that these countries consist of many ethnic groups. International adoption is becoming more popular with more young healthy children available than in most adoptive countries. China is the leading country for American international adoptions. Another reason international adoption has become popular with U.S. citizens is the American adopting parents are fearful of American birth parents changing their mind about adoption. In addition, many U.S. adoption agencies encourage open adoptions, in which some adoptive parents do not wish to participate. Few international adoptions are open adoptions. One problem with international adoptions is that unethical people see an opportunity to make a relatively high profit, in part because the costs of living are much lower than the adoptive parents' country. There are no firm numbers on illegal or unethical adoptions, as adoptive families are reluctant to publicize unethical adoptions, but several countries have closed following high profile trafficking and corruption cases, such as Romania and Cambodia. ==Issues surrounding adoption== The number of children available for adoption inside Western nations have dropped considerably in recent years, partly because of the legalization of abortions, partly because of the increased acceptance of single parenthood. When a mother (or both parents) chooses to place the child with adoptive parents, the process of separation is difficult for all parties. It has been argued that children adopted through international adoptions are best served when adoptive families commit to integrating the child's birth nation cultures, traditions, stories, languages and relationships. Some countries now require adoptive parents to keep the birth names of their adoptive children, and many adoptive parents choose to do this as it makes sense in helping their child develop a strong sense of self. Another issue for prospective adoptive parents to be cognizant of is reactive attachment disorder (RAD). Many children, especially those beyond infancy in system care (e.g. foster, orphanage), domestic or foreign, develop this disorder due to the loss of the initial primary caregiver. A search on the internet for 'reactive attachment disorder' will expose much information and journals from parents dealing with RAD. The [http://www.FamilyAttachmentCenter.org[Family Attachment Center] is an excellent resource. ==Primal Wound== It's not until very recently, and in particular through the work of Nancy Verrier that various concepts relating to adoption have been put into question. Although adoptees make up only 2 to 3 percent of the population, statistics consistently indicate that 30 to 40 percent of those children found in special schools, juvenile hall and residential treatment centres are adopted. It is often assumed that adopting babies at a very young age (1-2 months) bears no trauma for the child. In fact, many adoptees have reported they were made to feel - consciously or not - as if they should be forever 'be grateful' to have been 'chosen'. Because most have no recollection of their own birth, a baby would be a 'blank canvas' and the adoption process no different than being raised by the biological parents. Nancy Verrier defines the primal would as the "devastation which the infant feels because of separation from its birth mother". It is the deep and consequential feeling of abandonment which the baby adoptee feels after the adoption and which continues for the rest of his life. ==Reunification== Many adopted people and biological parents who were separated by adoption have a desire to reunite. In countries which practice confidential adoption, this desire has led to efforts to open sealed records (for example, see Adoption reunion registry) and efforts to establish the right of adoptees to access their sealed records (for example, see Bastard Nation). ==Adoptism== Adoptism is a prejudice against adoption defined by several beliefs: * The belief that adoption is not a legitimate way to build a family * The belief that birthing children is always preferable to adopting * The belief that adoptees are defined throughout their lives by the fact of their adoption * The belief that making an adoption plan is never a preferable option for birth mothers who are unable or choose not to raise their children ==Positive adoption language== In most cultures, adoptive families face adoptism. Adoptism is made evident in English speaking cultures by the prominent use of negative or inaccurate language describing adoption. To combat adoptism, many adoptive families encourage positive adoption language.

Non-preferred:	Preferred:	Reason for preference:
your own child	birth child	Saying a birth child is your own child or one of your own children implies that an adopted child is not.
child is adopted	child was adopted	Some adoptees believe that their adoption is not their identity, but is an event that happened to them. ("Adopted" becomes a participle rather than an adjective.) Others contend that "is adopted" makes adoption sound like a disability to be overcome.
give up for adoption	place for adoption or make an adoption plan	"Give up" implies a lack of value. The preferred terms are more emotionally neutral.
real mother/father/parent	birth mother/father/parent or biological mother/father/parent	The use of the term "real" implies that the adoptive family is artificial, and is not as descriptive.
birth mother/father/parent	natural mother/father/parent	A contrary view to the above, especially held by those in Ireland who cared for their children before being forced to relinquish them to adoption, is that the term 'birth' mother implies that they only served as a brood mare when in fact they often raised and cared for their children for up to two years.[http://www.adoptionloss.ie/history.htm]
your adopted child	your child	The use of the adjective 'adopted' signals that the relationship is qualitatively different from that of parents to birth children.

== International Adoption == International adoption refers to adopting a child from a foreign country. American citizens represent the majority of international adoptive parents, followed by Europe and those from other more developed nations. The laws of different countries vary in their willingness to allow international adoptions. Some countries, such as China and Vietnam, have relatively well-established rules and procedures for foreign adopters to follow, while others, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) for example, expressly forbid it. == Adoption in other cultures == Adoption need not always entail assuming the title of "mother" and/or "father" to an orphaned child. Traditionally in Arab cultures if a child is adopted he or she does not become a �son� or �daughter,� but rather a ward of the adopting caretaker(s). The child�s family name is not changed to that of the adopting parent(s) and his or her �guardians� are publicly known as such. In Korea culture, adoption almost always occurs when another family member (sibling or cousin) gives a male child to the first-born male heir of the family. Adoptions outside the family are rare. This is also true to varying degrees in other Asian societies. ==See also== *Affiliation *Adoption in Rome *Bastard Nation *Illegitimacy *Korean adoptee ==External links== ===United States=== * [http://naic.acf.hhs.gov/pubs/r_agency.cfm State Child Welfare Agency and Photolisting Web Pages] (National Adoption Information Clearinghouse) * [http://www.mare.org/Links.html State and Nationwide Adoption & Related Child Welfare Links] (Michigan Adoption Resource Exchange) * [http://www.adopt.org/adoption_photolistings.html Adoption Photolisting Websites] (National Adoption Center) ===Canada=== * [http://www.adoption.ca/links.htm Adoption Links] (Adoption Council of Canada) Adoption Family law

Adoption

Source: "South Africa Allows Gay Adoption", http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=515&ncid=723&e=1&u=/ap/20020910/ap_on_re_af/south_africa_gay_rights User:-- April Are there any articles on step parents? --User:Zandperl 01:29, 9 Mar 2004 (UTC) ---- I have removed the statement "although there is a world of difference outside of the legal world." It is NPOV and an unsupported assertion. ---- I have removed the following statements from "reasons for adoption," because I think they are inaccurate. If I'm wrong, I would like to see some corroborating evidence. I have also cleaned up that paragraph. "However this reason is diminishing as fertility clinics provide solutions to couples or individuals whom cannot conceive. As the price for adoption increases and clinics become more affordable, adoption agencies see clinics as competition." "This [adoption of a child by fertile couples] has become fashionable in recent years with the phenomenon of couples giving birth to a child of one sex then adopting another from the other sex." User:68.229.219.84 02:24, 23 Nov 2004 (UTC) ---- The following seems like axe-grinding against someone's perception of PC language: "''In most cultures, family and family heritage are valued. Honest language, which does not promote unrelated adoptive situations for children over natural parents, is used. Adoption businesses encourage biased "positive adoption language" to build up their businesses. This biased language makes people who are unrelated to a child appear to be more entitled to a child than her own family is.''" I'm not sure "honest" or "biased" really apply to examples listed in the chart. And the business angle leaves out individuals or families who may use "positive adoption language" to avoid making a child feel unwanted. Someone who's more knowledgeable about adoption circles than I am may want to edit this. User:61.51.66.233 06:50, 7 May 2005 (UTC) :: You're right - I have reverted the anonymous edits. More viewpoints on adoption are welcome, but Wikipedia is not the place to grind your axe against adoption. That was some ugly stuff. User:Danlovejoy 13:46, 7 May 2005 (UTC) == Hmmm == I'm not sure that this knows what it want to do. If it is intended to be a statement and explanation of laws, then it is dangerously inaccurate. If it is intended as an examination of the social and cultural contexts within which adoptions take place, then it is highly selective and not a little judgmental. I would propose that the two aspects be separated. A brief statement of the laws of particular states and the international regulation of transnational adoptions would be one page. Then taking the role of the state as ''parens patriae'', an examination of how and why a state should become involved in adjusting parental relationships could be a second page. I would be prepared to rough out material for others to work on if the view of the editorial staff is that this page should be rebuilt from the ground up. Davod91 ::I am in favor of most of the changes you proposed. I am probably responsible for the preachiness, so if it can be made more NPOV and universal, I would wholeheartedly approve. ::Perhaps we need a very general Adoption page with links to adoption in various cultures. However, I don't think we're going to have much luck condensing international regulation of transnational adoption into one article or section. Each set of countries has different laws, so the web of relationships is astoundingly huge. Add to that individual agency regulations, state and local government laws, regulations of different agencies of various national governments etcetera, etcetera, ad nauseum.. User:Danlovejoy 05:22, 22 May 2005 (UTC) ==neutrality issue== The following sentence implies that there is soem sort of causal link between developing countries and scoial predudice against monoparental families. This may or may not be the case, but as it is unsubstatiated and irrelevant I have edited this sentenece accordingly: ''In some developing countries, where single parenthood may be considered scandalous and unacceptable, some women in this situation make an adoption plan for their infants" Edited to: ''In some countries, where single parenthood may be considered scandalous and unacceptable, some women in this situation make an adoption plan for their infants" ==Adoptism== Anonymous editor hijacked the "Adoptism" section to add a bunch of anti-adoption POV. I have reverted just that section to the last version before the POVandalism. User:Danlovejoy 05:22, 22 May 2005 (UTC) == primal wound == I added a section on the phenomenon of the so-called 'primal wound', because the whole page didn't mention even once any of the consequence of adoption regarding the well being of the adoptee. If you plan to edit this paragraph for whatever reason, please refer to www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ tg/detail/-/0963648004?v=glance and http://primal-page.com/verrier.htm for reference. User:Adidas June 2 2005

Adoption

Adoption is the legal act of permanently placing a child with a parent or parents other than the birth parents. Adoption usually results in the severing of the parental responsibilities and rights of the biological parents and the placing of those responsibilities and rights onto the adoptive parents. Human development Family

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Adoption
Adoption
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