International Adoption

INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION

                                                                                                        

                                                                                                

 

 

 

 

 

 

International adoption

Nurman Assima (ID:20110635)

Academic Reading and Writing 1

Anna Bondarenko

November 11, 2011

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Outline

Essay question: Whether or not international adoption should be banned?

I     Introduction

Thesis statement: Although there is plenty persuasive evidence supporting the benefits for children to be placed in adoptive homes rather than to be left in orphanages, many negative effects can arise as a result of international adoptions, such as loss of culture or family identity, child trafficking, deceit and kidnapping.

II     Body

     A. International adoption is detrimental to the adopted children.

      1. National distinctions of children from their adoptive parents lead to the loss of their cultural, physical and psychological identity.

      2. Negative social attitude and the stigma attached to adoption is psychologically damaging to adopted children.

      B. International adoption has transformed from a noble cause into underground profitable business.

      1. During the adoption process agencies and advocates are driven by financial incentives.

    2. International adoption is accompanied with abuses, crimes and other immoral actions on the part of adoptive parents.

      C. International adoption gives orphans all over the world a possibility to obtain a family.

      1. Adoption gives a possibility to an orphan to obtain a better life.

      2. Adoptive parents provide diseased orphans with high-quality expensive treatment.

III     Conclusion

The problems accompanying the process of international adoption bring more harm to orphaned children than benefit. It seems the best way to avoid these problems just to impose a ban on international adoption.

     

          Today one of the most acute problem in modern conditions is social orphan hood . Every day the number of children left without total parental care is growing. Circumstances such as war, natural disaster, and AIDS render many children orphaned and alone, left to face deplorable living conditions and the chaos of poverty, death, and destruction( Herrmann, 2010). One of the most efficient ways to solve this problem is promotion of adoption. Nowadays adoption is welcomed and encouraged in every way, because it serves the interests of the child better than any form of state-sponsored care and give them a chance for being raised and nurtured within a family. Furthermore, adoption is the best option not only for orphans but also for millions financially stable couples, who are willing and able to provide a home and support for them. There are two different types of child adoption: domestic and international. Recently international adoption has become noticeably more popular. Firstly, adoptive parents attracted to international adoption because of ethnic diversity, availability of foreign children, eligibility as adoptive parents, permanence and irreversibility of the adoption. Secondly, find a baby overseas seems for them much easier and faster in comparison with adopt domestically. Thus, international adoption is a quite convenient option for adoptive couples. But does this fact mean that it is the best option for adoptable children? Today this question has caused much controversy. Although there is plenty persuasive evidence supporting the benefits for children to be placed in adoptive homes rather than to be left in orphanages, many negative effects can arise as a result of international adoptions, such as loss of culture or family identity, child trafficking, deceit and kidnapping.

           One of the negative sides in international adoption is racial, national and ethnic distinctions between children and their adoptive parents. Due to the fact that adopted children have to grow under values of a different country than the one they were born into, they lose their cultural, physical, and psychological identity.   One biracial social worker in New York named David Watts, who was raised by an adoptive white family, once said:  "It's a bad idea to put a black child in a white home. I think it's impossible for someone of one culture to teach another culture. You have to live it in order to absorb it."( Pressley, 1997) .Differences in race or nationalities between a child and  adoptive parents causes a sense of dislocation as the child grows older, because he or she do not feel fully a part neither of their adopted culture nor their native culture. Moreover, living in international family where this difference is visible and noticeable can be much challenging for children. "Adopted children will have to face the stigma attached to adoption in our society, because they will not be able to hide that they were adopted"(Morrison, n.d., p.178). Often people in our society maintain negative attitude to adopted children because adoption means the loss of biological parents of their parental rights either voluntarily or involuntarily (Morrison, n.d.). Because of status of "adoptive" which society attaches to them children can begin to consider themselves as others or "not like everyone", and this, in turn, can lead to psychological damage, permanent anxiety and strong feelings of self-doubt. Thereby, in order for adoptive children to meet their psychological developmental needs, they should be placed with same-nation parents.

           In addition, at the present time adoption of children has transformed from a noble cause into surreptitious profitable business making adopters, adoption agencies and orphans all over the world into its essential components. The increasing demand for adoptable children from developing countries creates an opportunity for profit marked by the proliferation of adoption intermediaries, and allows these agencies to charge exorbitant fees for their services (Herrmann, 2010). Prospective parents are willing to pay more than $ 30,000 as procedural fees to agencies and advocates just for the possibility to adopt a child (Baldauf, Burton,Fieser, Klarreich, & Weir, 2010). As a result, these fees provide an incentive for some adoption agencies and advocates to resort to illegally measures, including deceit and coercion to procure healthy young children to offer for adoption. In some cases the children are stolen from their parents even though the parents have no intention of giving them up, in other cases the children who were left at orphanages temporarily are fraudulently sold using fake papers. So, high fees that prospective couple are paying for international adoptions inevitably lead to commodification of children, making them a financial investment. In addition to this, the procedure of international adoption is accompanied with abuses, crimes and other immoral actions on the part of adoptive parents themselves.  There are often cases when parents illegally adopt children promising to place a family but instead forced them into the sex trade, exploited as free slaves, and even use for organ transplants.         

     Despite all the previous facts opposing international adoption, it still remains a great option for children who might be placed in international adoptive home. International adoption gives orphaned children all over the world a great opportunity to be brought up in safe and loving atmosphere which is the essential “condition for a child’s well being” (Kelley, 2010.). Due to the high cost of international adoptions the chils is almost always adopted by couples from wealthy countries who are able to offer them better life. For instance, a great number of international adoptions which began just after devastating Asian tsunami in 2004 and recent earthquake in Haiti saved children from deplorable living conditions such as hunger, poverty and even death (Kelley, 2010). Along with more money for the necessities, the child is welcomed into higher standards of education and more opportunities for future education are available for them. Also there are often cases when parents adopt children with disabilities, different disorders and health problems paying for their expensive operations and required courses of treatment.   

      Adoption is a great way to provide orphaned children with a stable family environment and atmosphere of love, security and understanding.  But when the focus shifts from the children’s welfare to the risks of danger to their health and life, adoptions can do more harm than good.  Currently, international adoption has become a separate industry with enormous amount of money involved and people who are driven by only the financial aspect of the process. International adoption turns children into commodities and creates a "black market" of them where buyers and sellers are adoptive parents and agencies. In addition living with parents of different ethical background can become an ordeal for child's mental health. So, it becomes quite clear that the problems that accompany the process of international adoption bring more harm to orphaned children than benefit. Finally, taking all the points above into consideration, it seems that the best way to solve these problems is just to impose a ban on international adoption.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

 

  Baldauf, S., Burton, S.E., Klarreich, K., & Weir, F. (2010). International adoption: A big fix brings dramatic decline. The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved from http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=e2789d25-aa3b-44d3-9985-1221ee6d1fdb%40sessionmgr111&vid=1&hid=119&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=a3h&AN=48573858

 

Herrmann, K.(2010). Reestablishing the humanitarian approach to adoption: The legal and social change necessary to end the commodification of children. Family Law Quarterly, 44 (3), 409-428.

 

           Kelley, M. (2010). Should international adoption be part of humanitarian aid efforts? Lessons    from Haiti.

 

Morrison, A. Transracial Adoption: The Pros and Cons and the Parents’ Perspective.

 

Pressley, S.A. (1997). Facing the Color Barrier.