For those who are a part of the adoption world one of the most hotly debated issues is whether birth records should be open or closed to adoptees. With this issue comes strong feelings on both sides. In most states adoption records are fully sealed and inaccessible, unless the adoptee petitions the court. In 16 states these records are fully or partially available upon request with no court involvement, and also may depend upon when you were born. In a few states records are completely prohibited and the adoptee will never have any access to them. Alaska and Kansas have always made original birth records available.
As an adoptee, I feel that all adoption records should be open. I believe that this can only strengthen the quality of the institution of adoption itself and positively affect all those involved in it. I am not one of those people who did not know I was adopted. I have always known. My parents are good and loving, and provided me with all that I needed as a child. However, just because they were very good parents did not decrease the inherent need I had to look at a face that is similar to my own.
Open adoption records would provide the tools for people to learn indispensable information that is provided to all other Americans beside themselves. Sealed records violate adoptee’s rights as human beings. Adoptees are discriminated against like no other group in this country. Records should be opened so that we have the same rights as those who are raised in their biological families.
Open records in no way threaten the institution of adoption. There will always be mothers and fathers who are willing to chose a different path by giving their child away, just as there will always be those parents who wish to provi...
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Fleming, Caroline B. "The open-records debate: balancing the interests of birth parents and adult adoptees." William & Mary Journal of Women and the Law Spring (2005): 461-480. Academic OneFile. Web. 17 Feb. 2012.
Freundlich, Madelyn. For the Records: Restoring a Legal Right for Adult Adoptees. Evan B. Don Aldson Adoption Institute. New York, NY. (November 2007). www. Adoptioninstitute.org. Web. 17 Feb. 2012.
Sorosky, A.D., Baran, A., & Pannor, R. The Adoption Triangle. New York: Doubleday. (1984). Print.
Whittaker Hughes, Susan. “The only Americans legally prohibited from knowing who their birth parents are: a rejection of privacy rights as a bar to adult adoptees' access to original birth and adoption records.” Cleveland State Law Review. 55.3 (Summer 2007): p429-461. Academic OneFile. Web. 17 Feb. 2012.
... to fairly enforce such a program. This objection was backed by multiple scenarios which demonstrated that most punishments are implausible. In response to this objection, I discussed Lafollette’s idea of removing children and putting them up for adoption. This plan involved orphanages or third party adoption indefinitely or until their biological parents became licensed. I also formulated an enforcement plan consisting of heavy fines and jail time for unauthorized children. Although this plan is harsh, it is fair and enforceable, thereby refuting the objection that there is no way to enforce parent certification. This paper discussed objections and responses to Lafollette’s argument which concluded in the reaffirmation that parent licensing is a possibility.
When a couple or individual decides to adopt a child, they know they are going to take on the responsibility of taking care of someone else’s child. Due to the biological parent(s) who can’t take care of that child anymore, because of either drug abuse, alcohol abuse, abuse to the child or if the parent(s) had died and there is no other care for the child. So that’s why this gives other couples who cannot have kids, the opportunity to promise themselves to be a great parent to a child in need. Though there are some bad things about adoption as well. Like adopting a child from another country of another race, because once that child is adopted into an American family, he or she will be cut off from their culture and never know about their history. Everyone should to know about their culture and history.
DeCataldo, K., & Carroll, K. (2007). Adoption Now: A joint initiative of New York's Courts and Child Welfare System. Child Welfare, 86(2), 31-48. Retrieved from professional Development Collection database.
In 2002, 51,000 children were adopted through the foster care system. The federal government tracks the number of adoptions from the United States foster care system, and all of its international adoptions. It’s estimated that around 120,000 children are adopted by U.S citizens each year. Half of these children are adopted by individuals not related to t...
Adoption is a process where by a person assumes the parenting for another and, in so doing, permanently transfers all rights and responsibilities from the biological parent or parents. Unlike guardianship or other systems designed for the care of the young, adoption is intended to effect a permanent change in status and as such requires societal recognition, either through legal or religious sanction. Adoption has changed considerably over the centuries with its focus shifting from adult adoption and inheritance issues toward children and family creation; its structure moving from recognition of continuity between the adopted and kin toward allowing relationships of lessened intensity. In modern times, adoption is a primary vehicle serving the needs of homeless, neglected, abused and runaway children (Wikipedia, “Adoption”).
First, social-work and mental-health experts have reached a consensus during the last decade that greater openness offers an array of benefits for adoptees—from ongoing information about family medical issues to fulfillment of their innate desire to know about their genetic histories—even if the expanded relationships prove difficult or uncomfortable for some of the participants (Verbrugge). An open adoption is when the natural mother and the adoptive family know the identity of each other and could obtain background or medical history from the biological parent. In an open adoption the parental rights of biological parents are terminated, as it is in a closed adoption, but an open adoptio...
In the United States there are approximately 397,000 children in out-of home care, within the last year there was about 640,000 children which spent at least some time in out-of-home care. More than 58,000 children living in foster care have had their biological parental rights permanently terminated (Children’s Rights, 2014). Due to the rising number of children in foster care and the growing concerns of the safety, permanency, and well-being of children and families, the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 was signed into law. On November 19, 1997, President Bill Clinton signed the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, to improve the safety of children, to promote adoption and other permanent homes for children who need them, and to support families (Child Welfare League of America). The Adoption and Safe Families Act also promotes adoption by offering incentive payments for States. During the FY of 1999-2003 the payment to states which had exceeded the average number of adoptions received $20 million (Child Welfare League of America). The ASFA improved the existing federal child welfare law to require that the child’s health and safety be a “paramount” concern in any efforts made by the state to preserve or reunify the child’s family, and to provide new assurances that children in foster care are safe (Shuman, 2004).
...cy “we” give “birth mother” and agencies being exposed because of what we might find in adoptees records is just a way to keep stuff away from the people who rightfully deserve the right to know. (The Baltimore Sun ).
The topic of child welfare is quite a broad one. There are numerous programs and policies that have been put in place to protect children. One of these policies is that of Adoption. Adoption was put into place to provide alternate care for children who cannot live with their biological families for various reasons. One of the more controversial issues surrounding adoption is that of Transracial adoption. Transracial Adoption is the joining of racially different parents and children (Silverman, 1993).
For a mother or father to learn that their adopted child, who they believed was an orphan, actually has a caring and loving family is heartbreaking. Adoptive parents feel guilty. The children yearn for their true home. The biological family feels deceived and desire for their child to return. This situation is far too familiar within intercountry adoption cases. Many children are pulled away from home, put into orphanages, and painted as helpless orphans. The actions perpetrated by adoption agencies reflects an underlying network of corruption and exploitation. This is not for the purpose of discouraging international adoption, but to shed light on the horrific practices taking place behind the scenes. Intercountry adoptions are often tangled
Although some people think adoptees should have the rights to know their birth parents, adopted kids should not have the rights to know their birth parents because birth parents are unsafe and unreliable, birth parents may want a sense of closure and privacy, and the birth families may not want someone exploding into their lives. “Biology is the least of what makes someone a mother.” (Oprah Winfrey) Is it only important who gave birth to a child? To be a mother you need to be Yolanda Jepsen. To be a mother, you need to be there for the child. You have to help the child grow and shape them into the person they will become. You have to teach the child right from wrong. You have to give the child love and support. Being a biological mother does not give you
Many people grow up in loving families and cannot imagine not having their parents and siblings around, but each year, 18,000 or more American born babies are put up for adoption (Newlin Carney). That means at least 18,000 children face the harsh truth of maybe not having a family to grow up in. Childhood is a very important part of one’s life and helps shape who one is. These children that are eligible to be adopted just need loving parents, good homes, and stability. And who is to say the high price of adopting is not ho...
For many Americans the ability to have children is halted by medical conditions from either the husband or wife, or some women just do not want to bear a child of their own. There are many options available to these people. Some are very costly and may produce no results or over produce results ending with 7 fetuses in one womb. One of the best options is adoption. There are thousands of children in need of a home in the country and around the world. With that adoption comes much joy and in some cases much frustration. In this essay we will take a brief look at open verses closed adoptions and the effects of each.
Tavernise, Sabrina. “Adoptions Rise by Same-Sex Couples, Despite Legal Barriers”. New York Times. 14 Jun. 2011: A.11. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 04 Dec. 2013.
Children all over the world should be able to live a great life. Adoption provides a happy and healthy home for foster children all over the world. Adoption can be temporary or until a child is eighteen years of age. There are many reasons why the biological mother of a child may consider putting their child up for adoption. Those reasons may be because they were young or because they were not financially stable to have another life to be responsible for. Although revealing the identity of a biological mother to an child may be heartbreaking, it is more important that a child knows who they really are. An adopted child should be told who their biological mother is because they will not be kids forever, they should know their families’ health history, and