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Adoption: The Legal Process Of Adoption
Research paper on why open adoption is better
Research paper on why open adoption is better
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Recommended: Adoption: The Legal Process Of Adoption
Adoptive v. Birth Parents' Legal Rights
This issue hits home with me, I am adopted. I believe that a child's parents are the people who raise them and take care of them. I do not believe that birth parents have any rights to their children after the child has been adopted and living with their adoptive parents. The biological parents made a decision when they put the child up for adoption, for whatever the reason may have been. Just because they feel that their lives are more "stable" and "together" does not give them the right to rip a child from the only parents that child knows. By doing this the biological parents destroy not only the life of the child but also the lives of the adoptive parents who have worked so hard to have a child to call their own. I feel that biological parents should not have this right because it is based purely on selfish reasons and it destroys all the lives involved. In the next few paragraphs, I intend to discuss some famous rulings of recent adoption cases, and the horrible outcomes that followed.
In these days adoption has become extremely hard for couples looking to adopt children for fear that the adoptions can come undone. Two of the most recent, highly publicized and heart-wrenching cases in this country that have spurred this fear in perspective adoptive parents are the cases of "Baby Jessica" of Michigan, and "Baby Richard" of Illinois. In both of these cases, a child was adopted and then ordered by the courts to be given back to the biological parents.
The widely publicized "Baby Jessica case gripped the emotions of the nation as the natural parents (Dan and Cara Schmidt) of Iowa sought to regain custody of their daughter from the adoptive parents (Jan and Robert DeBoer) of Mic...
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1) Baron, Roger M. "Child Custody Suits: Litigating Heartbreak." USA
Today MagazineJan. 95: p72.
2) Blum, Andrew. "Digging deep." Adoptive Families Nov./Dec. 96:p21.
3) Gray, Alec. "Birthfathers and Legal Risks." Adoptive Families Mar./Apr.
96: p18.
4) Grogan, David, and Fannie Weinstein. "Life after Jessica." People 5 Sept.
94: p46.
5) Ingrassia, Michele, and John McCormick. "Ordered to Surrender."
Newsweek 6 Feb. 95: p44.
6) "Legislative Update." Adoptive Families Mar./Apr. 96:p7.
7) Miller-Havens, Susan. "Nature Over Nurture." World & I Dec 93:p102.
8) Shapiro, Joseph P. "Bonds that Blood and Birth Cannot Assure." U.S.
News & World Report 9 Aug. 93:p12.
9) Wilson, Pat A. "Sunflower Birthmoms seek to change Adoption laws."
The News-Journal 25 Mar. 98 www.aol.com 11 Nov. 99
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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.
Many potential adopted parents have experienced heartbreak, anguish and other problems that can be associated with adoption. There is an imbalance in the Nations foster care system and the system needs to be strengthening and the quality of services improved.
When I heard the clicks of heels in the hallway, I sat up attentively on the waiting couch. A pleasant looking woman came to greet me. She was in her mid fifties and introduced herself as Celeste Drury. She worked with the children home society, an adoption agency that is located in Oakland. I found Celeste through a family friend. The family friend knew my interest in learning about adoption and the criteria used for adoption processes. I was excited to meet Celeste and to learn about what she did. Settling in my chair, Celeste slightly cheered me. Celeste orphanage was licensed under the adoption agencies act. It has been in existence for many years. Children home society is in charge of providing adoption services in the entire state of California. I asked Celeste of its role and she said that it “helps parents to make informed decisions about their children, and also give tips on the adoptive parents” (Drury).
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”).
Adoption is in place to balance, to nurture and create a structural environment of safety in which the child can thrive and develop into a productive individual contributing to society. Also, it allows older children to abandon old maladaptive behaviors and make their first steps toward the construction of new behaviors influenced by their new environment. In years past, parents who adopted a child as an infant often debated whether to tell him or her about the adoption. Many children grew up not knowing they were adopted, and the birth mother’s identity was kept secret from those who did know (Ashford, LeCroy and Lortie 249). This paper provides facts on widely acceptance option of open adoption rather than the traditional practice of closed adoption. Adoption separates real biological family members, removing the adopter heritage whether the adoption is open or closed. Open adoption can lead to problems, but there are proven facts that open adoption is the best option for all parties working together in the best interest of the children.
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).
McRoy, R., Grotevant, H., Furuta, A., & Lopez, S. (1990). Adoption Revelation and Communication Issues: Implications for Practice. Families in Society, 71, 550-557.
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
As issues that affect children enthuse intense interest and emotion it is unsurprising that transracial adoption; the joining together of racially or ethnically different parents and children in an adoptive family, is a subject that is fraught with controversy. Transracial adoption not only raises the question of the how much power should the state have to affect individual choices with respect to family life it also questions the level of state assistance given to families in trouble before removing parents from their parents. It also highlights issue of race within the context of the family with advocates seeing trans-racial adoption as a harbinger of hope, believing that if different races can love each other as a family then there is hope for the relationship between different races in society (Moe, 2007; Perry, 1996). Whereas, radical opponents claim that white society is racist and that transracial adoption is a hostile manifestation of white power and believe that ethnic minority communities should have the right to decide the fate of ethnic minority children (Hayes, 1995).
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...
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.
International adoption stunts the growth of domestic adoption in the United States. While many kids are available for adoption in the U.S, more kids are being adopted internationally. The reason for this may be because “many people choose to adopt internationally because there is a less chance that the biological parents will try to find their children later in life; whereas if adopted in America, there is a greater chance that the biological parents will search for the child” (Databasewise.n.d.pp 1-2). Not only do the adoptive parents want to be sure that the biological parents do not find their biological child, but they also want to avoid confrontations that can eventually have volatile results. Since there is a great need for domestic adoption in the United States, many American citizens believe that people should be banned from adopting children overseas (carp.1998.pp 135). For example, recent studies have shown that the USA is faced with a very serious problem. According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, between “1999-2006,an average of 129,884 children are in public foster care every year waiting to be adopted” (adoption alternativ...
The best things in life come free to us. Our parents are one of the most important and fundamental in our life. However, people generally wonder, do adopted children feel the same way we do? Adoption is not easy, it's full of risks, simply because no one is aware of the future, the person adopting a child will never know how the child will react once he's aware he's adopted. Will they grow to love them, hate them, admire them or fear them? All of these unanswerable questions makes any person think twice before having the courage to adopt. Adoption never fails to put down any parents' feelings, whether they were homeless, abandoned, poor or runaway children and also families who don't have the option of being biological parents, the pleasure it gives to all of those people exceeds all of it's expected problems. However; adoption has some positive sides. It's one of life's fair treaties. It gives hope and integrity to the families who weren't fortunate to conceive; moreover, it changes the life of the child forever mostly positively. That's why many people support adoption worldwide.