“In the U.S. 397,122 children are living without permanent families in the foster care system. 101,666 of these children are eligible for adoption, but nearly 32% of these children will wait over three years in foster care before being adopted” (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2012, p. 20). Adoption is complex as different people have different views. Two types of views on adoption are it can be beneficial, and it can be harmful. These two sides have a common ground of focusing on the best interest of the children; of these two sides, the side supporting the benefits of adoption has the stronger argument.
(Ext) One side of the argument is covered by J.C. Wilke (2003), a physician and author of the article “Life Issues Connector,”
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She argued that adoptees develop a syndrome know as Adopted Child Syndrome which changes the children’s behavior (p. 27). (Ser) Carangelo (2005) argued the syndrome causes lying, stealing, learning disabilities, difficulties maintaining relationships, and antisocial behaviors (p. 26). Adopted child syndrome results from the lack of bonding between a child and his or her biological mother (p. 26). An adoptee named Jean Paton conduct research in 1953 on the families involved in sealed adoption (cited in Carangelo, 2005, p. 27). Paton described the adoptees as being passive, hostile and dependent behaviors (cited in Carangelo, 2005, p. 27). According to Carangelo (2005), Paton was the one that defined and had created the term Adopted Child Syndrome (p. 28). Then the author Carangelo (2005) mentions research done by Dr. David Kirschner. Kirschner stated the term Adopted Child Syndrome is an underlying of Dissociative Disorder (cited in Carangelo, 2005, p. 28). The most common ACS behaviors are truancy, preoccupation with excess fantasy, pathological lying, stealing, and running away, according to Carangelo (2005, p. 28). Carangelo (2005) stated that adoptees also have difficulties with learning, under achieving, over achieving, lack of impulse control, and fascination with fire (p. …show more content…
Both of the articles have different views on adoption, but their main goal is determining the best option for the children. The first fact cited by Wilke (2003) is that 95% of parents said they had a strong attachment to their adopted child (p. 22). Wilke (2003) then quoted the Search Institute Study “Adopted adolescents self-esteem was as high as or higher than their peers” (p. 22). In contrast, Carangelo (2005) believed that the children are better off with their birth mother. Carangelo (2005) cited the violence against the adoptees parents where two adopted children set the house on fire and killed their parents (p. 31). Although Wilke and Carangelo both have different opinions, they both focus on what is best for the children. The second common ground of both these articles is the psychological health of the children. The first fact cited by Wilke (2003) is that 75% of adopted adolescents are psychologically healthy (p. 22). Wilke (2003) compares that rate against children raised by a single mother. Wilke (2003) stated that adopted children are healthier than children of single mothers (p. 23). In contrast, Carangelo (2005) stated that 23% of all adopted children would have Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) (p. 29). Also Carangelo (2005) noted, the children become pathological liars and have a fascination with fire leading them to
There are now different types of adoptions such as going through an agency adoption, independent adoptions, step parent adoptions, international adoption, and lastly an open agency adoption. Many individuals face these particular adoptions today. Adoptions however affect adoptive parents, biological parent, and over all family. An adoption can affect an adopter by yearning to build that family but on the other hand still being terrified that something can possibly go wrong. Also an adoption affects a biological parent the most because there whole life is affected by this choice but sometimes a mother or father will do it for the better of the child. A biological parent will ponder to a whole bunch of unanswered questions about the child’s life with the adoptive family such as being care and nurtured by the new family? Or maybe even wonder if the new family will tell their child they’re adopted. Adoptions affect a biological parent by grief because they know its not a conversation to touch upon with anyone, they can encounter unresolved grief where it can affect the mothers feelings of happiness and worthelessness because they put there child up for adoption. This can escalate a biological parent to become angry at their parents or even the
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.
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...
Foster Care System and Adoptions can be very beneficial to children, but it can also be a huge risk. It is very beneficial needed in the community; otherwise where would some children be? Although it’s also huge risk because it’s taking someone’s child away and one may never know how the biological parent may react. However, the beneficial portion outweighs the risk portion.
Sorosky, A.D., Baran, A., & Pannor, R. The Adoption Triangle. New York: Doubleday. (1984). Print.
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...
Teens that select adoption for their child enable them to obtain a suitable, stable family lifestyle. Teenagers are not able to parcel out entire care for their child. They lack education required to come into possession of a job that can provide enough income to have all the necessities it takes to raise a child and support a family. Young adults also have an absence family stability and marriage. “Only 20 percent of fathers marry the teen mother of their child and 80 percent of these fathers pay less than 800 dollars per year for child support” (Abma). Children need a better foundation in their family. This instability tends to cause the child to perform poorly in school and may have to repeat a grade. However, children placed in adoptive care foresee a much brighter future. “Children who are adopted as infants often have higher levels of health, self-esteem, and family support” (National Campaign). Health, self-esteem, and education are all vital for a young child. Teen parenting deprives these kids of the abili...
Adoption disruption is when a child is in the process of being adopted and that process is stopped or the adoption process ends after the child is placed. These children are returned to group homes and/or foster care. The statistics reflect that this occurs more with older children than younger children. Adoption disruption occurs for a variety of reasons such as: children who are older in age, children with emotional and behavioral issues, attachment issues, children who had sexual abuse, lack of social support for the adoptive family, unrealistic expectations of both the child and the adoptive parents, lack of history information of child, not enough training for the adoptive parents, race, siblings being adopted together, disabilities of children, children who have experienced neglect and the length of time the child was not in home care such as group-homes prior to adoption consideration. Disruptions are life altering and extremely psychologically harmful to children.
For my research paper I chose to write about how adoption can effect a child’s development: physical development, cognitive development and social/emotional development. For the sake of this paper I think it will be helpful to define adoption; adoption is defined as to take and rear (the child of other parents) as one 's own child, specifically by a formal legal act (Dictionary, 2016).Before I begin according to an Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System article in 2015 53,549 children were adopted using a welfare involvement. I am adopted and while I think I had some disadvantages I believe there were definitely advantages to me being adopted. I will also give specific examples on how my adoption can affect a child’s physical, cognitive and social/emotional development.
According to the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting system, in 2011 there were 104, 236 children waiting to be adopted in the United States (p. 4). Adoption is the legal process an individual or family goes through to gain legal custody of a child in foster care. This child’s parents have lost custody of their child because they have been deemed unfit to raise the child, either because of neglect or abuse. After the child is removed from the horrible situation, he or she is taken by child services and placed in a foster home or with a family member. This system is in place to protect children from further abuse, neglect and trauma. Today, children in foster care are in the system for a very short period of time; there is a push to getting them out of a foster home and transition into a safe, loving and permanent environment. The foster care system is run the way it is because of the implementation of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997.
Children who experience privation are likely to suffer from lower intelligence, emotional disturbance and as Bowlby suggested affectionless psychopathy. Rutter believes that privation is when a child has never had the opportunity to form an attachment with their caregiver and because of this the child is more likely to suffer from a permanent emotional effect in comparison to deprivation. Rutter decided to conduct a case study of Romanian orphanage’s and wanted to assess the effects of privation and whether the effects could be reversed through loving care by adoptive parents (Lawton, 2015).His study supported the idea of a children suffering from negative effects due to privation as it showed that children who were adopted before the age of six months were able to make developmental improvements after having spent their previous lives in institutions with poor conditions. These children had higher average IQ’s and were more likely to form relationships, they showed signs of attachment bonding with their primary caregivers. However, children who were adopted after the age of 6 months experience difficulties in forming peer relationships and had low levels of communication. Therefore suggesting that the effects of privation can be overcome if the attachment bond is made
According to American academy and adolescent psychiatry, about 120,000 children are adopted in the United States alone. That is a lot of children that need to find a new home to stay in. Not only do adoptions affect the child after they are adopted, no matter the age; but adoption also affects the parents giving their child up for adoption. There are many types of adoptions. Along with that, there are many reasons for giving the child up for adoption. There are three main perspectives that I will be talking about. One function would be the structural functionalism. How society cooperates. The second would be the conflict perspective. The third would be symbolic interactionism approach. There are many different aspects of adoption, making it
Adoption is basically the process whereby a person or a family decide to take the responsibility of a child and take care of him as parents although their not his biological ones, from childhood all the way to adulthood. Adoption nowadays is quiet different, because it basically fixes all of the homeless, neglected, abused and runaway children problems and also parents who have problems giving birth. At the beginning of the adoption procedure, it may seem difficult to love the child but after a while they end up loving the adoptee just like if he was their child and this was proven by almost all the families who took adoption as a solu...
...g adopted, almost every theory of children development predicts problems for adoptees. In 1960, the archives of general psychology published a report by M. D. Schecter which started found that 13.3 percent of the children he had treated for psychiatric disorders over a five-year period, were adopted. Dr. Schecter’s data was therefore used to suggest that something about the adoptive situation left an adopted child with a 100-times greater chance of running into psychological problems in his life than did a non-adopted child (Lasnik 102). Statistics show that children over the age of 5 who are adopted run even a higher risk of mental and emotional problems (Luther Online).