Increase in Adoption in the United States

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When a person decides to adopt, he takes the responsibility of raising a child who is not biologically his own. There are various reasons why people decide to adopt. Some say adoption is the best thing for certain children and many successful stories prove it to be true. However, there are also numerous tragic reports of adopted children being abused. 'Basically, what adoption meant, and still means, is that someone (the adoptive couple) is promising to assume all responsibilities for taking care of someone else' (Powledge 4). How the adoptive parents go about raising the child is completely up to them. Although there are many different types of families in today's society, one special kind of family that has become more and more common are the families created through adoption.

There are various and somewhat difficult processes and laws concerning adoption. New laws are being created year after year to make this process easier and the outcome positive. Adoption is not exactly new; the idea of adopting has been around for a long time. ?The oldest written set of laws is the Babylonian Code of Hammarabi, which contains a long, sophisticated section on adoption? (Benet 23). It is hard to pin point when and how adoption first originated but Governor Sir William Philips of Massachusetts was considered the first adoptive father in the original thirteen colonies, he adopted in 1693 (Academic XXI). Americans adopt more than 100,000 kids a year (Harnack 13). This may seem like a large number of adoptive families but there are still over 400,000 kids left in foster care or in shelters. With this in mind it seems like Americans should be desperate to place the homeless kids in a family. But through trial and error it has become known that only certain families should be allowed to adopt and in some cases kids are better off left in foster care. ?In 1917 Minnesota was the first state to require an agency or state welfare department to make written recommendations to court after investigation? (Harnack 12). This will ensure families giving their child up for adoption that they aren?t giving their kid to just anyone willing to adopt. People who seem to be fit to adopt also have to be able to afford adoption. ?The average cost to adopt through an agency is between $5,000 to $6,000? (Baldwin 23). Many parents take risks and allow their kids to be open for adoption to any...

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... Either way the adoptive parents are totally responsible for the outcome of all situations concerning the child they decide to adopt. ?Families may have different structures but they are all responsible for providing basic needs? (Foster 99).

Adoptive parents and biological parents are both fully capable of providing all the basic needs. Some people see adoption as a cruel decision an irresponsible parent makes. Others realize the majority of adopted kids are better off not having their biological parents as their guardian. ?It is slowly being recognized that the theory of fostering goes against reality of living with young children? (Benet 190). With this fact in mind, it is obvious that the adoption rate will continue to increase. Although there are many cases showing a negative outcome to adoption, they seem to always have a higher rate of positive outcomes. The American Academy of Adoption Attorneys, formed in 1990, has a goal to improve adoption laws and agencies (Academic 45). With organizations like this being involved, Americans will have the reassurance that the increase in the number of adoptions will also mean an increase in children being placed in better families.

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