Essay 3 – PSA Final Draft
English 151 – 02914
Russell Crooks
Children In Need
Adopting can provide the same parenting joy as having a biological child.
Throughout the world, “family” is highly valued amongst various cultures and is usually considered a necessity for a quality life. Family plays a major role in helping to shape one’s personality. A family consists of the people one will spend great amounts of time with, share opinions and ideas with, celebrate with, mourn with, and make memories with. Imagine what your life would be like without your family. Imagine being one of the “510,000 children in the U.S. foster care system” (“Adoption Facts” 1). Children all over America are waiting for the day when a caring family will come along to adopt them. My family happened to be one of those caring families. My parents, saddened by a young, pregnant woman’s situation, felt almost entitled to raise this beautiful, helpless baby girl. On October 1, 2000, my parents brought home Eva Pearl Cooper Lamberson. Born four days earlier, this six pound, two ounce child became my little sister. Now nine years old, Eva has grown to be a spirited, intelligent, and creative young girl. People regularly comment on how much she resembles my sisters and me, not knowing she is adopted. For being such an important topic, the possibility of adoption is often overlooked. My personal experience with adoption opened my eyes to the many children in America hoping to be adopted. Adoption is a satisfying solution to infertile couples, gay and lesbian partnerships who want a child, and parents who may be too old to conceive or simply do not want to have another biological child. By raising awareness about the reasons to adopt, the different ways and kinds of adoption, and the misperceptions about adoption, people may be more open to the possibility of parenting one or more of the hundreds of thousands of children in need of a family in America.
There are many reasons that some families decide to adopt. According to an article written by the Dave Thomas Foundation For Adoption, “There are 510,000 children in the U.S. foster care system; 129,000 of these children are available for adoption” (“Adoption Facts” 1). The article also mentioned, “More children become available for adoption each year than are adopted” (1). This is a very unfortunate statistic. It does, however, create a diverse collection of children for families to choose from. Infertility is often associated with adoption. Many couples that have consistently failed to successfully conceive their own biological child then consider adoption. Also, some couples have genetic disabilities or diseases and do not want to risk passing them to a biological child. Many gay and lesbian couples choose to adopt because they are unable to conceive and do not want to use a surrogate mother or sperm donor. According to the Child Welfare Information Gateway, many States laws’ remain “largely silent on the issue of adoption by gay and lesbian persons” (3). Florida and Mississippi are the only two states that “explicitly prohibit adoption by homosexuals in their statutes” (Child Welfare Information Gateway 3). Another reason families choose to adopt is because they are either too old to have a child or they do not want to go through the stressful process of pregnancy again. This was the case for my parents when they adopted my little sister. My Mother, Linda Cooper, described how she was afraid to adopt at first:
Before adopting, I had this natural feeling that I could never feel the same way
about an adopted child as I do my biological children. When Eva was born and
we brought her home, those thoughts and fears evaporated almost immediately.
She instantly became part of the family, just as my biological children did. The
only difference was that I was unable to breastfeed. (Cooper)
Being a doctor, my Mother suggested, “Families who have a lot to offer a child but can’t have another biological child, adopting is a good thing to consider” (Cooper.) Many families may also have their own specific reasons for adopting besides the reasons I listed.
Adoption rates have decreased over the past several years.
Once a family has decided they want to adopt, they must consider the numerous routes they could take in pursuing a child. These available routes include: agency adoptions (through public agencies or through licensed private agencies); or independent adoptions. My little sister, Eva, was adopted at birth through a private adoption agency. My Mother described the process as being “pretty simple and straight forward. The majority of time was spent conducting the home study and being interviewed by social workers” (Cooper). She also explained that adopting through a private agency “made it easier and faster than adopting through public state agencies or the foster care system” (Cooper). Independent adoptions, as stated by Adopting.org, are “identified or designated adoptions where prospective adopting and prospective placing parents have located each other themselves” (1). The majority of people who choose to adopt independently use “attorneys or other intermediaries defined by State law” to help them through the process (Adopting.org 1). Agency adoptions and independent adoptions offer various options for the possible adoptee to consider. These available routes of adoption are based on circumstance when deciding which way is best. Each individual family may believe one type of adoption to be easier and more efficient than the other.
Many families are reluctant to consider adoption because of the many misperceptions that come with the adoption process. One misperception, described by the Dave Thomas Foundation For Adoption, is that although “foster care adoption is seen as less expansive than private infant or international adoption, it is still considered to be expensive” (“Myths & Misperceptions” 1). The reality is that most foster care adoptions are at little or no charge. Another misperception of those considering adoption is the “fear the biological parent will take the child back” (“Myths & Misperceptions” 1). This couldn’t be further from the truth. Once a biological parent’s rights are terminated, there is no way of that parent regaining custody of the child. Many people have a preconception that children in foster care are delinquents. In fact, “45 percent of Americans erroneously believe children enter foster care because of juvenile delinquency” (“Myths & Misperceptions” 1). The fact of the matter is most foster children are “victims of neglect, abandonment, or abuse” (“Myths & Misperceptions” 1). These misperceptions, although untrue, have probably deterred some people from adopting.
Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy's, was an adopted child.
Having a stable, supportive family is a basic right that all children should possess. Adoption is a worthwhile process that presents many different couples with a variety of children to choose from in an attempt to add to, or complete their family. More importantly, the countless children in foster care will be given the opportunity to improve their quality of life. My family’s experience with adoption was above and beyond our expectations. We have an extraordinary young girl who brings joy to our lives every day. I encourage every family that wants a child to consider adoption. Hopefully, as awareness rises about the satisfying possibility of adoption, more people will opt to provide a child with the family it deserves.
9 months of morning sickness just isn't for everyone
