What is Adoption
Adoption is the process whereby a mother or couple, because of personal reasons, believes they cannot adequately care for and raise their child - and thus relinquishes and raise their child and places him/her for adoption. The adopting parents legally adopt the child as their own, assuming total responsibility for the personal, financial, educational, emotional, spiritual and physical welfare of that child until his/her legal age of maturity.
Do Adoption Agencies Pressure Women to Place their Babies for Adoption?
Absolutely not! They offer counseling, prenatal classes, including labor and delivery preparations, classes in postnatal care and child care (for those who choose to parent) as well as information and guidance on low-cost medical care and financial assistance.
Can a Woman Have a Say in Who Adopts Her Baby?
Yes. Agencies respect the values, religion, race, and goals of the birth parent(s) and will do all in their power to offer an adoption plan that insures the type of home life and background desired by the birth parent(s).
What About Non-Agency Adoption?
Many states permit private adoption arrangements. However, these adoptions sometimes do not offer the safeguards that exist with licensed agencies, i.e. thorough background information, family history, or an assurance of privacy or confidentiality.
Is There an Emotional Adjustment After a Woman Places Her Baby?
Most likely there will be. For each person the adjustment will be different. This is not an easy - five minute decision, but one that takes a great amount of courage and love. A mother making an adoption plan for her baby should feel support in knowing that she has given her child the greatest gift of all - the Gift of Life! And she often has given an infertile couple the answer to their prayers!
Where Can a Woman Go for a Confidential Pregnancy Test and Counseling?
There are numerous pro-life, nonprofit organizations which offer free pregnancy testing and confidential counseling. Pro-life Philippines is there because they care about both mother and child.
What Happens in an Agency Adoption?
Those wishing to adopt must be willing to complete extensive adoption application forms, including up-to-date medical, financial, and personal statements (including references). They are required to attend a series of meetings and a caseworker is assigned. After a background check and a 'homestudy' is completed, their names are placed on a waiting list of prospective adoptive parents.
Why Are There Couples Waiting To Adopt?
Because millions of babies are aborted. The majority of unmarried women who continue their pregnancies, choose to parent. (National Council for Adoption Factbook.) At present, 40 couples wait for every baby available for adoption, including children of all races and those with special needs.
Are There Waiting Children?
Yes. There are thousands who live in permanent or temporary foster care across America. They range in age from infants to teenagers. Many will never be free for adoption, however because:
- Their birthparents refuse to relinquish parental rights.
- Some get caught in complicated interstate red tape adoption laws.
- Most are children with "special needs", often considered difficult to place because they are older, mixed race, members of sibling groups or disabled.
- Many get lost in the bureaucratic problems of casework overload and agency understaffing.
- Stringent policies regarding children of color may deny them an adoptive family because the only prospective parents available, are not "racially matched" to the child.
Are There Waiting Children From Other Countries?
Yes. However, some countries do not permit out-of-country adoption and others have very strict laws requiring adoptive parents to travel to that country. Most of these countries do not enjoy the luxury of a national foster care program, so thousands of youngsters may live out their childhood in overcrowded orphanages. For many, the disgrace of being illegitimate virtually guarantees them a life of poverty, ill-health and no or minimal education, if they are not adopted.
What Type of Children With "Special Needs" Have Been Adopted?
Children from the U.S. and many foreign countries, previously thought "unadoptable" have found secure futures with eager adoptive families. Some of these children with "special needs" were older, mixed-race, emotionally insecure, mentally disabled, or possessing physical challenges such as being HIV positive, deafness, blindness, retardation, cleft palates, heart defects, paralysis, polio, epilepsy, etc. More and more families have begun to experience the joy of adopting a child with a special need.
There's no such thing as an Unwanted Child
Couples eager to adopt wait as long as five, seven and even ten years, depending upon the area they live in.
There are also waiting list of couples wanting to adopt children with "special needs", proving there is no such thing as an "unwanted child" but one that is merely misplaced.
