Adoption Discussion |
Birth family
Comments
Adoptions occur for many reasons. Birth parents may place their child for adoption because they are unable to adequately care for the child. In the US and UK, the most common reason children are placed for adoption is because of removal from the home due to maltreatment by their birth parents. Children fall into three groups according to the reason for their adoption: relinquished infants (14%), those whose parents had requested adoption in complex circumstances (24%), and those children required by social services and the courts to be adopted (62%). Other reasons are that birth parents are not in the position to raise a child, doing so would interfere with their future plans and goals, gender preference, or societal stigma towards single parenthood. In other countries, such as China, social policies lead to the abandonment of large numbers of children who are then placed in orphanages, some of whom are then adopted. Some birth parents involuntarily lose their parental rights. This may occur when children are abused, neglected or abandoned. Eventually, if the parents cannot resolve the problems that caused or contributed to the harm caused to their children (such as alcohol or drug abuse), a court may terminate their parental rights and the children may then be adopted. In some cases, parents' rights have been terminated when their ethnic or cultural group has been deemed unfit by the controlling government. Historically, the Stolen Generation of Aboriginal people in Australia were affected by such policies, as were Native Americans in the United States and First Nations of Canada. Moreover, unwed mothers in many countries still are (and in many more countries used to be) pressured or forced by families, religious bodies or governments to relinquish their children for adoption; illegitimacy was or is a major social stigma. These practices of the past have become emotionally-charged social and political issues in recent years, and many cases the policies have changed. The United States, for example, now has strict laws restricting the right of non-tribe members to adopt those of Native American heritage, with preference being given to members of the potential adoptee's tribe.
Last changed: 09/24/07