The world is currently home to about seven billion people. A significant portion of this number comprises orphans, children from street families and those from disadvantaged backgrounds. At the same time, millions of unplanned pregnancies occur across the world every year. Most of the children who are born from such pregnancies together with all categories of vulnerable children are potential beneficiaries of adoption. Meanwhile, there are thousands of people seeking to take in a child as their own all over the world. In America, research indicates that six out of every ten people have had a personal experience with adoption (Gebhardt 423).
Thus, adoption is important because it gives children from disadvantaged backgrounds a chance to live normal lives while simultaneously helping infertile couples to become parents. Unfortunately, the legislations governing abortion are quite specific about who can adopt and who cannot. They, in effect, deter many people from adopting children, yet some of them could make good adoptive parents.
Whereas some of these restrictions seek to ensure that adopted children move to better conditions, they do not serve the intended purpose all the time (Moye and Rinker 375). Adoption should not be based upon, whether the adopting family is black, white, green, purple, or whichever race there is. Rather, it should be based on an objective evaluation of each individual’s or family’s ability to give the adopted child a good life.
The race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or even religion should not have any effect on the family a child is placed with because it is not plausible to rigidly assume that these characteristics define people. For example, while it is true that the average annual income of white families is higher than that of black families, it is not sensible to use this disparity as basis to conclude that black families do not have the financial capacity to adopt.
Adoption gives a second chance to families that are going through difficulties and for some reason, cannot bear a child. Additionally, some families cannot afford the procedures necessary to conceive artificially and adoption becomes the easiest and most cost effective way to give them a child. Adoption gives such families the opportunity to become parents who can learn, grow with the child, and build special bonds (Farr and Patterson 189). The individual or family a child is placed with notwithstanding, they can still become a prodigy depending on how they are raised and the type of bonds shared with them.
In addition, the morals and values the adoptive parent instills in the child are the real determinants of the person the child will become in the future. Many of America’s icons such as Jesse Jackson, Steve Jobs, John Lennon, Jamie Foxx, Marylyn Munroe, and Bill Clinton among numerous others grew up as adopted children. No one knows if they would have become the people America is so proud of today were it not for the opportunities that were availed to them by their adoptive parents. This assertion is not to be construed to mean that a child has to be adopted to make it big in life.
Rather, it underscores the idea that through adoption, otherwise disadvantaged children are exposed to whole array of new possibilities, and if they are hardworking as most of them often turn out, there are no limits to what they can achieve. This trend is attributable to the idea that adopted children, tend to seek ways of pleasing their adoptive parents (Gebhardt 425). The results of that effort are dazzling achievements.
As such, the issues that really matter and should be considered during adoption should be the parents’ ability to provide the right environment for the adoptee to grow in and become the person they were supposed to be in life. Adoptive parents should be able to develop healthy bonds with the adopted child because having a bond between children and parents is critical for holistic development. It is important for the adoptive family to make the child feel at home.
This requirement is not easy to meet once the adoption process is complete. Therefore, it is important for adoptive parents to understand that adopting a child and caring for them until they are old enough to be independent is no mean task.
The process begins with realizing that adoption can work for the family. This realization is crucial because sometimes adoption comes with challenges that if a family is not ready to go all out, they may give up on the child. The adoptive parents therefore have to be ready to care for a child who is not biologically theirs under any circumstance that may arise. Adoption agencies have guidelines and regulations that can give adoptive parents insight into how they should care for the child.
It is however important that they conduct a thorough check including background checks before they allow anyone to adopt. Some bizarre cases have been reported where abusive adoptive parents initially pose as good people only to turn hostile and even sexually abusive after the adoption. These are realities that must not be ignored when dealing with adoption. However, with such eventualities in mind, it is an irrefutable fact that race, ethnicity, and sexual orientation do not have any influence on parenting skills.
A parent with the right heart will do anything and everything for their child. They will provide the love and comfort that is needed at all times. They also need to have a sense of humor that can enable them to laugh through the difficult and stressful times that come with parenting. Further, a parent needs a sense of perspective. Successful adoptive parents are those who take one day at a time. They should be able to say, “Today was hell, but tomorrow is bound to be better.”
Finally, adoptive parents should have a good support system including a team of friends and family members to support and help with the adopted child. Adopted children require affection and nurture to a level they have never received.
It is essential that families greet the child with loving and welcoming arms and give them unconditional love because loving a child is the greatest gift that can ever be given to them, yet that is what they often lack before they are adopted. Looking at these requirements, it is apparent that they can be met without considering race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation. Thus, these factors should not be a basis for granting or denying an adoption.
Works Cited
Farr, Rachel H., and Charlotte J. Patterson. “Transracial adoption by lesbian, gay, and heterosexual couples: Who completes transracial adoptions and with what results?” Adoption Quarterly 12.3-4 (2009): 187-204. Print.
Gebhardt, Georgia. “Hello Mommy And Daddy, How In The World Did They Let You Become My Parents?” Family Law Quarterly 46.3 (2012): 419-449. Academic Search Complete. Web. 26 Feb. 2015.
Moye, Jim, and Roberta Rinker. “It’s a Hard Knock Life: Does the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 Adequately Address Problems in the Child Welfare System?.” Harv. J. on Legis. 39 (2002): 375. Print.