Introduction
The goal of every society is to become nurturing and prosperous, and the absence or a small number of children who grow up and develop without families is a characteristic feature of such a community. That is why specific efforts should be allocated to address the problem and promote adoption among American citizens.
Numerous organizations provide their services to address this issue on federal and state levels. The National Council for Adoption (NCFA) is a nationwide organization, while Children’s Home Society of Florida (CHS) covers the Florida context, and they demonstrate that legal and personalized assistance is necessary to popularize adoption practice.
National Association
Name of organization: National Council for Adoption.
Location/address: 225 N. Washington Street, Alexandria, VA 22314-2561.
Phone number: (703) 299-6633.
The NCFA is the United States’ leading organization that focuses on the issue of adoption. This authority stipulates that its primary purpose is to make citizens understand what adoption is and why it is significant to promote this practice (National Council for Adoption, n.d.). The organization operates to create ethical policies and advance the adoption-positive legislation that will govern the sphere under consideration. This condition is necessary to ensure that all the interested individuals will not face any significant legal challenges when they want to adopt a child. There is no doubt that this state of affairs will contribute to a higher number of adoption cases throughout the US.
The purpose above can be achieved since the NCHF offers a wide range of services. Firstly, it actively collaborates with adoption service providers by finding clients and helping children get families (National Council for Adoption, n.d.). Secondly, it offers different membership benefits to many adoption professionals. The list of possible advantages includes education and training discounts, specific webinars, policymaking activities, and others (National Council for Adoption, n.d.). Thirdly, the given organization offers excellent internship opportunities for students. This statement denotes that young individuals become familiar with how it is possible to promote adoption practices by relying on education, legislation, and research activities.
Local Organization
Name of organization: Children’s Home Society of Florida.
Location/address: 482 S. Keller Rd., Orlando, FL 32810.
Phone number: (321) 397-3000.
The CHS is a significant social service organization since it helps Florida citizens find and adopt children. This establishment admits that hundreds of children do not currently have families, and the organization’s purpose is to address the problem and limit this number (Children’s Home Society of Florida, n.d.). Simultaneously, the CHS does its best to ensure that a child is adopted by suitable individuals. That is why adults should meet many criteria, with good health and the minimum age of 21 years being among them (Children’s Home Society of Florida, n.d.). This information demonstrates that the CHS offers direct adoption services to individuals.
The given organization offers a few essential services within the area under consideration. Firstly, it helps people find children and prepares adults to be parents. The CHS organizes education and training sessions to help adults make reasoned adoption decisions (Children’s Home Society of Florida, n.d.). Secondly, the Tallahassee team offers post-adoption support to assist newly-minted parents in overcoming possible challenges.
Finally, the organization also provides pregnant women with beneficial services. If a woman is not ready to become a parent, she can contact the CHS to choose a future family for her baby. Consequently, the organization offers specific services to increase the volume of adoption in Florida, in general, and in Tallahassee, in particular.
Promoting Adoption
At this point, it is necessary to explain what the social services community should do to create an environment where adoption is not a problem. According to Hamil and Hale (1996), Your Lot in Life is a suitable game for this purpose because it invokes research activities to study the issue and offer possible solutions. Thus, specific recommendations on how to alleviate the children’s adoption process and the rationale behind them will be described below.
Addressing Child-Related Factors
The social services community should draw sufficient attention to make children prepared for adoption. Many issues either prevent the adoption from happening or lead to adoption breakdown. They include children’s emotional and mental peculiarities, inability to adapt to new conditions, and others (Palacios et al., 2019).
This discussion demonstrates that appropriate organizations should invest sufficient efforts in providing children with mental support. These activities will result in the fact that the case of adoption will not become a shock for children, making the process less challenging for adoptive families.
Addressing Parent-Related Factors
When it comes to adoption difficulties, one should admit that newly-minted parents also face some challenges. Firstly, some of the adults find themselves mentally unprepared to foster children (Palacios et al., 2019). In this case, new responsibilities shock people, and they choose not to adopt. Secondly, the stability of the couple’s relationship can directly affect adoption outcomes (Palacios et al., 2019). When a family experiences divorce during the adoption process, it is a probable scenario that the child will not get a family.
This information demonstrates that the social services community should organize regular training and education sessions for future parents to help them understand their responsibility in the process. This approach will prove that adults will know how to respond to many challenges that can arise.
Addressing Legal Issues
There is no doubt that policies can directly address how widespread adoption is among citizens. Ward and Smeeton (2017) clarify that the absence of policy barriers and comparatively simple adoption procedures are those factors that make this practice more prevalent among people.
This finding demonstrates that it is necessary to deal with politicians and policymakers to ensure that appropriate measures are taken to improve the situation. The support of this statement is found because the two organizations under analysis, the CHS and the NCFA, admit that they allocate some time and effort to promoting their interests in the legal sphere. This step can directly contribute to increased adoption volumes in society.
Conclusion
Adoption is a significant issue in the United States, and many organizations, both nation- and statewide, address the situation. These legal entities provide their services to make adoption a more requested practice to ensure that more children get families, which positively impacts the country’s social development. Thus, the National Council for Adoption addresses the problem federally, while the Children’s Home Society of Florida works within the state context.
Research has also indicated that many issues can prevent people from adopting children. There can be parent-related, child-related, and legal factors limiting the people’s desire and intention to engage in adoption practices. This information means that the social services community should do its best to mitigate their effects on society to make more people adopt children. Training and education sessions, as well as advocacy procedures, are suitable options because they make children and parents mentally prepared for adoption and minimize possible barriers that can prevent adults from adopting practices.
References
Children’s Home Society of Florida. (n.d.). Adoption.Web.
Hamil, S. B., & Hale, C. (1996). Your lot in life.Teaching of Psychology, 23(4), 245–246. Web.
National Council for Adoption. (n.d.). Who we are.Web.
Palacios, J., Rolock, N., Selwyn, J., & Barbosa-Duchame, M. (2019). Adoption breakdown: Concept, research, and implications. Research on Social Work Practice, 29(2), 130-142. Web.
Ward, J., & Smeeton, J. (2017). The end of non-consensual adoption? Promoting the wellbeing of children in care.Practice, 29(1), 55-73. Web.