Inviting Conversation for January 26, 2010
The situation in Haiti is disheartening. One of the world’s poorest countries will need help from countries around the globe in order to rebuild. Sadly, many children lost their lives in the recent earthquakes. Many children are also now orphaned and displaced. Reading about the joys and frustrations people are experiencing attempting to adopt some of these orphaned and displaced children prompted me to also do some reading on the joyful stories and frustrating tales of people trying to adopt children in the United States. Most of the frustrations focus around the “process.” There seems to be no set standards or protocols for the adoption process. Now I certainly understand why there must be background checks and other screenings before adoptions should take place. I certainly do not want a convicted pedophile to even have the minutest possibility of adopting a child. The frustrations do not seem to be about undesirable candidates getting through the process. No situation is perfect, of course. Most of the frustrations come from people who very likely are qualified, but paperwork, inconsistent and poorly managed processes seem to be the biggest preventers of adoptions. The process is expensive, slow and cumbersome. Many “adoptable” children in the United States never get adopted. Can uniform standards and processes be established? Can the process be streamlined? What can be done to effectively improve the adoption process?
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As you know this is a subject that is dear and near to my heart. As a mother who had to give her oldest child up for adoption. I however was lucky because Family adopted her; if she would have been adopted by "outsiders" I would always wonder did they "screen" the couple well enough? Is she in a safe home? Is she safe and happy? How can a couple adopt on the fact they make enough or be denied because they are below "MONEY STANDERDS" I have seen many people with less money than others take better care of their kids than ones with more money. The process is the most out of whack I know of. However when I gave my daughter up for adoption since her Biological father did not want to be involved all they had to do was run an ad in his last know place of residence for X amount of time. This is as I wanted it because he was in no place to take care of her. Sometimes good people get blessed with being able to adopt. Sometimes they are not and pray for just one small chance. There is so much more than can be done to make sure good people get to adopt but sometimes it just will never happen.
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