Adoption is when the birth parents of a child sever all legal ties to their child, and the parental
rights are legally given over to the new adoptive family, who are strangers.
Apart from adopting a child from your own country, intercountry adoption is also available as
there are also many children from international countries who need a family.
In the UK and the USA, children are usually given up for adoption because they have been
mistreated; other reasons are due to teenage pregnancy, or because the birth parents are no
longer able to look after the child, or they have given up the child because it isnt the right sex, it
has some form of disability, or because they simply dont want a child.
There are many different reasons for wanting to adopt - if couples are unable to conceive, if
they want to help others by adopting, and now there are same-sex couples who prefer to adopt.
The adoption process varies from one country to another. The ethics for eligibility can differ in
each country which can include the age limit, the requirements for same-sex adoption couples,
and whether a single person is able to adopt.
Placing a child into care and up for adoption is free in the United States. Adopting fees for the
parents vary in different countries, and even in some, to charge an adoption fee would be illegal.
In the United States, for adoptions you are given a $10,000 tax credit.
The new parents face many concerns in adoption. The childs family history and their family
medical history may be unknown, or kept secret until the child starts to ask questions about
where they come from. This usually happens when a child is old enough to ask the right
questions, or when they feel the need to find themselves. There are always misconceptions
about children who have been fostered and this is usually fuelled by the media. Some children
are thought of as not being able to develop properly or will become problem, but that is not
always the case, as children can fare well when given a new, loving home and go on to lead
successful lives. However, many children lose out and some reach the eighteen when they are
too old to be adopted and are legally adults. They fall out of the system.
Not everyone chooses to understand or support adoption, although Americans are experienced
in it. The history of adoption can be traced as far back as the 18th Century B.C. During Ancient
times it was more popular to adopt adults rather than children so that they could carry on the
family heritage or to protect the familys property rights. Men and women single or married had
the right to adopt.
Modern adoption laws are based on the heritage in 18th Century B.C. of the Hammurabi Code.
Adopting adults was the focus in Ancient Times as a means for someone to follow in ones
footsteps; whilst the Middle Ages set some ground rules with their focus on the adoption of
children. Certain laws were placed in order to protect children, so by this time adoptions were
dealt with by the court systems. It was in 1851, in Massachusetts, that the first state adoption
www.e-Bestsellers.com
took place. Rev. Charles Loring Brace was the founder of the New York Childrens Aid Society
in 1853, which helped orphaned and abandoned children. He wanted to rescue these children
and transport them to good Christian homes. They were placed on Braces Emigration Plan
onto regular trains called the Orphan Trains for families to view at each station, until they were
taken up by one of many of the wealthy farming families.
Times have changed, although we still want the best for our children, although it is still
sometimes difficult to know what that is. Adoption is one of the best things to have happened
over the centuries, to give children without a home a good chance to find one.