notanexpert wrote:
xenophobe wrote:Maybe I am a jerk, but aren't there plenty of American children that need his help and desperately need to be adopted. What is with the American obsession with adopting foreigners?
fair question - I think there are few healthy american kids to adopt - certainly not whole families.
American kids up for adoption are often messed up in some major way - not so for 3rd worlders.
I need to correct some of you some of your notions regarding domestic adoption that, from my experience and research, are just untrue.
a) yes, a certain % of children given up for adoption domestically did have moms abusing drugs or alcohol, which can of course result in developmental or health problems.
b) however, plenty of "3rd world" children given up for adoption are either in the same boat (moms that had substance abuse issues), or often worse: they were stuck in some orphanage for months to years with very little love and attention and nutrition, which seems to really cause issues later on (this is often true with some Eastern European adoptions). True of some Asian adoption too. Ethiopia does have a better track record of caring for little ones put in orphanages. This is one reason it has become a more popular place to adopt from.
c) the majority of domestic adoptions, the kids are not "messed up in some major way." Again, I would say the %'s are higher with foreign adoptions.
d) In my neighborhood alone I literally know 10 kids that were adopted domestically. Each and every one seems healthy, well adjusted, and happy.
e) I have an adopted child. The process was very smooth and easy. We had to travel twice across the country, but I would much prefer that to have to travel 1/2 way across the globe and spend weeks in a 3rd world country. (yes, such a visit could be rewarding too, but I am only focusing here on the "easy" factor)
f) we had our child from day 1 (well, she spent a few days in the hospital). It is my understanding that foreign adoptions usually involved at least a few months in an orphanage of some sort.
FYI: this is not a moral judgement on domestic vs foreign adoptions in any way. Only trying to correct some misconceptions about the differences, and the supposed difficulties surrounding domestic adoption. my understanding is that domestic is often easier/more hassle free/kids are healthier than foreign adoptions at this point in time (at one point in time it might have been different)