Adoption in schools part 2?

Question

ok, let me just make this clear agin please. (for the ones who are aginst the adoption in schools). I meant that adoption should be touched upon in subjects such as health and social care etc. I didnt mean make it an actual subject! I dont like the work "puke" being used to describe the topic. Adoption is apart of life in the UK and the states and with more celebs adopting, then kids should be taught about adoption. I am only bringin this up as I have done work with my social worker, trying to get the government to introduce this in UK schools. Afterall, kids are taught about race and equallity so why not adoption????

Answer 1

Don't forget, these adopting celebrities (Madonna, Angelina) have barely graduated high school themselves.

I'd be mortified if my children looked up to these idiots as role models.

Puke.

Answer 2

I see no problem at all with children being taught about adoption. I agree. Our kids are taught about s*x, periods, drugs, smoking, and so on. Whats the big deal about teaching about adoption?

Answer 3

Well to make it fair then, they better teach about separation trauma, have n-mothers come in and give talks about the pain of giving up their children, oh and teach about abortion too.  And have some good courses on the family vaules and family preservation.  Maybe talk about social programs that help families stay together.  We have to make sure ALL the different options are covered, not just the holy grail of adoption.

Oh, and I'd like to see a class on "Why Adoptees Can't Have Access To Their Own Birth Certificates."   Maybe we can invite members of the legislature and the NCFA in to give a special speech on that one, eh?

Edited to add:  Sarah C please stop emailing me.  Do some research; only 6 states in the US allow adoptees access to their OBC's.  The only "issues" I have with adoption are the lack of rights and respect that adoptees and first parents are given.  N-mothers aren't always given a "choice" and if you're proud to be a little Gift from God then goody two shoes for you.  I for one don't think human beings should be passed around like toasters; we are not "gifts", we are PEOPLE.  

Work that out, "pet".

Answer 4

I agree, If schools can touch up on s*x, birthcontrol, and some giving out condoms why not talk about adoption, many kids are adopted and many kids give their kids up for adoption. I see nothing wrong with this subject.

Answer 5

The problem is - it depends on who is doing the teaching - as to what is being taught.

Social workers and the government are under pressure from prospective adoptive parents to increase the numbers of children adopted every year.

This then puts pressure on people to give up their children - when perhaps it doesn't really need to happen.

They have the power - they have the money - the message that they will send is that adoption - as an option - as opposed to parenting one's child - is OK.

The problem is - adoption should ONLY be an option - when the natural parents of the child CAN NOT PARENT THE CHILD - or other family members are unable to care for the child.

Adoption for mother's and children - is painful. It makes them live apart from one another. It means that the child often isn't even allowed to know who they are actually related to.

To encourage more pain - for the purpose of finding children for those that can't have their own - is insane - if you ask me.

Think about it - we - as humans - are made produce babies.

(sadly some are unable to - but this is how most are made)

We are also made to nurture and love our own children - NOT give them away to complete strangers.

IF children are abused and need to be taken away from their parents - then suitable other arrangements need to be made.

Then adoption comes into play.

For the adoptee (which I am one) - I know what you're trying to say - you want other kids to treat you well - and not make you feel like a freak. Yep - I've lived it. But ultimately - that comes down to the parents of the children that are at schools - and their own ideals and perceptions of adoption - that rub off on their children.

Children are cruel - at the best of times.

I think what all children NEED to be taught - and their parents too - is to love all fellow man - and stop being cruel to those that come from other life situations.

Perhaps better teaching for TEACHERS is also what is needed - so that they can better handle questions when they arise - and to handle problems with the right amount of empathy and care.

It's a slippery slope to 'normalize' adoption to children - when most children know in their hearts that it is not how nature intended - that first off - children should stay with the parents that gave birth to them.

I'm not saying that we should tell children it's the 'wrong' thing - instead it is what happens when sadly the child's parents couldn't take care of them.

Yep - that's sad - but that's reality - and anything else would be untrue - and seriously confusing for the adoptee and other children.

I knew all my life that my situation wasn't 'right'.

If my adoptive parents just said - with love - 'No - it's not - but we're here now to love you with all of our hearts" - then I would have been far better off.

Instead - I was told that being adopted made me SPECIAL and was GREAT - which didn't sit right with what I felt in my heart. (if I was so SPECIAL - why did my mother give me away??? This is how adoptees as kids think.)

It's better to know the truth - and deal with it - than to be told repeatedly a lie - that messes with your heart and your head.

Answer 6

I think you have a point. Certainly it should not be ignored.  I know several adoptive moms who have gone to their child's school to discuss how they became a family. Unfortunately this is sometimes after a negative incident such as "what happened to your real mother", causing a child a lot of distress. If it could be addressed proactively that would be great.

Answer 7

I don't see any reason  why this can't be touched on especially when they wanna put g*y couples in the books our children home!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Answer 8

So because celebrities are adopting, we should be teaching it in school?

So they should talk about how the firstmother of Hugh Jackman's child committed suicide because Jackman and his wife closed the adoption.

Or how about how Angelina Jolie's son Maddox was adopted through a corrupt agency, the owner of which is now serving jail time.  Or how Zahara really isn't an orphan at all and her mother is not dead from AIDS as Jolie was told but alive and well and living in poverty in Africa.

Are those the kinds of things our children should be learning in school?

Bring it.

Answer 9

I see the possible dangers that people are talking about.  I also think that Possum is right that it is TEACHERS who need to be able to deal with students who have non- traditional families.  I think it would be perfectly appropriate in a social studies unit on families (which is a requirement in the younger grades) to include adoption, and hopefully it would not be "marketing" or promoting an agenda, but just promote understanding and "normalize" the adoptee's status as an adoptee so that adoptees don't feel so isolated.

Answer 10

I'm all for it...  

We should teach children how some people come and convince mothers to give up their children to other people to raise.  (No nightmares there...)

We can teach children how adoptees are second class citizens whose vital information is sealed away by the state, never to be seen again.  

We can teach children that when these children, who were separated from their mothers and who lost their history, grow up and try talking about their experiences, they should be ridiculed and abused.

This sounds like a great class.  I wish I had been able to take it.

Answer 11

Oh, Ok you're talking about the UK where adoption is actually a social service for children!  Now I understand where you are coming from

This is very different to what is going on in the United States where babies are commodified by a money-making industry that is largely unregulated, with huge loopholes in the system because it is not federally regulated

Agencies in the business of making money from the acquisition of babies are already making their way  into schools in the USA and it's certainly not to 'educate' - it's to further procure babies from vulnerable young mothers-to-be who may go to their school counselor for support but instead find themselves thrown into the adoption mill where they are systematically told they are not worthy of being a mother.  

These agencies are under such pressure to provide babies to their paying clients (you will have seen many questions here on whinging "why does it take so long to get me a baybeeeee?!") there is no level they will not sink to

You will not only find them hanging around schools, but also gynae and doctors offices.

It's a sick system that needs immediate reform and federal regulation

Oh, and see PhilM's great answer to educate yourself about how, unlike in the UK where adoptees have a right to their own information, the USA continues to violate the human rights of adoptees long after childhood

Answer 12

I agree that it should be brought up in s*x ed. I think every school should require a class about pregnancy, birth control, condoms, your options if you get pregnant, plan b, and the emotional effects of s*x during the teenage years. I also think condoms should be readily available in schools (in bathrooms or the office.) I don't think we ever talked about adoption in my school, it was too "touchy". Good question.