Has anyone ever given a speech on adoption.?

Question

I have do do my first speech (an introductory) for class in a few weeks. I was going to tell my adoption story. Anyone ever done this and can give some pointers

Answer 1

What part of the triad are you? Adoptee? AP? or first mom?

I am in a public speaking class right now and I was thinking about the same thing. I'm a first mom, so, based on previous experience I will not be telling that story because people have very strong feelings about women who give their babies up for adoption. They are almost always negative.

From an adoptee's POV, I would talk about OBC's and how as an adult, you don't have access to something every other person has and takes for granted. That's what I was going to talk about the rights of adoptee's and the rally they will be having in July in New Orleans.

Answer 2

No I haven't but I will wish you luck for your's.  :)

Answer 3

Yes, but it was a long time ago in high school.  I wrote an essay for the "best father of the year" contest and won during my senior year.  I told them how my father was the best father for choosing me.  He said the day he met me (I was about a year old), He saw me sitting on the floor with my nappy little hair in a puff on top of my head, eating saltines and as happy as I could be.  He knew that I was the one!  It amazes me though b/c when my parents married, neither of them wanted children but I guess one day that changed and I thank God for it everyday!  This was my 3rd time being adopted.  All the others didn't turn out to be so stable after all.

I could go on and on for days but basically, thats what I wrote about.  My only suggestion is to just be yourself.  Don't try to make it "Hollywood" like some do (you know, by "juicing" it up)  Just be yourself, who you are and tell your story for what it REALLY is.

Answer 4

In my introductory speech I mentioned being adopted as one of the many things about me, but didn't center on it.  I did give an adoption speech later, but it was arguing for open records, not telling my personal story, which I don't think I could do in front of an entire class.

But it's your story to share or not to share, so good luck.

Answer 5

No, I've never done this and I am not adopted. But as a person who would listen to your speech, I would be very delighted to hear your adoption story. Like when you discovered you were adopted; how you feel about it; if you'd like to find your biological parents. Do you have the same name as your birth mother gave you?

If you and your parents are of different ethnicities, I'd love to hear how you feel about that. You will have people really listening to your speech, I think. Good luck with it.

http://www.comeunity.com/adoption/books/...

This is a website that lists books about adoptees, mothers who gave up babies to adoption, etc. Maybe you could get one of them at the library and get some ideas.

Answer 6

This is a paper I wrote on the foster care system

The foster care system in America is slowly failing our children. In 2004, a reported 517,000 children were in foster care; today that number continues to remain steady. Many of these children are older kids belonging to sibling sets. 24% of these children are placed and eventually adopted by appropriate birth family.46% will be placed with  non-relative foster parents. Only 4% of children placed in foster care will be re-united with birth parents. And an outstanding 20,000 kids age out of our broken system every year.   http://acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_res...

The average age of a child being adopted through foster care is seven years old.  http://acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/stats_res... By the time these kids are adopted they’ve spent the better half of their childhood either being abused and neglected by birth parents or moving from home to home within our system. Children who survive horrendous abuse and then endure the instability of our system often end up with violent tendencies detachment disorders and a range of other mental health issues. This often makes it impossible for them to function in society as healthy adults.

Any psychiatrist or child development specialist would agree that the first three to five years are the most critical in a child’s life. http://www.helpguide.org/mental/parentin...  . Keeping this in mind know that the average amount of time a child will spend in foster care before parental rights are severed and options for appropriate biological placement are exhausted is 28 months. After parental rights are severed, that child on average, will wait an additional 15 months before being adopted. This makes the average time waiting in a temporary foster home three years and seven months! 24% of kids entering foster care will spend five or more years in continuous foster care. Considering these statistics it would be virtually impossible for an infant be legally free for a non-relative adoption.  

The state as well as foster care advocacy agencies make it very clear to prospective foster families that their role in any foster child’s life is temporary. As a result of this many families who would be willing to adopt will not consider foster care as an option. This leaves our system overloaded and chaotic. There are not enough case managers, there are not enough foster families, and there are too many displaced kids. The problem is not only in the recruitment of foster families and the way they are treated but also in the sluggish way these kids pass through the system.

In the following paragraphs I have outlined some interesting statistics as well as a possible solution to this growing problem.

Private domestic adoption.

Private domestic adoption can cost between $5,085 and $25,050 not including personal costs for the birth mother which can vary between $10,000 and $22,000. http://adoptionabout.com/od/financial/ma... . Benefits of this type of adoption are that 1) it brings more money into our economy. 2) The process is much quicker due to the fact that the child is already legally free. 3) The child involved is almost always an infant. 4) More and more families are becoming open to open adoption. Open adoption making up 69% of all private and public adoptions.5) Adoptive families with the means to afford such adoptions will insure their child on their health insurance and will not seek out welfare or other adoption subsidies.

The only down side to this type of adoption is the out of pocket cost.

Foreign adoption

Foreign adoption can cost between $10,850 and $30850 not including travel expenses http://www.adoptionabout.com/od/financia... . Appealing aspects to this type of adoption are that 1) It increases diversity and tolerance in America. 2) The process is shorter than going through foster care due to the fact that the child is legally free; making the wait to finalize the adoption months instead of years. 3)almost all foreign adopted children are under the age of five.4) It pumps money into foreign economy.

Some down falls to international adoption are 1)Open adoption is almost never possible making it impossible for that child to ever find a connection with biological family. 2)It is extremely expensive epically even before factoring in travel expenses. 3) Because of the poverty of these countries, it can promote child exploitation and the selling of ‘black market babies’; countries such as China, http://china.org/english/China/152780htm Vietnam, http://www.prleap.com/pr/24226 and Haiti http://www.americanadoptions.com/adopt/s... have recently halted their international adoptions for such reasons  4) Because of the appealing aspects to foreign adoption some Americans are ruling out foster care as an avenue to adoption and adopting overseas instead.

A solution

If we as a society could unite and persuade our law makers to fix this broken system we could put these forgotten children first and build a better life for our nation. This would not only ensure that our children have a safe and secure future but by having these kids placed in a loving family early on it would reduce the number of childhood delinquents, career criminals and drug addicted adolescents, thus breaking the cycle.

If birth parents cannot make an effort to participate in their child’s life in 90 days their rights should be severed. If the birth parents initially comply with the case plan they should be given an additional 90 days to fully comply with the case plan. If after the six month period they cannot fully comply with the case plan their case should go to severance. After parental rights are severed birth family should be given the same 90 to 180 days to comply with the case plan and submit a petition to adopt. Not only would this benefit prospective adoptive families but it would force child protective services to actively investigate birth family so that the child could spend less time bonding and attaching to foster family and encourage the construction of trust and bonding with birth family.

By supporting a quicker severance plan; the time these kids spend in a temporary home can be as short as three months and no longer than one year. By expediting the severance process time spent in a temporary foster home would be dramatically reduced saving those precious early developmental years. It would also help to recruit more foster families who otherwise would have ruled out foster care as an avenue to adoption. Further more families with the means for private and international adoption would be compelled to complete a D.E.S. adoption for the purpose of saving thousands of dollars. Families with such means would be exempt from welfare and other adoption subsidies.( Currently 89% of families who complete a D.E.S. adoption receive adoption subsidy payments. )This would save the state and federal government hundreds of thousands of dollars; not just because fewer families would be seeking subsidy but also because foster kids would be spending less time under the support of the government. It would also force all parties involved to advocate for the child’s best interest since time would most defiantly be of the essence. I am convinced that finding these kids permenate  placements within a shorter period of time will lighten the load of case managers; encourage birth family to take an active part in the child’s life; recruit more foster and adoptive families; and increase the self esteem, mental health, and well being of American children.

Please try to remember abused, neglected, drug exposed, or special needs these are children… innocent children. Please help to raise awareness, contact your senators, representatives, and governors to force change. Help fix the broken system that is failing our kids. Only by taking and active role in this issue will we unite to ensure a better future.  

Other links to check out http://www.amfor.net/statistics.html

Answer 7

I think it is a good idea... I've written poems etc, about being adopted.. but have never really shared them with anyone.  I've always been afraid to hurt someone unintentionally...  But i think you have a great idea :) good luck...

Answer 8

My daughter did she even wrote a bill and it was passed in her class sorry life's not like that. she chose on the rights of the natural parents and that DNA needs to be done at the hospital in adoption cases(If men come forward then they can pay hospital for samples) This would help alot so agency can't hid the baby and it take so long to get DNA so best interest can't be use in court also ICPC (out of state travel) needed to change where a judge ordered the child be able to leave state if not both parents are  terminate of rights at lease you can ask the judge where the child is and not the adoptions agencies just to be told can't tell you.