If you could reform only ONE aspect of adoption, what would it be?

Question

If you could reform only ONE aspect of adoption, what would it be?

And what is your connection to adoption, if any?

Thank you for your thoughts on this topic.

Answer 1

Allow foster parent adoption of children who may be hard to place in a home.

Answer 2

id make it cheaper

Answer 3

Open records for all adoptees.

Adoptee and adoptive mom.

Answer 4

no pre-birth ANYTHING!

eta: julie...how dare you stay stuck on a topic as trife as YOUR LIFE AS AN ADOPTEE! it's time to move on to something more substantative like, what color to paint the house or where you are going to vacation next summer! </sarcasm.>

--how rude of someone to suggest when you stop talking about YOUR issues with adoption...

Answer 5

I like both Heather's and Possum's answers.  And they are both high on my list (open records a tad higher, but I like Possum's optimism.)

But pie-in-the-sky, wishful thinking answer?  I'd like society, as a whole, to understand the true nature and complexity of adoption.  (That includes, but is not limited to, adoption being directed only towards the best interest of the child, that adoption involves loss, and that adoption is not the same thing as giving birth.)  I think all other reforms would follow from this shift in society's appreciation of the life-long process of adoption.  

Change society's attitude, and everything else follows.  It's not exactly a reform in the system, but it is a change that is needed.

Answer 6

remove those aspects where a child has been waiting because he may be hard to place because of pre treatment or physical or mental probs. Assess the persons applying for their ability to love a child no matter. Have done a course in regard to adopting a special needs child but wife got cancer and we had to miss ~~

Answer 7

Only one?  but there are so many!

It would have to be Restore the Right of Adult Adoptees to have access to THEIR OWN original record of birth, restoring their right to be treated equally to non-adopted adults under the law

I am an adult adoptee and shall not be 'moving onto other things' (the flippin' cheek of it!) any time soon Julie and I hope you don't either - not until I see the wrongs in the American Adoption System put right

Answer 8

Open records for all Adoptees.  That would be my first choice.  Everyone should have the same basic rights to all birth information.

Amom

Answer 9

My connection... I'm a birthmother..

One thing I would change...  When the adoptee is 18 he/she would be given his/her original information.  The info would not be kept locked away from the adoptees.

Answer 10

That pregnant women can only make an adoption plan & relinquish AFTER they have given birth and attempted to parent.

(this - of course - excludes cases where children are taken from the parents due to neglect &/or abuse)

It's already how adoption works in Australia.

(it's why we have less than 500 adoptions per year - and the US has over 130,000 - while still over 100,000 languish in foster care - all because people 'just want a baby' - instead of adopting those children that really do need a loving home)

No child wants to grow up knowing that they were given away by their mother - no matter the reason.

It's a whole lot of head-mess that no child should have to go through - if they really don't HAVE to go through it.

(ETA - I also - of course - totally support open records - again - something we have in Australia  - but I'm looking past that - as that WILL happen - I feel it in my bones!)

Answer 11

Right now for me the big one that I have come across is pre-birth matching. Adoption should ONLY be thought of after the birth of the child.  There should be a revocation period in every state.

Sorry but I can go on and on.

Answer 12

Giving the child when of age more access to the medical history of the parents.

Fiance is adopted. It $500 just to see if maybe they have any information on his biological parents, if they don't tough you're still out the $500. This is in Florida.

Answer 13

For me it would be the return of equal treatment under the law for adopted adult citizens.  This means that adopted persons could once again access their own factual records of birth in the same fashion in which non-adopted citizens can.  Equal rights in our society should never be abandoned, as one poster has suggested.

I'd also like to see elimination of advertising of children on the Internet and in other media forums as if they were dogs or cats.  I find that to be demeaning and further the treatment of children as commodities in the adoption industry.

I am a reunited adopted citizen, unable to obtain my own birth record without obtaining permission from the court.

Answer 14

Just wondering y u r so stuck up with this topic of adoption right now, Julie. I hope u would move on to other things soon.

I think the age-limit for a parent to adopt should be relaxed for we live longer now & r better equipped to adopt when we r older & better placed.