Why is it that????

Question

Why are there currently 125,000 perfectly adoptable children in the US foster care system that nobody wants to adopt?

A weak arguement of the pro-life crowd is that there are literally thousands of people who can't have children but would LOVE to adopt a child, if only a pregnant mother, who doesn't want to be pregnant, would consider giving the baby up for adoption, as opposed to abortion.

If there are so many people out there who can't have children, but want to adopt, shouldn't that number be ZERO?????

Answer 1

Indeed -- an excellent point. Strike it up to yet more hypocrisy from a traditionally hypocritical religion. (Most -- if not all -- pro-lifers are Christians, or follow a Christian-based religion.)

Answer 2

most adoptive parents don't want children. they prefer babies. that is the way it is unfortunately. these kids deserve homes too, but it takes a very special and loving person to step up and take in these kids. Where as a baby may not have the same issues as foster children, so people would like adopt babies.

Answer 3

We have tried for years to get a child through the system. So many people do. I WISH we could have found a 7 year old. Thousands of people are waiting for a 7 year old. We wanted special needs. Unless you do the research don't belive what people say about there being all these children waiting.

Also, don't believe these ignorant people that believe all people wanting to adopt only want babies. Thats not the case at all. Many more adoptions happen through the foster system each year than domestic private infant adoptions. We ended up doing private infant adoption because we couldn't get an older child. We worked nearly 2 years for an older child and only 5 months for an infant. It is much easier to adopt an infant or younger child that the mother is placing privately. Unless you have a nursing degree or estensive experience in special needs children, you don't even make it to the desk of the deciding group for the child. As frusterating as that is, I understand it. Some children just need more. I wish I could have had a chance though.

Answer 4

Adoption in America isn't about finding homes for children who need them.  It's about fulfilling the desires of adults.  That's not the way it SHOULD be, but that's the way it IS.

Answer 5

I agree with you. I am not apart of the american population, I am from the UK. But i think the same thing should be done over here too. America Has a large population, so there is no excuse for kids being left unadopted. Healing is right though, I think most people want to adopt babies. I am not saying thats wrong or that shouldnt happen, but people should be adopting older kids in foster care too. If people didnt adopt the babies, then the babies would end up in foster care eventually anyway.

I dont see a solution to this. I think its something that agencies need to look at an encourage. I am not to judge, I think that all the kids who are in the adoption and foster system need to be adopted whatever there age.

Answer 6

Especially when my state foster care site says that foster care children have a comparable amount of "issues" as international adoptees.

People don't want "children" they want babies.

It frustrates me to no end.

And yes, my home will be open to foster care children in the future.

* there are over 100,000( maybe even 150,000 I haven't looked "recently") children available for adoption in the foster care system *

Answer 7

I'm wondering the same thing.   I think most adoption these days is about providing a family with a baby and people wait and wait for some unfortunate female to be taken in by the hard-sell tactics and emotional blackmail of agencies who have paying customers impatiently waiting for her baby.

Rather than the way it's supposed to be - ie finding a family for a child who really needs one.  A social service for children.

Poor kids.

Answer 8

Sounds great.  However, the 125K perfectly adoptable children in the US foster care system often have considerable special needs: whether they be medical needs, but more often they are serious emotional concerns.

Not every family is able to meet the needs of those children, sad to say.  And unless a family is able to meet the needs of the child, they should not adopt the child.

It's a nice sentiment, but your reasoning does not take into account the complexities of the issue.  Please do more research into the needs of children in foster care before you adopt....

... you ARE planning to adopt, aren't you?

Answer 9

I agree with you!  First - most people want a baby, not a 7 year old (Which is very sad).  Second, the process to adopt a child is so expensive and grueling that many families can't afford it or get rejected because they have diabetes or are a single parent.  It's ridiculous how much these families go through.  What's worse, is all the sick and awful parents out there who can have children who take them for granted or abuse them -  and continues to do it because they are sneaky enough not to get caught.  I feel that the government protects animals better than the children.  It's sad.

Answer 10

There are a lot of people who have been taught by the media that foster children are "messed up."   Many have been shunted from one foster home to another, and have come from difficult and abusive situations in their birth families.  Also, many of the children in foster care have special needs, and some families do not feel able to take on the task of raising a child with a severe disability.

Having said that, however, I think that more people should make it their business to educate themselves about the kids in foster care.  While it is true that some have very severe physical and/or emotional needs, there are others who need nothing more than a loving and devoted family to reach their true potential.    I think that any prospective parents who wish to adopt should be referred by the adoption agency to the foster care system FIRST, before pursuing an infant adoption.   It is very easy to love a baby, but it is phenomenally rewarding to win the heart of an older child who has been waiting for a long time for a family.

EDIT:  Also, a lot of the children in foster care are not free to be adopted, because the rights of their biological parents have not been terminated.

Answer 11

A lot of children in foster care do have special needs - whether it is Austism, Cerebral Palsy or even just ADD. Many parents also want to adopt a baby - not a 15 year old foster child who has emotional issues and possible physical handicaps. There are many older children in foster care due to the inability of the parents to care for them - whether they come from an abused family, or the parent does drugs.

Many babies that are in foster care are adopted, it is mostly the older children who are not.

Also, there are a lot of Foster Families out there who just do foster care in order to recieve money from the government. (This is not the case for all foster families, just some).

There ARE thousands of people out there who can't have children who would love to adopt - but they want to adopt a BABY.

Please do more research on the topic before bashing everyone out there who is pro-life.

Answer 12

The children you are talking about are not waiting for parents because they had a mother who was willing to give birth and place them in the loving arms of another.....

The children that you are talking about are Not all "perfectly adoptable" and in many cases require parents that have far more then Love and empty arms to offer....  

Children in foster care are not usually there because they have no parents--they are there because they have been Abused or Neglected....and nothing less....

The adoption of an infant is not the same as the adoption of a Hurt child... While I am major advocate of adoption foster children and have adopted 2 siblings myself--This is not as simply as your Question wants to make things....

The vast majority of children adopted from foster care are placed into families that are not adopting because of infertility... The reasons that families choose to adopt foster children are generally NOT because they find no other way to be parents... Most people adopting these children do so because THE child needs a parent and they feel they can be a good one.

With these children it is Not about the Parents finding a child--It is about the Child finding parents....

and the pro-life issue isn't really part of this as Many would argue and do--that the number of children in care would be much lower if their mothers had made a different choice and not given birth to 6 children born drug affected.....or held onto and abused....