Should you keep a child's religion the same after adoption?

Question

If you adopt a baby from another county and they already have a name is it okay to change it?

If they already have a religion is it ok to raise them in yours instead?

If they are accustume to certine foods should you contine to feed them only that food?

Answer 1

It really does depend on the age of the child in question.  Adopting older children from your own country or another, means that they already have their own name, beliefs, likes/dislikes.  I do not think it's a good idea to change the first two things, for an older child, unless the child chooses to change name and/or religion.  It does happen occasionally, but not often.

As to foods, if someone grew up on the McDonalds and Burger King diet for the first eight or nine years of their life, then their adoptive family introduces healthy alternatives, is that wrong, or just good parenting?

If you are referring to cultural foods, it is important to offer those, but your child will not go though life in the US and never eat American food.  We have pizza some nights and pepper soup other nights.  Rice is a side dish that goes with everything.  So, it's a compromise.

Answer 2

Should you keep a child's religion the same after adoption?

*It depends on the age of the child and the religion of the adoptive parents.

If you adopt a baby from another county and they already have a name is it okay to change it?

*I think it's up to the adoptive parents.  But, personally, I'd keep some part of the original name.  In my case, I kept my son's first birth-given name.

If they already have a religion is it ok to raise them in yours instead?  *See my answer above.  If they're older and practicing a religion, I don't think it's right to change it- but that's a tough question.

If they are accustume to certine foods should you contine to feed them only that food?  *No, give a mixture.  Actually, when I adopted my son, I started eating more Central American foods.  :-)

Answer 3

when you adopt a child, you have a right to raise it the way you think best..  ultimately it will be the child's (adult's) decision whether or not to stay in the religion when they are grown up..

Answer 4

I feel that help should start at home.  So you should really adopt a child from your own country.  If you are going to adopt a foreign child here are my answers.

1.  Make their orginal name part of the name you choose.

2.  You can raise them your religion but also teach them about the religion of there biological family.

3.  I would do both kinds of foods.

Answer 5

It would really depend on the child's age relative to giving them a new name.  If it was a small child - say no older than a toddler - it could be done reasonably easily.

As far as religion goes, I believe in exposing children to a variety and letting them choose when they get to be teenagers.  But I think it would be better to raise them the way you believe.  It would be confusing for a small child otherwise.

As far as food goes, ease into it.  Feed what the child is used to at first and gradually change to fare that is more normal for you.  Introduce new things a little at a time until the child is accustomed to the new diet.

Answer 6

If it were me adopting a child from another country or culture, I would ask myself how I would feel if I were that child.  Would I want my name changed?  Would I want my original culture and heritage honored?  Would I want to keep parts of that original culture while still being raised in my new one?

I think a balanced mixture of the old and the new would be great, nobody should have to go to extreme measures to keep the child's original heritage, but changing the name...why?  Keeping the religion...why not expose the child to both?  Raise him or her in your religion but also make an effort to give the child exposure to the religion that the child originally had?  Same with the foods...mix it up.  Serve a variety.  It doesn't have to be all or nothing!

Answer 7

i believe that if the child is young then you can convert them to your religion.  However, if the child is old enough to realize their religion and want to stick with it, then dont make them change.

Answer 8

You shouldn't raise a child in ANY religion.  Let them choose for themselves what they want to believe.

and no, I wouldn't change their name.

Answer 9

Depends on the pronunciation of the name, if it could be misinterpreted as an innappropriate word I would consider keeping that as their middle name and giving them a different first name.

If our adopted children have a known religion then we will raise them in that religion.

I will definitely continue to feed our children foods from their culture.

Answer 10

umm i was adopted in the USA and my name changed...my religion stayed the same only because my adopted parents were that religion already..and im sure if i had stayed with my birth family i would not have been force fed peas...so ..to answer all those questions the answer is yes

Answer 11

It would be nice for people who adopt from a different country to learn to prepare some of the food they have over there. That said there is no reason the child also can’t have “American” food or other cultures food as well.

As far as the name one could always incorporate their new name with their original name. If the child just has some really bizarre name that most people aren’t going to be able to pronounce. You might just use the name as their middle name and give them a new first name.  If the child is older it should be their choice they could even choice their new name if they want it.

As far as religion the child can be raised in the religion  of their new family. However they should also be educated about religions of their native land. That way when they are older they can choice heck, that happens with people who aren’t adopted too. Raised in one religion decided to go with another religion or even be non-religious.

Answer 12

To answer this I'd need to know the child's age.

Answer 13

My opinions:

1) It's best not to change the child's name, or at least incorporate the child's birth name into the new name.

2) The child should be exposed to both religions while growing up and free to choose whatever religion suits him best when he grows up (even if that is totally different from his original or adoptive family's religion)

3) It is important to continue to let the child experience his birth culture (and food can be part of that). In addition, keeping a similar diet can help during the transition into a new setting (something familiar in a sea of changes). However, I don't think anyone thinks that you should feed the child ONLY the things that he's only had before.

Answer 14

depends the age of the child

Answer 15

Don't change their name unless THEY want it changed.

Teach them about their religion of origin, and yours (and others), and allow him/her to decide for him/herself.

Slowly integrate your food choices into their diet, but don't take the food they are accustomed to out of their diet.

Answer 16

I read a lot of what adult international adoptees had to say about these things and tried to be guided by that.

For our family this meant-

We asked the family what they would prefer, one family was Christian, the other Buddhist but will allow us to teach both.

We kept two of our children's names. For our third child, his name sounded exactly like an American female name, so we shortened it to the male version (like Brian instead of Brianna, or Dean instead of Deanna). Our other son came as a toddler and although we kept his name, we found out later the mother hated it.  She hadn't named him, and the orphanage given name means 'Thursday'.

We learned to cook food from all our children's countries because like you said, that's what they're accustomed to. If it was me, I'd want familiar food. They branched out to American food rather quickly, but we keep their home food in the mix.

Also-  we go to classes every two weeks given by people from our kids' countries so that they can retain some of their language and familiarity with their culture. These same people invite us to celebrate their holidays with them, which is wonderful for our family.  Our friends have helped us find people to assist us in keeping in touch with our kids' first families.

Answer 17

name is another matter I won't go there

But what the HE** responsible parent would raise a child in what they considered the "wrong" religion.. just because it was the

You bet If I think my religion is "right" (not ego.. I don't think it's right because it's MY religion, it's "my religion" because I think it's right) that's the religion I'm going to raise my child in..

what parent wouldn't??

If a catholic thinks you can only have salvation if you're a catholic, it would be very stupid of them to raise the child to be muslim, when they believe that is a h**l-sentence!

So...we do the best we can to know what "right is"  and that's how we live our lives.. how we raise our children..