Adoption Essay Research Paper Adoption is an

Adoption Essay, Research Paper

Adoption is an alternative way to have a family; it is a lifetime decision that should be made very cautiously. Adoption is a process where parents are supplied for children whose biological parents are deceased, or for those children whose biological parents are unable or unwilling to provide for their care. .Adoption creates a parent-child relationship recognized for all purposes including: child support obligations, inheritance rights and custody.(Aigner p 10). The children are provided for childless couples or individuals interested in becoming parents. .According to Dr. Ruth Mc. Roy at the UT School of Social work, there are approximately 5,000,000 US births each year. Out of that approximation 118,000 are adoptions..

Adoption is traced back to the bible. It is known that the Pharaoh.s wife adopted Moses, and Jesus was even adopted by Joseph. Adoption even goes as far back as the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and even the Babylonians.

There were guidelines for adoption written in the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi, the oldest set of written laws, and the practice of adoption

Gradually became the institution of adoption, as the legal guidelines evolved through the Holy Roman Empire, the kingdoms of Europe and Asia,

and finally, the United States and the Americas.

It is recorded that Judaism and Christianity was founded on the idea of open adoption. Before 1850, there were no laws governing adoption. Kids would just be given away without any questions; it was economically motivated because of the circumstances that existed. People living in the city would give up their kids because they couldn.t afford to take care of their children. Farmers loved to receive them because they were able to make them help out on the farm. In 1850 adoption became legally recognized in the United States. The government began making minimal standards for adoption, hoping that the old way of adoption would die out. In 1851 the government made a law stating that you had to have consent from someone to adopt.

This process really did not help the adoption movement because it did not specify who was to give consent. In 1917, different states began to make more laws. For example, Minnesota required the intervention of the welfare department and recommendation from the court. Soon all states required that law.

The year 1928 began a period known as the Butter box Babies. A home was established to allow illegal trading between Canada and the United States. The home was operated by a couple named the Young.s. Parents brought their infants to the house. Depending on the way the infants looked the Young.s either starved them or sold them for big money. The children who died were placed in a box that was meant for dairy products and then buried. It is estimated that out of the sixteen hundred kids that came there, four to six hundred died and the others were sold. The babies were buried on the property across from a cemetery; some were even burned in the furnace.

Closed adoptions came about in 1938. It was also known as the .60 year experiment., an experiment known for its failure. Closed adoptions are adoptions that seal the original birth certificate, leaving no chance in finding anything out about their natural parents.

When the baby boom period began there was a shortage of adoptable children for a childless couple, especially because of how hard it was to give up a child for adoption. This began what was known as the Black Baby Market. You could get an adoptee to be finalized by sealing the birth certificate. In 1955, this conspiracy was brought to light; the amount of money being made from the Black Market was incredibly high. Corrupt public officials declared mothers unfit so that they could get the profit from the baby. Doctors took babies and sold them if they weren.t able to pay off their hospital bill. Records were forged. Adoptive couples never knew if the adoption was legal or not. Committees started and led hearings for stricter controls on adoption. This led to the Uniform Adoption Act.

The uniform adoption act over alls states all requirements that have to be followed to adopt a child.

Since then laws were added to the Uniform Adoption Act and many different types of adoptions has come about. There are now five different types of Adoptions: Agency Adoptions, Private Placement adoption also called independent adoptions, Step Parent Adoption, International Adoption, and open agency adoption.

Agency Adoptions for the most part are free. They are funded through the state by federal taxes. Agency Adoptions are known to place infants and toddlers although their specialty is special needs children, children who were usually the victim of emotional, physical and or mental problems.

Private placement adoptions also known as independent adoptions are sometimes complicated. When choosing a private placement adoption you should check with the Better Business Bureau to see if it is legit. They should have a license and be approved by the state in which they operate. A private Placement adoption entails finding parents interested in putting up their child for adoption. Usually the birth mother is contacted. You can contact the birth mother or natural parents by looking in some newspaper. You can also send letters of your family to such places as a crisis pregna