What do you think are the 3 most important changes that need to be made to adoptions/foster care?

Looney Tunes

For foster care:

1) Ensure that children are not moved from home to home. Every move puts a child ~6 months behind in school and crushes their self-esteem.

2) Provide the services the children need, especially mental health. Don't just drug them, but provide therapy to deal with the pain and trauma of past abuse and neglect.

3) Provide better training and education to foster parents, so they know how to handle issues that arise from children who were abused and neglected. If the foster parents are better prepared, the children won't be moved around as much.

4) Provide services to older foster kids, so that when they age-out, they are prepared to goto college, or trade school, or get a job. Provide them a monthly stipend and healthcare until they get on their feet if they are going to school or working. Don't just kick them out at age 18.

5) Ensure that each child has a worker that is going to stick around for awhile. The workers need more pay and there needs to be more of them so their caseloads are less.

6) GET every foster kid a MENTOR. In some cases, mentors have really changed the lives of kids. Something like a Big Brother/Big Sister program for foster kids.

celtic.piskie

Totally agree with both so far. Infertile couples should grieve for the child they cannot have, rather than pretending and using a child as a band-aid.

I would like something other than a birth certificate to acknowledge the adoption.
I don;t see the need to erase a child's past, their history and heratige in order to adopt.
Birth certificates shoukd nhever be sealed.

If the mothers don;'t want contact, there are ways to have that without denying you ever gave birth.
All sealing does is discriminate against adoptees, cause us pain, and keeps us from our genes.

Mandatory councelling to reveal any inderlying psychological problems.
Maybe then I wouldn;t have as many broken bones.
Maybe then some of us wouldn;t have been abused.

Sly

1. Mothers should be given support and assistance to raise their families, not necessarily on their own, but within their communities. Resources, medical care, and supportive families and friends should be the norm instead of the imposed shame and isolation that is currently.

2. All records should be opened to all the principle parties involved in them. If the child has reached majority, then the APs should no longer be considered to be one of the principles, since they are no longer acting on behalf of a minor child in their care. There should be an end to all the lies of adoption. the Amended BC should be disposed of, and a Certificate of Adoption added as an amendment to the OBC.

3, The Foster Care system should be dismantled and rebuilt not as a holding pen for children awaiting release so they can be adopted, but also as a temporary safe place for desperate parents to turn to for temporary relief. The Safe Haven in Nebraska is a terrible example of the kind of desperation that some parents experience and how little assistance there is for them. Some times a parent who hasn't got family or a support system nearby reaches a point of desperation and needs a minute to step back from the awesome responsibility of their child, particularly one that has difficulties.

Emeraude

Loving, established, but gay couples should be able to adopt.

Freckle Face

Dear Mum to Superkids,

You are my new hero:)

1)Leave original birth certificates in tact and let them be open to all.

2)Change the USA adoptive practices to that of Australia's. Eliminating private adoption agencies thus eliminating profits off adoptions. Revamping foster care so that ALL adoptions go thru foster care and again ending private adoptions.

3)Protect a pregnant women rights and offer assistance in parenting before adoption even enters the conversation. Preserve families whenever and where ever possible making adoption a last resort.

Great Question!

Rowan

Access to orginal birth certificates and medical history should be allowed. Trust me, despite the fact i'm happy, would have been nice to know there was diabetes in my family.
Gay couples should be allowed to adopt.
The child should be allowed to say if they want contact with birth parents or not. And that should be respected.
Infertile couples should receive couselling to make sure they are adopting for the right reasons. As a matter of fact, all PAPs should. Regardless.

Not Adopted

1. Outlaw all private adoptions.
2. Focus on family preservation and kinship care. Make sure natural families have a safety net to keep them together.
3. If a child is in foster care and reunification has become impossible, make sure that child retains his/her own identity and provide follow-up services and support until early adulthood.

Sofiakat

1. I think all international adoption should be banned and paps who really want to be parents would adopt children from the large number of children in care in their own countries. Financial reforms should be made in other countries so residents could adopt other residents in care.
2. I think pre-birth arranged adoptions should be banned. Adoption should be discussed as an option, but paps should not be involved with the pregnancy and the mother should have a period time with her child in order to decide what she really wants to do. If the mother is insistent that the child be placed at birth, the child could be placed as fostering with a view to adopt, in order to give the mother a chance to know her child, while not being the primary care-giver.
3. I think young mothers should be given financial assistance when that is the only reason why they must give their baby up for adoption as well as parenting classes and support.
4. ALL information should be released at the age of 18, as is being done in Ontario Canada, to both the mother, father, and child.

knomanhoo

Preserve the identity & root of the child.
Many sections of people have names clearly signifying ethnic,cultural & race ..due consideration should be given on this.
Allow & help the child grow up identifying themselves with their identity & thereby learning to know & understand themselves......Knowing oneself is the most important breakthrough in a person's life.
Foster parents should be identified as foster parents ...& when we say foster parents....we must learn to grant them the dignity & honor due unto them for the vacuum they fill up in a child's life...& the child too must know the fact that their parents are foster parents...adjust,accept,
appreciate & honor them with love & gratitude.
As the old folk-lore goes....there's nothing more tragic & unfortunate than an orphan who refuses to recognize his position & live a life of ingratitude towards
foster-parents.
Both the child & parents need proper professional guidance.

LadyMoon

Infertile couples should have EXTENSIVE counselling and be banned from adopting for at least 2 years after their fertility treatment has ended, and they have proved that they have healed from the pain infertility caused them.

monika sharma

Adoption is a legal process by which a couple takes the responsibility to raise a child who is not biologically related to them as their own Adoption is a legal process by which a couple takes the responsibility to raise a child who is not biologically related to them as their own

Things you should keep in mind before adoption :

It is important for you to qualify to adopt a child. The following checklist will give you an idea as to whether you can confidently choose to adopt a baby:

â€¢ You should have a steady income to provide financial security for the child.
â€¢ You should be able to provide a secure environment for the child.
â€¢ You or your partner should not have a criminal record.
â€¢ Your age and your partnerâ€™s age combined should not exceed 90.
â€¢ You should not have any major illness.

Benefits of adoption:
â€¢ Adopting a child can bring untold joys and happiness to your family.
â€¢ You can make a big difference to an orphaned childâ€™s life.
â€¢ The child gets a parent, family, security, love and happiness.
â€¢ It is a noble gesture towards society.

If you are interested for more information visit at: http://www.indianwomenshealth.com/Adoption-158.aspx

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