When you speak of ADOPTION REFORM what exactly are you referring to?

kitta

I find the entire concept of North American adoption /childwelfare industry to be fundamentally flawed.

It was based in the utopian society movements of the 19th century, and the Progressive era, when 'forward thinkers' were trying to find ways to improve society.

The family is the basic unit for replenishing society.

Shape the family, and shape society.

Adoption has re-defined how many people think of families, with government "help."

Adoption of children was based on the idea that environment shaped and molded the child, who was a blank slate at birth. The falsified birth certificate and the laws reflected the "as if born to" concept of this flawed concept.

Subsequent 'reform" attempts have done little to improve this situation.

ETA: I should say: the child was "seen'" as a blank slate at birth in the blank slate theory

Heather Leigh

1) Open Records

2) All agencies need to be Non profit. No one should profit from a child.

3) Same rules across the country instead of it differing from State to State (Heck from county to county they can be different) ie: period for parents to change their mind should be the same everywhere.

4) More rights for Fathers. Too many Fathers are fighting to parent their child.

5) Make open adoptions enforceable

Those are the few that come to mind right off the top of my head....

DevonChaos

I would like to see that women who are considering adoption are subjected to mandatory counseling that will help them realize the pros and cons of both sides. I think that they should discuss all the available help, and focus on keeping families together, rather than allowing the agencies to coerce mothers with their own spin on the situation.

I would like to see open records. I would like to see that finding out who your parents are is something that NO ONE has to spend one red cent on. I would like to see that original birth certificates are available for adoptees at their request.

ETA: And as others have stated, I would like to see more rights for the fathers. I would also like to see that no profit is ever made from the adoption of a child. It should be illegal, and punishable for any agency to do so.

SJM

I'm interested in the elimination of secrecy in child placement. Actually, I'm interested in the reduction of secrecy in many areas of government. Any government activity that is allowed to thrive without oversight, including but not limited to adoption, is an opportunity for oppression and abuse of power.

Laurel J

Open records!

Also, anything that reverts adoption to its true and original purpose--a family for every child, rather than a child for every family. Anything that takes the consumer mentality out of it.

You're going to get some great answers to this one, I can feel it. (-:

Independ"ant"

To many issues to address in one post so I'll just say whats on my mind today.......

I was listening to NPR and one subject was on IVF and the number of rounds women should go through before giving up.

As expected....a lady going through treatment said "well if this doesn't work I'm not opposed to adopting...I always wanted 2 BABIES.....I could just adopt 2 at the same time". I think that its the responsibility of agencies to educate and get the word out about how callous it is to think that you can adopt babies like your picking apples off a tree. That mentality leads to coercing and manipulating girls into relinquishing to say the least. People need to be educated on the big picture and not their WANTS.

Not Adopted

-Focus first and foremost on family preservation by promoting healthy living / education / employment / safe day care.

-Seek inter-family adoption/guardianship as a first recourse.

-Halt infant and international adoption until every child in foster care has a permanent home.

-End the falsification / alteration of birth certificates. Issue an adoption certificate in lieu of altered birth certificates.

-End the illegal practice of "birth mother/father" counseling by unskilled agency workers, which is tantamount to practicing mental health counseling without a license.

-Eliminate sealed records and secret practices; all agency records and financial matters should be subject to formal oversight review.

-100% legally enforceable open adoptions with penalties for failing to comply with the open adoption agreement. Create a standardized open adoption practice so that all parties know what open adoption is, and what it is not.

-Outlaw all private adoptions and hold adoptive parents financially and/or criminally liable for participating in private adoption.

-Hold agencies and adoptive parents financially and criminally liable for bringing children into the U.S as a result of corrupt international adoption practices (i.e. eliminate the "I didn't know they were trafficking babies" excuse).

cantstopLinnyG

Making adoptions outside of a child's family the last resort.

Having every adoption a legally enforceable open adoption (of course, in the case of extreme neglect or abuse, this may not be an option)

Having open records for every adoptee, their entire life

Making ALL foreign adoptions illegal. No exceptions.

Mandatory classes for all foster/adoptive parents with the classes based on the following books:
The Primal Wound by Nancy Verrier
Lost and Found: the Adoption Experience AND
Journey of the Adopted Self: A Quest for Wholeness both by Betty Jean Lifton
The Adopted break Silence by Jean Paton
The Girls Who Went Away by Ann Fessler
Adoption: Uncharted Waters,by David Kirschner
Being Adopted: The Lifelong Search for Self by David Brodzinsky

***eta****
All adoptions are run through a NON-profit agency, only money paid is for court costs, making SURE father's rights are respected, including a DNA test to confirm paternity before signing papers, making sure ALL first Moms have adequate counseling OUTSIDE of an agency, and NO contact with pap before, to insure no subtle coercion.
Thanks, Devon & Heather for putting that down!

myst1998

Well, I would like to see the Adoption Act in my home country (New Zealand) completely abolished and permanent placement orders issued instead. Effectively the same as an adoption order, but without the lies, secrecy and closed doors. Children would only be placed where necessary and legal contact orders set in place where it serves the child... so in cases of abuse/violence and the child doesn't want to see his/her parents, they are not forced but they can ask when they are ready.

Birth certificates remain unchanged and names of their placement families are added to ensure there is no difficulty when it comes to doing paperwork etc.

If a woman really wants to place her child because she feels raising her child isn't an option for her (once she has had her child with her for a couple of weeks) then a legalised Open Adoption plan should be implemented (completely different to what we currently have). Again, no fake birth certificates,mandatory contact plans etc. Mandatory counselling with the mother receiving comprehensive information on adoption and its lifelong impacts on both herself and her child.

We need to start anew... bring 'adoption' into the 21st century where compassion and care is involved; not the barbaric and cold practises we have in place currently.

Serenity71

America needs more reforms than I could poke a stick at.( Its also the attitude towards adoption that stands out to me. And the loops holes and thoughlessness towards the emotional side of all involved floors me. Along with so many other things the mind boggles... )

On my home soil... The way birth certificates are issued needs to be addressed. All of my friends who have adopted children in recent years all agree that its wrong the way they put our names on it without any Reference to the biological parents. (Gosh just a first name if they need to keep a certain amount of privacy for her. Anything other than giving the idea we gave birth to our kids.) None of us want them issued that way.

Inter-country need to be addressed but mainly to pull states inline with one another in their assessments etc. There hasn't been any real reform since the 1960's so it needs updating. I know that inquiries are happening at the moment to do just that. I got cranky when a celebrity adoption advocate suggested Australia become more lenient towards our stand with countries that haven't signed the Hague convention. (She adopted her kids in the US for starters because our system was to hard apparently. You know a celebrity doesn't get special treatment in Australia when it comes to adoption. ) I won't support that move at all. We need to stay strong with our morals and outlook towards family preservation.

Sly I don't know how much you know about Australian local adoption, in one of the questions there was a website, which gives good details.

http://www.originscanada.org/comparison.html
(This information will give you a good idea that if I was an American this is what I'd be aiming for to begin with.)

That will explain it in more detail if youâ€™re interested, thatâ€™s the system and how my kids ended up coming into my life. (These Reforms in the past 10 years and I donâ€™t want us to go backwards. Which is how I look at the apparently 'progressive' faster American adoption system. And I do get angry at Aussies that go over there and take advantage of it because they can't be bothered with ours.(all they need is residency to adopt in the US) It was good enough for us why not other Aussies. If America doesn't change their way of doing things it undermines other countries because short sightened people put pressure on our social services to go backwards, do it more the like the U.S....

Just because a person is an adoptive parent doesn't mean they are pro unethical adoption. I'm pro protection of children and ALL involved in the adoption circle.

And if attending a protest to say no to unethical adoptions and open up records for adoptee's and improve the way women who relinquish children are treated. You be I'd be there...
Good luck with improving practices in your state.

Adoption is about the child in a dysfunctional family needing to be 'correctly' cared for in a temporary manner by someone not in dysfuntion. Be it family or experienced strangers now still the root problem was the natural family needed better coping skills with their situation. Just to remove the child from the home doesn't fix the danger to the child so it can go home someday! Going Home is the child's best goal. Moving a child around in the foster care system too often means no set discipline to strengthen their self esteem and overcome bad behavioral habits. Adoption too often it's as if the government gave up on the family but punishes the child for its own harried decision.

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