Anybody have good pros on international adoption?

kateiskate is getting married

I cannot give you any pros on international adoption, but I wanted to correct one of your bullet points so you don't get it wrong in your debate.

You said "When a child is adopted overseas and the family returns home, the adoption is complete and legal. There is no waiting time upon return to the states". This statement is false. After your bring your IA child home, you have to apply for citizenship before the adoption can be finalized. This takes months, often years. I came to my adoptive parents in 1987, but my adoption wasn't finalized until 1989.

Wellspring

Here's 2 more "selling features" missing from the list:

1.
"...using the information you provide to us regarding gender, health and age of the child you seek - you will be offered a child that suits your criteria. If you have a reason for not accepting a child, we will assist you in locating another child.

".... if at any point in the process before the adoption is finalized you decide that you don't want to adopt, all your remaining fees would be returned to you. Essentially if you got to the country and the child was not the child you wanted to adopt after all, for any reason, you would have the options of either selecting another child while you are there, or when you return home all your remaining fees would be returned to you."

2.
"...if at a later date, even after the child comes to your home, you feel that you do not want to parent the child, we guarantee to take legal custody of the child and will find another suitable adoptive family for the child, and find you another child and will process the case. All fees which you have already paid will be credited to your second case. .....we want you to know the level of commitment we have to our families and to the children we bring home...."

anonymous

FYI -
* International adoption can take as long as 5 years (China, India).
* Babies are not available internationally.
* The youngest children are toddlers when adopting internationally and many are older even as old as 5-9 years of age.
* While one can specify the country where one can adopt from, one cannot specify cultural/linguistic/ethnic/racial choices within that country. Some children born and adopted abroad are not actually from that country but were born in that country and given up for adoption in that new country. Some are 1/2 from that country and 1/2 from another country because the birth mother was working abroad at time of conception. In addition, India is a multi-linguistic, multi-ethnic country and even if an Indian-American wants to adopt from where they're originally from in India, they might not be able to adopt from that locale and instead may be adopting a child of a different language/ethnicity all together form a different part of the country.
* India gives the birth parents options to change their minds. Some children supposedly seen as orphans are not orphans at all and were kidnapped or given up for adoption due to poverty, not desire to not parent.
* International countries have different regulations (See the US State Dept for good information) and thus not everyone can adopt internationally. For example, China has a BMI (Body Mass Index) requirement and India does not allow gays to adopt. India also has strict age requirements thus you have to be at least 30 and not more than 45 or not more than a combination of 90 when a couple is adopting.
* Foreign adoptions do not always add cultural diversity to the family. Many transracial adoptions into white families (and not all are white, by the way) give lip service to the cultural background and raise the child without any respect to the child's country of origin. Also, consider that many immigrant families adopt internationally to find a child that fits/matches their racial/cultural background so that they do not have to adopt domestically as it would be a transracial adoption domestically for them and they want a homogenous family cultural experience by adopting from home country.
* Some international adoptees have found their birth families.
* There is a vast shortage of children available because not all children are classified as orphans and not all are free for adoption.
* Incorrect about cost. Birth parent adoptions are the MOST expensive with foster care adoptions the cheapest. Domestic birth parent adoptions come with cost of delivery, prenatal care, and pregnancy including complications during pregnancy.
* It is easier to adopt through the US foster care system than adopting internationally in terms of the requirements. All international adoptions have to qualify locally in their county AND then meet US State Dept immigration requirements AND then the country and localities in the foreign country requirements.
* India only allows Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and Buddhists to adopt and all others are guardians so that foreigners have to adopt back in home country. This requires Indian adoptions to include supervised visits by a social worker, a report to the local courts by the social worker about the visits, and a 6 month waiting period before adoption can be finalized. The child becomes a US citizen ONLY after being legally adopted AND the name cannot be changed until adopted.

racheypoo

I agree with Maybe...This is just a list of "selling features" for parents and the children are not taken into consideration whatsoever. This is really gross.

Please see:

http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AnB2AawGocEAgFqeNZFIfKTBFQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20090713105926AA3zc5b&show=7#profile-info-GG54wsLyaa

and:

http://ca.answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AjiuWBaSprdJAugKOxZL2HvBFQx.;_ylv=3?qid=20090704191555AAA6YxP&show=7#profile-info-RGqn6JFfaa

Maybe if you look at it from the perspective of an International Adoptee, you will get the idea. I'm not saying it's always bad, but as I say in one of my answers, it's really just the only option we have at this moment, and if possible, it should be prevented.

I'm sorry if I'm coming off annoyed, but these kids are not commodities, and should not come with "selling features".

Roberta P

Re-adoption depends on the visa you travel under and your state. Some states make you readopt others don't no matter which visa you have.
Citizenship is granted once you go through customs.

The children adopted can receive medical care that is not available in their birth country. So many children in orphanages suffer from diseases and birth defects that are easily treated or corrected, but there is no money to provide care,

Proud Nuna

Alot of your "facts" are false..do more research.

Adopted and searching

See how all these good points are directed for the adopters, not the adopted child? That's why several children from one family get spread between as many families as there are children. No need to keep the siblings together, let's make all these families happy.

Tonia

The poster above me says it all.

And an answerer in here is WRONG about IA:

The adoption is final once returning with the child to the USA after a READOPTION is done... not once they get their citizenship.... CITIZENSHIP is a whole issue altogether.

maybe

What the he!!...I thought adoption was about helping children (?) This is nothing more than a laundry list for making adoptive parents happy.

DevonChaos

There are IA's who are not orphans. Many of them have at least one parent.

Hardly any of these address the benefit of the child, only the parents. Adoption is in place to benefit children. It is not there to provide children to adults. These reasons listed above are some of the reasons I dislike IA so very much.

You should research the effects of IA on children. You might find it harder to argue any "pros" after that, though.

emma

I agree with many others who have answered that this is only about adoptive families and not necessarily accurate. I believe that done ethically and responsibly, IA can be a good thing for the children who are adopted.

1. Children who are deemed "unadoptable" in their home country either because of disability or other factor may be adopted out of country. One of the reasons that our children were put on the list to be adopted internationally was the intense racism against children who have very dark skin in their home country.

2. Some countries have a strong bias against adoption. In some countries adoption is seen in a negative light so people do not readily adopt within the country. International adoption is the best choice in this situation.

3. Orphanage care is not ideal care. My children were older and specifically asked to be adopted because they had been living in an orpahage and really hated it. They often talk about how much they miss their friends from the orphanage, but that they do not ever want to live there again. They all very much wanted a family environment.

4. Medical and pschological care is not ideal in orphanage or similar environments, so adoptions can give access to care that was not available in the orphanage. Most countries work to provide the best care possible to each of their citizens, but in many situations the consistent care of parents is better. I make sure that my children go to therapy every week. They did have therapy in their home country, but it was only available every months or every couple of months. There were simply too many children to provide care to each and every child once a week. My children are doing much better with consistent care.

5. Although some children are not, there are children who are genuine orphans and in need of families.

6. Many international adoptions require long in-country stays so that children can meet new parents on their own terms in their own country. It allows for children to begin the bonding process with their parents in familiar territory and have some shared cultural experiences.

7. Some international adoptions allow for open records not allowed in the United States. For example, we have copies of all of our children's birth certificates that have their names as well as every piece of paper from the courts and the "dcf" of their home country (over 200 pieces of paper including their medical, social and psychological evaluations and even report cards from school).

Not all IA is ideal, but there are some "pros" that have not yet been mentioned.

J.J.

As a 38 year old adopted person who was taken from my homeland the negatives of international adoption far outweigh the positives. If you had gone to adoptee gathering in Asia and seen and heard all of the adult adoptees talk about their experiences in their 'new and improved' homes, you'd see how multi-million dollar 'charitable' adoption agencies take advantage of children, trafficking them to strangers all for the almighty dollar. It's sad and unethical. Unfortunately the children taken are called 'orphans' when they have been 'counseled' out of their families.

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