Who Needs to Know?

When the thought of an international country is brought to mind, most of the United States society thinks of poverty stricken areas with poor health care and unimaginable living conditions. Their hearts sink and ache when they think of the helpless children being brought into this world into such terrible conditions. Most often the U.S. society only thinks about the wonderful life they could give even just one of these children if they were able to bring them here to the United States and make them part of their family. They don’t, however, think about the conditions that may follow these children wherever they go.
More and more frequently, prospective adopters are being misled into the idea that there are no conditions at all attached to the orphan children they are observing. This is an intentional measure taken by the orphanage, adoption agency, or both, to aid in getting ‘unwanted’ orphans adopted. The conditions surfacing upon arrival to the adoptive family’s homes include developmental delays, behavioral issues including the inability to bond with others and aggressive behavior, as well as medical conditions due to prenatal care such as fetal alcohol syndrome and many diseases associated with the land and water where they are cared for both pre-and post-natal.
The initial problem lies in the poverty that seems to be encompassing our globe. The solution to this devastation, however, is of an explosive complexity. Because there will always be orphans around the world, due natural disasters beyond poverty’s sake, the alternative solution seems to be staked to the orphanages and adoption agencies around the world. They are the orphan’s intermediate parents solely responsible for their ultimate life-long well being. They make the decision of who they place these children with that will forever impact their lives – whether good or bad.
Orphanages and adoption agencies can’t always choose the perfect family for each individual child, but what they can do is give all information possible about each orphan to allow adoptive families every chance in success in raising their adopted child. With incorrect information, or without any knowledge at all regarding their adopted child, an adoptive family walks blindly into the future and not only puts the orphan child at risk, but their family as well.
The solution starts with certain requirements of adoption agencies and orphanages globally. This includes mandating all vaccinations be done, as well as certain tests and observations of all children in order to determine each child’s unique needs. Aiding to this solution, it should be required that all orphanages be required to hire an appropriate amount of staff necessary to care for each individual orphan and ensure they are receiving adequate care and attention. Although the ideal solution would lie in the wake of the birth parents providing this care prenatally, this seems to be unsustainable.
Regulating government run institutions seems more attainable than regulating the general public. How does the government ban sexual relations to those who cannot care for their children or require certain sterilizations or birth controls? How do they require specific prenatal care be provided or all background history be provided upon orphaning a child? What about those who slip through the cracks or, due to legal fears, withhold valuable information? Orphanages and adoption agencies should be required to meet certain criteria and follow specific regulations in order to operate as a ‘business.’ This includes the presentation of all information, regardless of the status, in order to enable the best possible care for adoptive children, who, above the adoptive parents, deserve all the help and ease they can receive.

Cause and Effect

Globally, there are many diseases and mental disabilities among the human culture. These rates continue to climb as more and more children are brought into the world each day. Poverty and other economic turmoils have a huge impact on men and women being able to keep their children, or just the idea of giving them a better life. A problem that is being faced with the increase of diseases and psychological disorders in infants resides in international adoption. There are cases that seem to become more frequent as time goes by where adoption agencies/orphanages do not provide all information known about an orphan in their facility because of disease or disorders. They fear, and it is a justified reaction in many cases, that when prospective adopting parents find out any such information, they immediately desire to look at a different child.

This creates the inability for orphanages and adoption agencies to get certain children adopted from their facility. Not only does the child grow older which often creates more problems, but they also require more time and attention, which in result costs more money. So when an agency or orphanage decides not to disclose this information in order to get the child into a home, the parent is then presented with unknown illnesses or disorders that they are unaware of how to treat. This is becoming a problem because there are many adoptive parents who both physically and emotionally cannot take care of a child with a disability or disorder. Therefore, there are many family tearing-aparts and tragedies resulting from their inability to care for the symptoms. The problem stems from the fact that often times, the placement could have been prevented, or the family could have been better prepared to care for the child.

The Opposition

In the research I have been doing, there is not a lot of opposition. Most people agree with the idea that adoption agencies need to provide all information relating to each orphan child. However, in Too Much Information, Anabel Unity Sale argues that providing all of this information could 'mean a much reduced pool of people willing to adopt.' The tools Sale uses to get her point across are:

• Indicating how there has been a large boom in recent adoption, but with new adoption regulations that force agencies to give all information, there could be a large decrease in adoptions
• Sale does agree to the extent that this is not always a bad thing for parents to know about the child, but even then, there are many cases where disabilities or inhibitions do not present themselves until later. This allows the reader to agree with the author regardless of their stance because it is a statement of fact that there are certain diseases that do not show right away
• Sale goes on to tell a story of a husband and wife who were not told that the two half-brothers they adopted would have attachment disorders. In this story, he informs the audience that the couple wouldn't change the experience they have had. This gives the reader the idea that, even though they may face some hardships, couples often have a very rewarding experience with adopted children with disabilities

This article allows the reader to agree with the stance because, although there is opposition to the point being made, there are still some very reasonable points being made that can side with all positions on the topic.

Adoption Agency Misleadings

My stance on this issue has changed slightly from what if first was. I started out just looking at Russian adoption but have broadened to international adoption. Although I do still believe that adoption agencies need to give all pertinent information to prospective adoptive parents in order for them to adequately care for the children, there is another fine line that is somewhat pressing. What about parents who bear their children naturally? They have no say in what their child is born with, other than the effort they put forth to ensure good health while the child is in the womb. I do think that my paper will continue to focus on the the care for the orphan children and the adequate medical testing and record keeping to ensure that no information is missed that could potentially help/hurt the child. After all, the most important thing is the well-being of the adopted children. It is beneficial to the adoptive parents to know the information about their adoptive child, but more so they can provide adequate care and learn about treatments, etc., not to simply let them know if they have a healthy child or not.

Key Words Defining Problems Associated With International Adoption

The importance of understanding basic terms to a topic is very important in order to understand the argument. A few key words involved in international adoption are: International Adoption, Orphans, Psychological Problems, Poverty, and Prenatal Care. It is very important to understand these topics and how they are used in international adoption.

When considering the definition of international adoption, it is important to understand that this is not solely inclusive of simply adopting a child from another country. Unlike most adoptions in the U.S. where the adoptive parents at least get to see a picture and get some detailed information of the birth mother and possibly father, many people go in and come out blind when adopting internationally. In orphans, it's important to understand that in this subject, it is children in orphanages and not including those on the streets unaccounted for. Also, the lack of care in orphanages actually alters the children's development. These conditions, along with poverty and prenatal care lead to psychological problems which define where the psychological problems come from. It is also important to understand that poverty and prenatal care are much worse than many people have ever physically seen and that these experiences effect the fetus.

These key terms, in and of themselves, define some of the major problems involved with international adoption. It is important to understand their relativity to the topic in order to understand why there are so many problems involved.

Can You Decipher Any Emotional Disorders in these Children?

This image appears to be depicting a situation of the sheer desire for orphan children to 'belong' to a family. There is not even a smile or peak of happiness radiating from any of them. The eyes from each child in the 'cage' radiates the longing to be loved. Also notice that there is not one adult in the confined area with the children. Except for the company of each other, the children are all alone.

This photograph is important to my topic because it shows what adoptive parents are presented with when choosing a child to adopt. How do they pick just one? And, when looking at all the children, how difficult it must be for them to look deeply into each child and pick them apart. None of these children appear to have any psychological disorders or emotional problems due to being confined in an orphanage. But how can the 'average joe' tell? This is why it is important for adoption agencies to present all information about these children so that parents are able to adopt a child that they can give a good life to.

Innate Love Already Exists

In reviewing the article Adopting With Care, and for Good written by Susan Dominus from the New York Times in April 2010, she uses inductive reasoning to move her audience by first reviewing certain characteristics looked for when medically screening an orphan child and then detailing how technology has advanced this process over the years for Dr. Jane Aronson who is a pediatrician who helps adoptive parents evaluate the mental and physical health of possible adoptees. Her major premise seems to be that many parents have an innate love and sense of belonging with their future adoptive child. She uses supports this by telling the audience that there is a love that develops for the unknown child in the long journey to first make the decision to adopt and then go through the process. This is a long journey that many take, and through this hard and emotional time, their love grows deeper and deeper for their child; any child.

Dominus centers the minor premise around the idea that with information given, although parents still have the tendency to be scared towards the situation and the unknown to an agree, it puts them many steps ahead than if they had no information or advice given at all. There can sometimes still be the unknown. She uses support that, although they screen these orphans and decipher what challenges the adoptive family is capable of managing, there is still the unknown. She has many clients whose friends try to give them support by stating that women who bear their children naturally are also presented with the unknown and are expected to deal with whatever their child is born with. Dominus does indicate that this is true, but international orphans are at a disadvantage with poverty rates and very poor prenatal care.

Dominus concludes with a story about a couple that adopted a young child who seemed to be very deprived and behind schedule developmentally. She evaluates these findings during a routine exam and informs the parents of this, but this information does not seem to phase them as they are enjoying the progress and advancements the child is making in the office while playing with toys and emotionally bonding with the parents. This story is used as an analogy to imply that most adoptive parents, regardless of any delays or setbacks, still have that innate love for their adoptive child that was formed long before they even knew the child.

Works Cited

DOMINUS, SUSAN. "Adopting With Care, and for Good." New York Times 17 Apr. 2010: 13. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. 19 May 2010