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.