International Adoption

International Adoption

Adoption can be defined as a process by which children are brought together with adults who are not their biological parents to form a family. Practiced informally throughout human history, adoption in the United States has evolved into a formalized legal procedure; its primary legal purpose is to protect the welfare of children in cases where the birth parents are gone or unable to care for their offspring. Throughout adoption, the legal ties to a child's birth parents are severed. Adopted children are seen in the eyes of the law as permanent members of the adoptive family with all the legal rights and privileges of biological children. Often, many of the adoptive parents and family don't tell the child that they are adopted and somehow, they lose a sense of who they are.

Some changes need to be made with international adoption. With the problems listed, we should restrict international adoption because of all the potential risks of it. The problems sometimes are so bad that the children do not even get to see the outside of the orphanage or facility that they are in. There are many problems within international adoption including health problems, children losing

their culture, and developmental problems. Also, another change should consist of having the adoptive family be tested to make sure they can handle the problems with the adopted children including the expenses for hospital stays and immunizations, the house is environmentally friendly to everyone who is staying in the house, and that the caregivers are fit to be parents of such a needy child. There needs to be security at orphanages so they can check everything about you.

Some of the changes I would like to make would be to have every child who is set up to go to an orphanage or to be put up for an adoption to be given a very intense physical examination. I would also like a psychological evaluation and also a test to see how they react to new situations and other children and adults in their surroundings. Other changes would include making sure that the facility the children are in is an adequate place for that child to be staying at while they are awaiting a time to be given a new home and family. There should be many more precautions taken to ensure the best care and health for the child and the family as well.

There are many health problems with children who are internationally adopted. Many times adoption agencies would not give accurate information on the child's history because all the problems the child might have, this would slow down the process of adoption because many people want the perfect baby.

The problems include diseases found on the children like hepatitis, AIDS, malaria, and measles from places with inadequate health care. There are hundreds of diseases that internationally adopted children carry with them to and from their old country and gets everyone around them sick. In the article "Cases of Measles in Adopted children from China", Morantz states that there is an investigation in many states including three cases of measles from children adopted from China. She also states that in 2001 there was a measles outbreak among ten children adopted abroad and four among parents and siblings ranging from the age of twenty-eight months to forty-seven years. (Morantz) Research shows that there have been many cases of diseases like measles reported to the health departments in their local areas.

The diseases come in various forms. According to the website, FamilyDoctor.org there is a list of hundreds of diseases that have been found not only on people from the United States, but there is a significant difference in how many internationally adopted children and adults have these specific health problems. For instance, there could be physical health problems like Spina Bifida, Muscular Dystrophy, or Scoliosis. One could also have mental health problems including Cerebral Palsy, Asperger's Syndrome, Lyme disease, or if you recently adopted an infant they could be suffering with Shaken Baby Syndrome. In addition, Staat and Klepser's article, "International adoption: Issues in Infectious Diseases", states that the adopted children from other countries have given their new family members a number of infectious diseases including tuberculosis, hepatitis B, and the measles. It is fact and they have records on the many other diseases not mentioned. (Staat and Klepser)

Malnutrition also comes into play with the children coming from orphanages and coming from poverty. According to the article "International Adoptions: Myths and Realities", "Internationally adopted children often live in overcrowded conditions with poor nutrition and hygiene, breeding grounds for opportunistic infections". (Narad and Mason 484)

Children who come from other countries come to America and their adoptive parents do not keep their culture in their development as a person. The children lose their culture from lack of knowing where they are from because the US families do not adequately understand the other country's culture. Also, the birth parents and the new adoptive parents should keep in touch with each other for the sake of the child knowing their original