History of International Adoption - Research Paper Example

International Adoption Table of Contents Table of Contents 2 Background 3 History of International Adoption 3 The Politics of the International Adoption 4 Reason of Choosing International Adoption 4 Statistics regarding International Adoption 5 Cost of International Adoption 6 Financial Assistance 6 Adoption Process 7 Post - Adoption Formalities 8 Pros and Cons of International Adoption 8 Regulation 9 Conclusion 9 References 10 10 Bibliography 12 Background International adoption can be considered as an alternative but integrated part of building up a family. It involves with the transfer of children from one country to another for the purpose of parenting. It can be consider as a form of stranger adoption. It is completely different from the relative adoption where either the step parent or the child’s extended biological family take up the responsibility of the child. Even international adoption is different from national adoption also as in case of international adoption children and the adoptive parents meet across lines of disparity involving not only in the biological factor, but also race, ethnicity, nationality, cultural heritage and socio economic class. Typically in international adoption, the adoptive parents usually belong to one of the richer countries of the world where they have a tendency to adopt children from a poor mother and belonging to less privileged ethnic and racial groups of poorer countries of the world. There are many countries that serve for the US couples who are planning to adopt (Bartholet, “International Adoption”). History of International Adoption International adoption is a phenomenon of the last half century. The trend had begun after the First World War. The horrible outcome of the war led to predictable deaths and devastation. In most of the vanquished countries, the difficulty of parentless children had become evident to the world. Again Korean War also opened up an option for United States to adopt Korean child. Recently, dissolution of the U.S.S.R. and fall of the “Iron Curtain” have resulted in inclusion of the name of Russia, China and various new countries in that list. China’s one –child problem along with its overpopulation crisis resulted in the foreign adoption of thousands of baby girls (Bartholet, “International Adoption”). The Politics of the International Adoption The two basic reasons namely the children in need of home and larger community issues make people in favor of the international adoption. Otherwise there is huge controversy regarding this subject. Again one who is in favor of international adoption defines it in context of the social science and child development expertise which refers that children placed in the international adoptive home grow up much better than those who brought upon the street or in institutional homes. In this regards, the opponents argued that children can be better served through remaining in the same community of their origin and become fortunate to enjoy ethnic and national heritage. Again the advocates of the international adoption question that how children can enjoy their cultural heritage full fledged while growing up in an orphanage or on street. Reason of Choosing International Adoption There are few reasons of choosing international adoption and that can be described now. The major reason is decline in the availability of the newborns in the United States. There are more than 50 countries to choose from for adoption such as Colombia, Kazakhastan, Liberia, Haiti, Ethiopia and others. According to the statisticians, 75% of the foreign children came from Russia, China, Ukraine, S. Korea and Guatemala (Astin & Et. Al., “International Adoption”). Statistics regarding International Adoption A list of top ten countries has been exhibited in a tabular format along with its number of adoption to the US. Name of the Country Number of Adoption to the US China 3001 Ethiopia 2277 Russia 1586 South Korea 1080 Guatemala 756 Ukraine 601 Vietnam 481 Haiti 330 India 297 Kazakhstan 295 (Legal Language Service, “The Top Most Popular Countries”). According to the factsheets of US, more than 10,000 international adoptions are being completed annually by Americans (Hassler, P. “Adopt International: Everything You Need to Know to Adopt a Child from Abroad”). The figure was around 20,000 per annum from the period of 2000 to 2008. In 2009, 12,753 families of US had adopted international children (Legal Language Service, “The Top Most Popular Countries”). It has been also found that men of 18-44 age groups are twice interested to adopt a child in comparison to the women of the same age group (CDC, “Highlights”). Cost of International Adoption Basically for international adoption certain extra costs have to be incurred by the adoptive parents. They need to travel to the country of origin of the child. Even they need to travel at least two times or have to stay there for a long duration and both are subject to high cost. After adoption, also the parents have to visit the native country of the children for maintaining cultures. Then agency cost also has to be borne by the parents. For international adoption training is required to understand the legal procedure and also for post adoption formalities and others. Even in certain cases, parents join the classes to learn the language of the sending country and to become familiar with the culture of that nation which is very essential for the parents to bring up the children. Medical cost of the adopted children should also be considered. Beside that, few other charges are also there to be considered, such as donation to the orphanage, foreign attorney legal and placement fees, escort charges and other charges. As per the records, the general cost for the international adoption is approximately $ 30,000 (Hegwood, “What Is the Cost of International Adoption?”). Financial Assistance The financial assistance that the adoptive parent could get are the Tax-deductable benefits, State Tax Credit/ Adoption Subsidies, dependency exemption and adoption assistance benefit program. Even they can be fortunate enough to get the employer assistance also (Astin & Et. Al., “International Adoption”). Adoption Process Before adopting a child, the parents should take care of two things, adoption process and immigration process. For the first process one needs to understand the requirement of their home country and child’s home country. Even to become eligible for the international adoption this becomes a precondition. Certain territories and provinces undertake licensed agencies to take care of the adoption process. The parents should ensure that they have a sound understanding with the laws and legal procedures of that country with respect to adoption. Many countries follow the ‘Hague Convention’ and to adopt children from those countries, parents are required to meet with the provincial governmental officials (Citizenship and Immigration Canada, “Before You Apply”). In order to get started with the international adoption few processes are followed. At the planning stage, the parents need complete certain background research. They should choose the agency on the basis of the history, credentials and employees. Information can be collected from various sources like that of internet, books, and magazines and most importantly from the adoptive parent groups. Next, they need to file a form ‘I- 600’ for advance processing. The next step is about applying for the passport unless they have it. Simultaneously, they need to prepare the referral of the child and obtain final guardianship. Then, they have to apply for the orphan visa which will lead to post placement supervision and lastly they need to readopt the children in their country and have to file for the citizenship (Astin & Et. Al., “International Adoption”). Post - Adoption Formalities After adoption, certain formalities need to be accomplished. Basically the adoption procedure is to be finalized in the nation of origin. After adoption the parents have to send back the citizenship notification to the country of origin. Apart from this legal procedure, they need to undertake proper counseling. The children have to be familiar with culture of their parents and for the purpose proper training, guidance and support of parents are very essential. The adoptive parents can organize picnic, holidays and motherland trips to build up a healthy relationship (Astin & Et. Al., “International Adoption”). Pros and Cons of International Adoption The pros and cons of international adoption are demonstrated below: Pros: It leads to learning of a new culture, with an idea of the time frame and cost where a guarantee can be provided in terms of referrals. Cons: They have to travel to other counties. Therefore, after adoption medical issues can arise because of unknown health conditions. Unlike relative and national adoption, it is difficult to track birth parents and the adapting parents have to deal with huge legal documentation that often results to unpredictable delays (Astin & Et. Al., “International Adoption”). Regulation Basically, no children from Australia, Western Europe or Canada are allowed to be adopted by Americans. Even in the countries of Armenia, Sri Lanka and Thailand no single parent can adopt. Some countries require long term residency limits for adopting. Major hazards are faced by the parents while adopting from Korea as the parent should not be 30% overweighed with respect to the normal weight for their respective height (Ashe, “Restrictions & Requirements”). Conclusion There are many countries that serve the US couples who are planning to adopt. Therefore, parents search for the country that provides best service along with uncomplicated legal procedures. The aspects that have to be considered while adopting internationally are gender, race, age and most importantly the medical needs. Couples should take suggestion of the qualified adoption professionals, who can provide them the most effective solution (Adoption, “Getting Started with International Adoption”). With this note the project can be concluded that in near future all the hazards and legal procedures of international adoption are expected to be minimized and number of international adoption will be gradually increasing which will result in a broad cultural upliftment worldwide and a strong political relationship among the nations of all over the world. References Adoption. “Getting Started with International Adoption”. October 06, 2010. International Adoption, 2010. Ashe, N. S. “Restrictions & Requirements”. October 06, 2010. Foreign, 2010. Astin, C. & Et. Al. “International Adoption”. October 06, 2010. Adoption, 2008. Bartholet, E. “International Adoption”. October 06, 2010. Children and Youth in Adoption, Orphanages, and Foster Care, 2005. CDC. “Highlights”. October 06, 2010. Adoption Experiences of Women and Men and Demand for Children to Adopt by Women 18–44 Years of Age in the United States, 2002, 2008. Citizenship and Immigration Canada. “Before You Apply”. October 06, 2010. International Adoption, 2010. Hassler, Patricia. Adopt International: Everything You Need to Know to Adopt a Child from Abroad American Library Association, 1996. Hegwood, V. G. “What Is the Cost of International Adoption?”. October 06, 2010. eHow, 2010. Legal Language Service, “The Top Most Popular Countries”. October 06, 2010. The International Adoption Process, 2010. Bibliography Davenport, Dawn. The Complete Book of International Adoption: A Step by Step Guide to Finding Your Child Broadway, 2006. Marre, Diana. & Briggs, Laura. International Adoption: Global Inequalities and the Circulation of Children NYU Press, 2009. Traver, A. E. “Sociologists for Women in Society Fact Sheet”. October 06, 2010. Gender & International Adoption, 2008. Read More