The Inter Country Adoption of Children - Research Paper Example

Discussion Questions On what dimensions of an adopted child is there asymmetric information between the adoptive parents and the mother who gave birth to the child (“birth mother”)? To what extent does this information asymmetry also arise between the adoptive parents and an orphanage? The concerned case discusses the inter country adoption of children. This essentially talks about the adoption of Chinese children by parents from US and Singapore. However information asymmetry might exist between the birth parents and adoptive parents. To understand this first one might consider the reasons for which a baby is left at the orphanage. It could be maternal physical and psychological illness, abuse resulting from drugs and alcohol, poverty, legal structure, etc. It is impossible for the orphanage or for the adoptive parents to identify any genetic disorders especially if they are psychological. Although in this case the factor elaborated upon is legal structure and the single child regulation established in China, the other aspects like malnutrition and psychological problems could not be overruled. Neugebauer derived a close association with maternal nutritional deficiency and schizophrenia. Such instances if present in the child are not reflected in his or her behaviors until a certain age is reached. (Neugebauer, 621) Since in most cases the parents’ identity itself is unknown when a child is available for adoption, therefore knowing about the parents’ background in terms of social and economic well being is also next to impossible. Since the main reason for abandoning a new born child in China is the cloudy prospects of the child and the single child constrain, therefore it is more likely that the parents would simply leave the babies in front of the orphanage without revealing their identity. In such cases only the birth parent would know about the level of nutrition available to the mother. Again, certain behavioral symptoms arising from some abnormalities might be due to some genetic issues, which might be known to the specific families only. It is often believed by US parents that Chinese children are healthy due to the fact that their mothers, owing to their remote location and low economic status are bound to stay away from alcohol and drugs, but as per Dr. Borchers opinion, “Although many families focus on the country of a childs birth in assessing health and development, this factor is not as important as the individual situation of a given child”. Premature birth and prenatal nutrition might play a major role in the health status of the child irrespective of which nation the child belongs. Therefore the belief that Chinese children would be relatively healthy is not also just and valid. It Is also important for the adoptive parents to know about the prenatal care, ailments, blood tests and other tests (including HIV, syphilis and hepatitis B) undergone by the birth mother. Once again this is not possible is most cases since the identity of the birth mother is unknown and here emerges the information asymmetry between the two sets of parents. Again a child’s future physical growth prospects depend on the genetic structure, which is normally known to the birth parents even without any medical tests done because a child’s growth normally takes after that of their parents. In this respect different countries adopt varying strategies. The growth patterns, growth points and other developmental information might be assumed rather than diagnosed by most of the institutions. Fetal alcohol syndrome is a disorder, which results from alcoholic habits of the mother before or during pregnancy. This results in language problems, mental disorders and other growth related hazards. These problems are difficult to be identified by the adoptive parents unless the child is allowed to grow up to a certain age for observation before he or she is adopted. With respect to the above-mentioned dimensions there might be problems of symmetric information between the adoptive parents and birth parents. (Borchers) Although the babies are normally screened for HIV and hepatitis B by the orphanages before they are delivered to the adoptive parents, yet such information might be hidden and reports might be forged in order to obtain the lumpsum cash involved in the transaction. Pictures of babies sent abroad to the US parents might be carefully manipulated to hide minor physical flaws and by the time the parent takes the pain to travel all the way and pays some cash in advance, he or she is less likely to back off. Sometimes the information related to the child’s birth and prenatal nutrition information might be available to the orphanage but they might purposely hide certain important information from the adoptive parents for purpose of profit. Again an adoptive parent needs to submit certain certificates about his or her age proof, criminal records, etc. according to regulations, a single male parent should be at least 40 years older than a female child to be adopted and either parents need to have clean criminal records. However information in this context might be forged as well and the orphanage might not be aware of the actual situation therefore (Travel China Guide). This will therefore result in information symmetry between the adoptive parents and the orphanage and problems might arise sometime after adoption. 2. Referring to the combination of the one-child policy and societal preference for male children, explain why children available for adoption from China are relatively healthier than those from other countries. Would this still be true if Chinese parents had no preference for male or female children? Owing to the problem of overpopulation the Chinese government imposed the law of single child families. At the same time due to lower level of societal security help the Chinese parents desire male children more than female ones such that the male children will grow up and take care of their parents. In the economically backward rural areas raising a female children is supposed to be similar to providing nutrition and adding value to another family. Also, sons may take forward the names of their ancestors but the daughters would not be able to do that. A son would also look after their parents while a daughter get married and might not be able to stay near her parents. This accounts for illegal ultrasound scanning, gender identification and consequently abortion. Several medical practitioners have been arrested and prosecuted in this context. Many parents decide to abandon their children on the basis of gender and the physical status because they do not want to be stuck with single child who is medically unfit. Firstly, most children are abandoned for societal preference towards male offsprings. Again, it is believed that owing to the poor economic status of rural mothers and location-based disadvantage, access to alcohol and drugs would be rare. So problems related to prenatal alcoholism would be less compared to cases in US. Also, this is mainly why US parents prefer Chinese children for adoption. This would be especially true if the children are girls, since they are abandoned mostly on the basis of their gender rather than medical fitness. (“China’s Quiet Export: Chilren”) However this might not be true if the Chinese parents had no such preference based upon gender. On one hand availability of more girl children for adoption might not hold in such cases and on the other, children would be abandoned based upon economic problems, single motherhood, domestic abuse and essentially medical fitness of the child. In most of these cases chances of adopting an unhealthy child would be more likely compared to the situation where children are abandoned based upon gender. 3. In the case of children available for adoption from China, is the extent of adverse selection greater among male or female children? ‘ In case of children available for adoption from China, the extent of adverse selection is more among male children compared to female ones. Owing to the societal preference towards male child, when a male child is abandoned for being raised at the orphanage, the reasons are more likely to be related to health or medical issues. A female child whether healthy or not might be abandoned due to parents’ preference against the gender. When an adoptive parent selects a female child he or she is more likely to end up with a healthy baby. Hence the unfavorable selection is more likely to be skewed in favor of male children adopted. Sometimes male children might be abandoned owing to domestic abuse, economic backwardness, products of rapes and single motherhood issues. In all these cases there might be some kind of adverse effect on the children, which might result in physical and psychological damages. (“China’s Quiet Export: Chilren”) U.S. parents therefore show greater preference towards baby girls for adoption. The following graph reveals required statistics to point this fact: (“Gender Preference in the United States”) 4. What measures can parents wishing to adopt Chinese children take to resolve their asymmetry of information? The parents of adoptive children need to actually visit the place before taking any decisions based upon pictures sent to them. They might take their doctors along with them for a clear check up of the health status of the child. If they are really willing to adopt a healthy child they need to take the trouble of putting the child through some DNA tests and other related ones in order to rest assured of their health. Certain symptoms like head size and pattern of growth speak a lot about health status. For this purpose it is better if the parents allow the child to grow in the orphanage before adoption and carry out time-to-time medical check up too observe the growth pattern of the child in order to assess certain mental and physical disorders which are normally noticeable after a certain age. They might consciously avoid adopting children without any records of their birth. Videos and images might be studied closely in order to observe the developments the child undergoes with time. (Borchers) However this kind of selection might lead to discriminatory pricing on the part of orphanages and hence price will become a choice variable for the adoptive parents to consider before deciding. All these parameters including the birth document of the baby needs to be considered and studied before a decision of adoption is taken. Thus the problem of symmetry might be resolved. Regulatory bodies emerging form some common agreement between countries on the issue of inter country adoption like the Hague Convention might also take up these essential responsibilities to gauge the adoptability of the child. (Hansen and Pollack) 5. How would vigorous enforcement against ultrasound gender scanning and selection abortions affect China’s supply of children for adoption? If there is vigorous enforcement against ultrasound gender scanning and selection abortions in China, the supply of children for adoption is bound to increase and the supply would be skewed towards baby girls. If the parents are not allowed to check the gender of children before their births, they are more likely to abandon it if it is a girl unless their preference order is not akin to that of the society of China. Again if abortions are prevented the parents cannot abort the fetus even if they come to know the baby belongs to a gender they would not prefer to possess. Hence they will be bound to give birth to the baby and the easiest solution in front of them would be to abandon it and let the baby be raised by an orphanage instead of losing the single child quota on a girl child raising which according to rural people of China, is similar to “watering someone else’s fields” (“China’s Quiet Export: Children”). The gradual increase in supply can be captured by the following illustration: (The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute) Works Cited Borchers, Deborah. “Pre-adoption Medical Assessment”, The Adoption Guide, 2010, 30 October 2010: “China’s Quiet Export: Chilren”, I.P.L. 2004, 30 October 2010: “Gender Preference in the United States”, in-gender, 2010, 30 October 2010 < http://www.in-gender.com/XYU/Gender-Preference/#Adoption> Hansen, Mary E. and Daniel Pollack. The Regulation of Intercountry Adoption, The Berkeley Electronic Press Legal Series. Paper 1385, 30 October 2010 < http://law.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6337&context=expresso> Neugebauer, Richard. “Accumulating Evidence for Prenatal Nutritional Origins of Mental Disorders”, JAMA, 2005; 294:621-623. Travel China Guide, “Adopt Chinese Children”, China Facts, 2010, 30 October 2010 The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, International Adoption Facts, 2002, 30 October 2010 < http://www.adoptioninstitute.org/FactOverview/international.html> Read More