Adoption In 2018 WORDS: Kirk Zeppi, MS, LMHC
I first began working with children and
families at Shands Hospital, University
of Florida, in 1983. At this time,
international adoption was just beginning
to become popular. By 1990 international
adoption had skyrocketed.
I think things escalated so quickly
because wealthy countries typically
allowed abortions and the stigma of being
a single parent had lessened. I think
that another cause of the increase was
because many women in the 70’s were
told to delay having children, and to go
to college and start their career before
starting a family.
The female reproductive system typically
functions best during the ages of 18-25
years of age. As a result, many of these
women were just beginning to start
their families in their 30’s, and found
themselves unable to conceive. This led
many more families to the idea of adoption.
As more men and women sought out
adoption, the length of time it took to
adopt in the United States continued to
increase causing international adoption
to be more appealing.
It wasn’t long before the international
adoption arena began to become
covered in fraud and deception. This
illicit behavior eventually resulted in the
demise of international adoption. For
example, in 2008, Guatemala placed
4,100 orphans in forever homes
across the globe compared to
only 58 children in 2010.
As of today, many of these
countries are following
stricter protocols governed
by The Hague Treaty
Convention, with programs
being accredited by the Council on
Accreditation (COA). These efforts
are being made to ethically restore
international adoptions.
Another tremendous shift in adoption
relates to our domestic adoptions here in
the United States. The “Adoption Triad”
(child, biological parent, and adoptive
parent) has evolved over the last couple
of decades. Many years ago, domestic
adoptions were typically considered
“closed.”
This meant that
a relationship
of any
depth
between the biological family and
the adoptive family was virtually nonexistent.
As a result, many adoptees had
missing parts to their life stories, and
unanswered questions which resulted in
them feeling as though their identity was
an incomplete puzzle.
We have learned a lot in the past few
decades about adoption. Research
has demonstrated the importance of
adopted children learning about their
biological family, their origins,
and to have their life story
preserved accurately,
completely, and in a
way, that is easily
understood.
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