"Making Adoptions Easier"

[Clio the Leo]

..... help me out here, at their rally today in WI, Palin and McCain were promising to help make adoptions easier in an effort to cut down on the number of abortions. (And I'm all in favor of anything that will cut down on the number of abortions.)

But are adoptions all that difficult? I thought that's why people like my cousin have gone to foreign countries because there was a shortage of non-black "babies" here in the US.

Is this just a bunch of hype? Are we overrun with childen here in the US in need of adoption? Are women being forced to turn to abortion clinics because they know the system is just too cluttered with red tape to help their children find good homes? Sounds like a bunch of hoo ha to me.

[Kittycat]

1. Adoptions can be overturned if the mother changes her mind

I think as late as 6mo, at least it was that here in IL, when my Aunt adopted.

[Clio the Leo]

3. so do we think McCain wants to strip away that right? ....

...... you're a mean one Mr. McCain! You really are a heel!!!

[Kittycat]

13. No idea, but...

I actually have a problem with that law, and I'll leave it at that.

[dflprincess]

2. I also thought the "problem" was a shortage of healthy, white, newborns

There are plenty of kids available if you're willing to a adopt a minority and/or handicapped child or a child whose only "fault" is that they aren't an infant.

[Clio the Leo]

5. exaclty NT

[GreenPartyVoter]

4. i believe that it costs a lot of money to adopt through an agency. I wonder if that

will be changed at all? (When is the last time you knew a lower income family who adopted a baby through an agency? The ones I knew were all middle and upper middle class or even better off than that.)

[Clio the Leo]

6. ok, that makes sense. NT

[glowing]

7. Problem with adoption is Money.. If you go with being a foster parent,

you can receive financial help and medical help... If you adopt, all the expenses are yours. I've known more people to foster than to adopt outright.

[Gormy Cuss]

8. I just read yesterday that foreign adoptions are getting tougher.

Newsweek article
http://www.newsweek.com/id/162326

So if that trend continues childless Americans will need a new source of adoptable children and the McPalin plan would do that by restricting abortion access.

[LibertyLover]

9. Adoptions are difficult , lengthy and expensive - no matter what kind

I am the mother of a little girl adopted from China. When my husband and I married we knew that having kids the usual way was not possible. We checked to see if we could adopt in-country and the adoption agency person we talked to laughed in our faces, politely, but laughed. We were told there was absolutely no way we would be allowed to adopt a child, primarily because of our ages. The agency worker went on to say that if, and she stressed it was a very big if, we were cleared to adopt in country, we would have to take an older child who had been in the system a very long time. When we asked how old, she speculated that the kid would probably be 10 to 12 years old. We decided against it. The bonding issues alone were, as far as we could see, almost insurmountable, never mind the issues of adopting a child just going into puberty and all the issues that brings. So we opted instead to adopt a little girl from China. It took us over 2 years to get all the paperwork for our submission completed, although it can be done more quickly. Then it took the Chinese authorities 11 months to assign us our daughter. We were very lucky in terms of the Chinese approval. Five years ago they were trying to reduce the time it took to approve adoptions and we benefited. About a year ago, they re-wrote their adoption laws for foreigners and made it much more difficult. Most of the people in the group we went with to China to bring our daughters home would not qualify to adopt under the new laws, including my husband and I.

[mscuedawg]

10. Another fascinating solution by Reckless/Condescending...

just like buying up all the foreclosed houses...paleeze..

[woo me with science]

11. They want to make adoption easier, unless the potential parents are gay,

in which case keeping children in placements and institutions is preferred.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llZuoMXpr4s

[ben_thayer]

12. My wife & I are adoptive parents

We adopted 2 Special Needs girls locally, and our total costs were less than $300.00. Both are Caucasian and were ages 3 and 7 when they were placed with us. Their Special Needs are ADD and emotional traumas from neglect in their former homes. We are eligible for medical subsidies to help with the costs of their therapy and meds.

Edited to add:

We were in our mid-late 40s when we adopted the first one 10 years ago (She's 14 now) and adopted the 7 year old only 1 year ago, well into our 50s...