Adoptions

Adoption is were birth parents place their child undoubtedly with people they do not know. Domestic and International adoption are the two types of adoption. Domestic is where a child is placed in their birth country, and International adoption is where a child is placed outside of its birth country.

There are several reasons for placing a child up for adoption, such as not being able to care for the child. But for the most part at least in the United States and the UK, the most common reason for placing a child is mistreatment to the child. Some other reasons are teenage pregnancy, gender preference, or single parenthood.

The reason to want to adopt is different from situation to situation. Some couples can not have children, some want to help out by adopting, some are same-sex couples that would rather adopt.

Applying to adopt varies from country to country, and occasionally within a country. Many areas have different eligibility ethics, and can require an age limit, weather a single person can apply, to the eligibility for same-sex couples to adopt.

In the United States it is free to place a child up for adoption. For the parents adopting fees can very from country to country and in some countries it is illegal to charge an adoption fee. Although in the United States you are allowed a $10,000 tax credit for adoptions.

There are many issues that surround adoption. Guarding a Childs ancestry is becoming a major issue. They say that when an adoption is kept secret or closed the adoptee can sometimes have trouble finding themselves. The media doesn't help much either, they either shoe the horrible problems that very few people have or they shoe the perfect family, and have even gone as far as telling us that Children in foster can not be show love because they will continue to push us away for fear of getting to close. This is not always the case. Unfortunately there are several children who do not get adopted and age out of the systems at age eight-teen.

Whether Americans have any experience with adoption, not everyone understands it or supports it. The history of adoptions can be traced back as far as the 18th century BC. Adoption was very common during the Ancient periods, and generally involved adults not children. These adults where used to carry on family heritage or to protect property rights. It has been found that both men and women whether married or single could adopt. Our modern adoption laws find heritage in the Hammurabi Code of the 18th century BC. Ancient Times focused on adoption of adults, while during the Middle Ages it focused on children and set some good ground rules. In Ancient Times, the adoptions where merely saying that you wanted someone to follow in your footsteps. During the Middle Ages there were specific laws put into place to protect the child and all adoptions during this time period where handled by the court systems. The first state adoption was in 1851 in Massachusetts. In 1853, Rev. Charles Loring Brace founded a children's aid program to help orphaned and abandoned children. His solution was to get the children off the streets and send them to strong Christian homes. These children where gathered up and placed on trains bound for the mid-west. At each stop the children where displayed for all to see, and who ever was not chosen was placed back on the train to go to the next stop.

Things have certainly changed since then. But one thing has remained the same, we still want what's best for the children. Even though sometimes it's hard to know what's best. Adoption has become a wonderful thing and has been a good chance for children without a home for centuries.