Adoption—Is It for You?
BY AWAKE! CORRESPONDENT IN BRITAIN
“ADOPTION is a service for children, not a service to provide childless couples with a baby,” maintains one British social worker. Even so, what say does a child usually have in his or her adoption?
Are you considering adopting a child? Then you face a decision that is not only emotional but also irreversible. How successfully will the child integrate into your family?
If you are an adopted child, do you know who your biological parents are? If not, what difference do you think it would make if you did?
Are you a mother considering whether to give up your baby for adoption? Is adoption really the only solution and in the best interests of your child?
In 1995 more than 50,000 children were adopted in the United States, and about 8,000 of them were foreign-born. Increasingly, people are adopting children from foreign countries. According to Time magazine, in the past 25 years families in the United States have adopted over 140,000 foreign-born children. Comparable figures for Europe are Sweden 32,000, Holland 18,000, Germany 15,000, and Denmark 11,000.
Do you fit into this picture somewhere? Undertaking an adoption means that your life—not just the life of the child—will never be the same again. Adoptive parents rightly expect many pleasures, but they must also be prepared for many problems and disappointments. Likewise, the heartache a mother experiences in giving up her child for adoption may never heal completely.
Each case presents the challenge of constructing or rebuilding a young life with love. The following articles will convey some of the joys—and challenges—of child adoption.