Adoption is a very important choice to make, and is not something that is decided overnight. There are 397,122 children within the U.S. foster care system, one-third of whom are eligible for adoption; however, 32% will be in foster care for at least three years before they are actually adopted. Unfortunately, during those three years while waiting to be adopted, 55% of these children will have been placed in three or more foster homes. In addition, 33% of them have had to changed schools five times and, as a result, have fallen behind in their education, as well as in relationships they had begun to cultivate.
Families, couples, and individuals are eligible to adopt a child after going through certain steps, the first being the selection of an adoption agency with which the family would like to work. Potential adoptive parents must work with adoption agencies that are licensed in their own state. A good rule of thumb is to ask questions. It is suggested that the family find out exactly how the process of adoption is carried out through this agency, information about the children they place, their fees, and the length of time it takes to complete the process. Once the agency selection is made, an agency social worker will be assigned to the potential adoptive family and a series of meetings will take place. The social worker will provide a list of documents necessary for the family to submit to the agency; birth certificates, marriage license, child abuse clearances, and references, to name a few. At least one of these meetings is held at the family’s home, with everyone living in the home required to be present. This meeting is designed to ensure that every member of the adoptive family is ready to receive an adopted child into the home. When all of these steps are completed, the family begins their search for a child to adopt. Several families may be considered for one child at the same time. The final decision is made by the agency according to which home they feel can best meet the needs of the child.
After adopting a child, 87% of parents say that, knowing what they know now, they would absolutely make the decision to adopt again. Statistics show that most adopted children, over 90%, who are at least five years old and older, feel positive about their adoption experience. Further studies show that children between the ages of birth and five years old who have been adopted are typically read to or sung to every day, as compared with only half that many biological children who have the same type of relationship with their parents.
Of adoptive parent-child relationships, 81% say that their kinship is both close and warm. Interestingly, 41% of children are potentially adopted by relatives. Many people have large families, and sometimes it is possible that a relative will step in and offer to adopt a child whose parents are not able to take care of him or her.
