How does adoption influence the adopted child when comparing international versus domestic adoptions?  

To adopt a person, or even a thing, consists of change in your life to revolve around this this new adopted thing. Whether it be this person, or idea, the state of your life is going to change no matter what. When an adult decides he/she wants to adopt a child, it is a massive step in their life. By “their” I mean both the adult and the child. From moving physical homes, to moving to a new culture, things will never be the same for either party. There must be adjustments made in the life of the child and adult, but if done correctly, can result in much success. Although some think change is bad, change is what makes life interesting and challenging. After researching many different perspectives and articles on adoption, it is shown that there are many people who agree with the process of adoption. However, it was also shown that there poses a problem when people try to adopt internationally. International adoption is defined as the process of when an adult becomes the permanent legal guardian of a child whom is a national of a different country.  Although there are many people who argue against international adoption, there are also many whom argue for it. This paper begins by showing how international adoption is not that different from domestic adoption and compares it to foster care. Next it shows the opposing views on international adoption and concludes on how adoption can help the future of the countries. Developmental research has shown that although numerous doubt international adoption due to cultural issues, it should be permitted in order to help the mass number of children who cannot be supported by the resources in their original country.

All around the world, in developing and developed countries, there are hundreds of thousands of children without proper care, and parents. This has been accumulating over many years as over population and world hunger have become more prominent (Vonk 242). Although no one has a simple solution to any of these issues, people have come up with ways to help. One of the major ways to help these children suffering is through adoption (Vonk 227). Domestic or international adoption, both help immensely. International adoption is a major discussion topic because of the issues many people see that it could cause. Some of these issues include social struggles with the new environment, the child could be less integrated into their family and could possibly loose some of own their heritage (Vonk 224). While these seem like big issues, many studies have proved they do not exist in most cases. One study done by a group of scientist in Israel showed that children adopted domestically versus internationally did not have significant differences (Levy-Shiff 110). They were able to come to these conclusions by comparing grades in school, IQ levels, and behaviors (Levy- Shiff 121). This same study even continued to find more compelling information towards international adoption. For example, they found that all adopted children did not differ in social activities as well. By this they explain that the friends and family of domestic and internationally adopted children both received the same amount of social support (Levy-Shiff 121). This specific study includes numbers from the statistics they found, the mean of domestic children was 3.11 while the mean for international children was 3.13 showing a very close number (Levy-Shiff 123). This is only one study, but my research continued to show very similar results all over the board. There had to be many studies done on international adoption to come up with solid evidence, but for years many people have been doing exactly this.

A different viewpoint on adoption is looking at how the life of the child can change from being in foster care versus being adopted into a different country. Foster care is when the child has no parents, but needs a temporary place to live until he/she is adopted or is 18 and legally an adult. In these foster care homes, there are usually many children and because there are so many, they tend to be neglected. The adults who take these children in can in no way tend to all the needs of each child, resulting in social or behavior issues in these children (Lynch 214). It has been proven that the care children get in foster care homes is not efficient and not what they need (Lynch 214). A study done tells us that foster homes are not permanent options and adoption would be the better option for everyone (Lynch 218). They continue to show that adoption helps the child in growing to be a responsible adult (Lynch 218). One specific thing about this study is that it continues to focus its study on how foster care can be drain for the government’s money (Leslie 217). Foster care is a lot more work than many know. To become a foster parent the adult must go through training sessions provided by the government (Lynch 216). They also, once foster parents, receive money from the government to feed these children. The study continues to tell us that because it is a government program, these budgets are also highly watched over (Lynch 217)). So not only is it taking money from the government but it is not enough for these children. If these children instead had a permanent family, these services would not be needed. After thousands of children enter the foster care system, it starts to drain economies all over the world and this does not need to be happening.

Many people don’t know much about adoption simply because it doesn’t affect their life, however it affects them in ways they may know about. A major factor in adoption is not only how it helps the child or the parents, but how it can also help the countries on both sides of the process. Taking children out of developing countries with improper supplies and into developed countries with proper supplies can expand economies. Such developing countries with insufficient supplies cannot support these children. When you take them out of the country, it leaves the minimal amount of supplies it already had to a smaller population. One article that extends this argument is called “The African Orphan Crisis and International Adoption”. This article was written just 11 years ago and speaks of the issues over children in Africa. It talks about how civil war and poverty have cause major problems with everyone and is creating more and more orphans (Roby 200). It tells a story of how kids in Uganda were picked up off the streets and put in a random home until a solution could be found. But the odds of these children finding a permanent home is very slim (Roby 201). It’s hearing about these stories that should make people realize anything is better than leaving these children in such bad conditions and in bad places. One fact that sticks out in this article is that in 2001, there was a ship going from Togo to Cameroon with 250 children on it to be sold into slave labor (Roby 202) . Two hundred and fifty children on one ship out of many others (Roby 202). This is unacceptable and should be stopped now. The article states that international adoption is not the solution to these terrible acts happening but simply a way to make less children suffer (Roby 206). It is suggested that measures are being done to help the children transition from orphanage to the permanent home, but if done correctly it is a sufficient solution and always better than the alternative.

Even with the facts mentioned above, other studies have come up with different conclusions and these usually go against international adoption. Major issues people have found is that international adoption is such a change on the child, that he/she does not know how to react and ends ups in a bad situation. Whether this situation be a bad home, or even jail. An article by Pylypa shows how adoption has negative effects on the child. This article is about how the parents of any child (adopted or not adopted) should raise their child when first born, or brought into the family (Pylypa 434). The author focuses on reading into one study done by “Sears and Sears”. The author tells us that through this study it was found that those who adopt children must give extra care to the child in the first years (Pylypa 439). The study pointed out that if this extra care was not given the adopted child could have social and mental issues as he/she grew up. Pylypa does not say the ideas found by the “Sears and Sears” study was wrong, but she points out that they do not need to be as strict (Pylypa 439). One of the things “Sears and Sears” points out is that the earlier the child is cared for by the mother, the better off he/she will be (Pylypa 440). However, in international adoption, this has become almost impossible because it takes time to adopt. Pylypa tries to show the reader that just because the adopted child did not have a “mother” at the beginning of his/her life, does not mean that he/she will face issues when growing up and that there does not even need to be this “mother” figure (Pylypa 440). This is scientific information but there is so much more which goes against these findings. In 2013 a Senior Policy Advisor on the International Child Welfare board, Whitney Reitz gave a speech on how international adoption should be allowed (Reitz 148). Not only is the speech about the good things for international adoption but it is presented by a Senior Policy Advisor. She clearly knows her information and presents it in a very good manner. She gives example of suffering children in Haiti and Guatemala to help her case (Reitz 150). Both which do immensely. Reitz goes to show that not only are there children who need help, but there are adults who want to help but can’t (Reitz 149). These adults desire to adopt children but they are being stopped by “bureaucratic hurdles” (Reitz 151). As stated above, international adopted children do not face any more issues than the average child and should not be treated differently when trying to jump such hurdles. International adoption should be allowed to help any child in need no matter where they come from. 

Through this paper it is argued that adoption, domestic or international should acceptable all over the world. The major points discussed in this essay is that adoption is a good alternative to children who have nowhere else to go. Specifically, international adoption provides a safe home for these children who come from developing countries. These countries are in such a state that they need the assistance from other countries to take people out of the nation whom it cannot support. By moving these children, even through far distances, the life of the child changes for the best. Studies have shown that the differences between domestically and internationally adopted children is very small and does not pose any problems. Although many think that taking a child from his/her country of origin, can cause social issues, it is proven to not. Even with some internationally adopted children that did face issues, there have been ways to help fix these. An article by the Child Welfare Information Gateway shows that through counseling, group therapy, etc, the life of the child can be improved (“Impact of adoption” 7). It even says that those not adopted tend to face issues that are resolved with therapy, so it isn’t that different (“Impact of adoption” 3). For the years to continue more and more studies will be going on to find out more about adoption and the effects of it on the child and it is believed that the more research there is the more it will point towards adoption (“Impact of adoption” 5). This can be seen simply in the past twenty years. Back then, not many people were adopting because of racial issues or because they just didn’t know anything about it. But today, after the information was collected, the number of adults adopting is rising. After looking at research conducted on adopted children from domestic to international it is important to show that international adoption should be allowed because it helps children who have no one to help them.
