Why do more families opt for international adoption rather than adopting in the US?
ByI know too families who have traveled to Guatamala and Vietnam to adopt. I never asked why they choose international adoption over adopting in the US. There must be a reason for it because that seems to be the tend. But why? It seems that there are tons of children in the US that need loving homes so why do so many people adopt out of the country.
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20 Comments
April 22nd, 2010 at 9:55 am
good question I wonder that to.
April 22nd, 2010 at 10:18 am
maybe they think children in the us are better taken care of than children in other countries…therefore they adopt the ones who don’t have the best of situations???But who really knows???
April 22nd, 2010 at 10:32 am
A lot of times there’s less red tape, less cost and less time involved. Plus the chance of the bio parents coming back are a lot slimmer
HTH
April 22nd, 2010 at 11:25 am
It takes less time and money to adopt internationally. The US has miles of red tape involved in everything it touches (which is why Healthcare is a terrible thing to trust to the government… you’ll be dead before they agree to pay anything).
April 22nd, 2010 at 12:02 pm
Well, I plan to adopt internationally. My motivation to adopt from China came from watching a program when I was a teenager. The program, and later a nonfiction article written by an American doctor visiting the country, documented the plight of the children in orphanages there.
Whether to adopt or not, and where to adopt from if you do choose, is a personal decision-much the same as if/when to have biological children is.
There are a lot of children in the United States foster care. Many are not currently available for adoption. It sounds as if there are tons of children waiting for homes, but the truth is many of these children may be returned to their family or never become available for adoption. Parents seeking to adopt want something permanent, to have control over their family-not to have to worry about whether the child they are caring for is going to be sent back to an abusive, neglectful home or what not.
A lot of parents want to adopt an infant-they want to experience the “baby” stage as well, not just start out from toddlerhood or older. I have three biological children, and I can tell you that raising them from birth is a learning experience. I have no doubt that I could love an older child, but I do see an advantage to being placed with a young child. The wait for an infant in this country can take YEARS.
Because of these reasons, many parents go to other countries. I assure you, it is not necessarily quicker and it is certainly not less expensive. It is also A LOT more work. In China right now, you can expect to bring a child home in approximately THREE YEARS after you start the process. You have to meet not only the requirements that would be necessary to adopt locally, but also additional requirements by the US and China. The cost is somewhere around $30,000. So, you can see that it is definitely not the easy, quick, cheap way out.
I always wonder how many of the people that question why I (or other adoptive parents) chose another country to adopt from instead of the US, have in fact adopted US children?
April 22nd, 2010 at 12:11 pm
probably becuase there sooo many kids popping out in other countries that they can’t take care of them all. though the same thing is happening in the US.
April 22nd, 2010 at 12:50 pm
Because it’s pretty much a guarantee to not only be able to adopt a child but a baby (or child under2) if it’s an international adoption and the waiting time is generally less as well. For every baby born in the US thats going to be adopted there are 10 couples trying to get him/her. Couples can search for years in the US, get scammed over and over again by BM’s and agencies. It may cost more overall but 9 out of 10 times they get the child they’ve dream of if they go out of country. So many couples only want a young child and that plays a big part in it.
April 22nd, 2010 at 12:53 pm
i dont know but i wish i did because there are plenty of children right here in the usa who need loving homes too!!
April 22nd, 2010 at 1:05 pm
There are many many reasons. My pedatrician is adopting from another country Lebenon (sp) because she and her husbands families are from there. They have cvil war going on and they feel that a child there really needs a home . Here (US) even though foster care is not perfect they have a better chance than a kid that is living with bombs going all around them. They also feel that they know the heritage and can pass that down.
Others want babies and it is easier and cheaper to come across a baby. Many people try for years to have a child before adopting and they don’t want to “miss” a stage of development by adopting a 5 year old. They want the sleepless nights and to potty trian.
Others feel similar to my first answer that even though kids in care in the states have it hard it is not as hard as the famine and dieseas of other countries like Africa.
Also it is quicker to get a child over seas. I know someone that started the international adoption and local adoption process at the same time. She was told locally that is can be three years or more to get a child not even a baby. Internationally they told her she would have a child by the end of the year and it was summer time and she did
Finally and this has to be the worst reason of them all is they don’t want to deal with the birth parents
April 22nd, 2010 at 1:10 pm
they probably are cowards and selfish. they want to pretend that the child is theirs and all theirs. they don’t want in any way a blood relative showing up at their door.
this is NOT TRUE for all cases, but seems to be a majority!
April 22nd, 2010 at 1:41 pm
Easier and want a baby. Some do it out of Christian feelings of helping orphans wiht no parents, and some do it because it is hip and fashionable.
April 22nd, 2010 at 2:33 pm
A study done by the GAO in 1992 states:
On page 59 of the GAO report is a table with answers to the question “Why did you choose inter-country rather than domestic adoption?” 203 respondents answered this question. The sixth most important reason, given by 20 respondents, was: “Families were concerned about birth parent rights in domestic adoption.” GAO reports “the 95-percent confidence intervals to quantify the statistical uncertainty associated with our results. If our methodology was replicated, chances are 19 out of 20 that the results would be within these confidence intervals.” It should be kept in mind that this was one of the questions in the surveys where Parents could choose more their one response category.
April 22nd, 2010 at 2:44 pm
I haven’t decided whether we will adopt or not. I have 2 injuries that in no way prevent me from parenting, but would not allow me to adopt in the US. Fortunately, if we do decide to adopt, I even know where I can go (former USSR) because of contacts.
Many people adopting want healthy infants and that is often not what is available to adopt in the US. Others are prevented because of 20 year old marijuana convictions.
April 22nd, 2010 at 3:30 pm
Well for starters… More families do NOT chose international adoption over domestic. All the statistics available to the public show that the vast majority of adoptions in the US are domestic. Step children and related adoptions account for about half of all adoptions each year. Domestic unrelated adoptions (including private adoptions and those thru foster care) account for another 40% and International adoptions account for less than 10% of ALL adoptions in the US.
The fact is that international adoptions is simply more visible than domestic adoption, so you tend to notice it more. I had no idea that there were other kids in my daughters class who were adopted (all domestic) because they blended right into their family. However someone can take one glance at my family and know who is adopted just because of the color of the skin.
We chose to adopt internationally because that is where our son was. I cannot explain it anymore than that. It was not charity, it was not cost, or timeline, or less rules, or a fear of the first families rights (we have an open adoption and remain in contact with them), it was just this indescribable feeling of that is where we need to go.
Also I need to add that it is an absolute myth that it is in any way cheaper, or easier to qualify to adopt a child abroad. ALL parents whether adopting domestically or internationally are held to the same standards to receive US approval. Couples adopting internationally are then held to ADDITIONAL standards by the foreign govt. As far as timelines, those can stretch into years in either case.
There is no question that there are “tons of children in the US that need loving homes” but there are also millions of children around the world who do to. None is more deserving than the other. ALL children deserve a home.
April 22nd, 2010 at 3:59 pm
It’s not cheaper.
It’s not easier. There is more red tape adopting internationally than domestically.
Alot of people adopt internationally because there are no open adoption situations in international adoption. What people don’t realize is that you CAN still get a CLOSED ADOPTION in the US if you can prove it is in the best interest of the child for the circumstances. Only a judge can grant it however and only for extreme circumstances.
“Open adoption” is a term that is not universally defined and will vary in definition by who you talk to.
April 22nd, 2010 at 4:12 pm
Since we’re in the process of adopting internationally and thought long and hard about that… let me explain why WE are doing it.
My husband is a physician and a similar practice in town assisted a family with adopting a baby. They had an attorney facilitating it – it was done with all the T’s crossed and i’s dotted. The hopeful parents paid for the mother’s pregnancy expenses, talked to her before, and was there when the baby was born. They took the baby home from the hospital, named it, loved it, had a room all decorated and spent their nights feeding it and bonding – then the phone call. The mother had changed her mind and wanted the baby back – and she got it back.
Those people that had the baby were devestated. My husband told me flat out if we adopted we weren’t adopting US because we would NOT take the risk of a parent coming back for that child. We have two biological children so it’s not “just” our hearts we’re protecting – how do you introduce a child to your children to have them bond and fall in love with them to say, “oh, sorry, the REAL mother wants the kid back.” We won’t risk their mental well being any more than we want to go through that horror ourselves.
So… it’ll cost us about 15 THOUSAND more (US adoption total expenses are about 20-22K and international varies but somwhere like Russia is about 35K) but we’re going overseas to Russia. The child we get from there will most likely be about 9 months old, much younger than we’d have been likely to get with a US adoption, and the time will be about 8-12 months total from the time they get our application to the time we’re off the plane with that baby in our arms. In the US, we would be waiting anywhere from 1-4 years.
So… costs more, involves more as there is much more paperwork and hoops to jump through.. more sacrifice for us as it’ll involve two plane trips there with extended stays both times… but the bottom line is that we’re paying that money to protect ourselves and out kids from being emotionally wrecked because someone didn’t “think it through.” It’s an extra measure of mental insurance that we’re taking proactively that we both feel very good about.
The sad thing is how much adoptions anywhere cost. I understand the need for “hoops” and redtape to prove you should be a good parent, but I know of so many people that want to be parents and can’t because they can’t afford the process to adopt.
April 22nd, 2010 at 4:59 pm
Adoption is a very personal decision and what is right for one family may not be right for another. My husband and I have adopted 2 incredible sons from Guatemala. After much research on both Domestic and International adoption we came to the conclusion that this was the best for us. I don’t regret one single thing. My sons will grow up knowing about their adoption story, knowing about the country in which they were born. Most importantly they will be loved unconditionally.
Those people that think others only adopt internationally because Angelina Jolie does it are ignorant and uneducated on the adoption process.
It’s so sad to see people harshly judged when they have absolutely no clue what they are talking about.
Ask the families you know. I’m sure they will be happy to talk to you about it. I’m an open book about our adoptions, but others have to want to talk and understand…not just jump to conclusions.
April 22nd, 2010 at 5:01 pm
Less red tape, less chance of a mother reclaiming the child later on and less of a wait sometimes.
April 22nd, 2010 at 5:54 pm
Easy. They don’t want to look me in the eye and tell me a bunch of lies and “promises” or from what I have heard “they don’t want to deal with the birthmomma drama,” Meaning me.
April 22nd, 2010 at 6:16 pm
Mostly because there are so few available children in the United States. It usually involves a long waiting list. There are children available in the U.S. But many times one or the other birth parent is fighting it, and it can lead to a legal nightmare.