Choosing Adoption

My wife and I were happy to have our son in 1992.

When a couple chooses to have a child it is a labor of love.

It was unfortunate that my wife had any number of medical issues connected to the birth of our son, McKenzie. It was something of a struggle physically and psychologically all during the term of Christine’s pregnancy, but the post-partum results of my wife’s pregnancy left a lasting series of problems. Making the decision to try for additional children was difficult and the series of unfortunate miscarriages made each try more and more painful.

Our thoughts of adopting a child began to develop gradually, but by the time McKenzie was four or five years old, we were seriously considering making this commitment. When one considers such an option, the daunting task seems to be even more so by the flurry of comments and input from friends, family or the press. A day never passed during these years that our ever so sensitized systems didn’t hear or read of some horror story. Several times we began to research options only to pull away. Several times the option of adoption was cast aside when Christine became pregnant only to have a miscarriage. Periods of no discussion of children returned time after time to adoption.

For families in the U.S. adoption is increasingly supported. The Adoption Institute 2002 survey result showed 39% of American has very or somewhat seriously considered adopting at some point in their lives. Comparing survey results 1997-2002(1) there is an increasingly favorable opinion of adoption. Between 1997 and 2002 there was a 11% increase (to57%) of respondents who believe that adoptive parents derive the same satisfaction from raising adopted and biological children . The proportion of Americans with very favorable opinions about adoption increased to 63% in 2002, from 56% in 1997. In 2002, 64% of this national survey respondents reported that a family member or close friend had been adopted, had adopted or had placed a child for adoption.

The U.S. Census bureau’s first profile of adopted children from the 2000 Census also shows the surging choice Americans are making. (2)This “landmark” profile is set to become a major source of statistics on adoptive families. In what has been described as a profile that will change the nation’s image of what U.S.families look like and how they are formed. Using the long form Census data, it was reported that 1.6 million adopted children under 18 are now living in U.S. Households. And while 87% were born in the US, foreign adoptions are increasing dramatically. The number of immigrant visas for foreign born adopted children surged from 7000 in 1990 to nearly 20,000 in 2000. It was reported in the Census that about 49% of the foreign born were reported to by Asian. Increasingly the choice of adopting internationally may cross ethnic barriers. The adoptive parents however are a fairly homogeneous group as the Census reported that 76% of householders with adopted child listed their race as white, and tended to be older and more economically secure parents.

This fact that adoptive parents tend to be older and with some grater measure of economic security does not surprise me. The choice to adopt is a lot of work with the love part coming at the end. Younger parents get the love thing first and the baby follows. With the costs and scrutiny of income and suitability, adoptive parents are making a choice that requires economic security. For many people the choice of adopting a child is not due to medical reasons they are clearly a choice that is applied. When you are considering such a choice you must have your priorities and your life in order. You need to be committed to the process and the outcome in a way much more difficult than having your own “bio” child.

When we began to consider adoption, we were at the beginning of a surge of bad press regarding adoption. It is clear that the attitudes surrounding adoption and the press have clearly turned a corner. More and more, we read stories regarding the choice parents are making to adopt a child and how successful and loving these choices are.


2. Census Counts Adoptees: USA Today August 22, 2003-page one By Mary Jo Sylvester