As someone who is presently going through the adoption process in China, I can tell you that it is very tough emotionally, if not financially. The hoops that PAPs (potential adoptive parents) have to jump through to qualify is extensive. And at the end of the day, there is no guarantees.
@MrsDarcy: Good luck, and my best wishes if you are in that horrible line. It just breaks my heart to watch those referrals trickle in each month, and know that so many PAPS are hurting.
My parents adopted my brother from Mexico almost 25 years ago, so I am more well versed in international adoption. I also believe that my parents chose international adoption for a few reasons-one I think my mom wanted an infant(my brother was 3 months old when he was placed with my parents) and two they were considered to have combined ages too old to be considered for an American adoption.
Because of my brother I know a lot of families that adopted in the mid-eighties. One family adopted from the foster system and took in two older(2 and 7) white sisters(one with HIV)- I think they may have adopted them to look like the parents, because they do. I also know only one family that actually wanted and waited for a white infant to look like the parents. Most of the other kids I know are from South and Central America. I know one white family that adopted a boy from South America then a little girl from the US with mixed heritage.
The system needs to change. Parents who really want children are colorblind. They should indeed loosen the requirements and make it less expensive(though, who knows how that could be accomplished). There are so many people in this world who are desperate to be parents, and so many children who need good homes. It makes me so angry that gay parents are getting left out, the screening process is too stringent and indeed screens out great parents.
I don't know if I could ever adopt(it really is a challenge for my mother sometimes- wondering if my brother is going to look for his birth family) but I applaud anyone who does. Its the greatest thing you can do for a child.
We really need to start looking at this process. We now have parents traveling thousands of miles to adopt a child from Asia or Africa. Should we be encouraging that?
I know a Christian couple who is going to Uganda for their 3rd African child, and raising all of them Christian in a white town. What do these African children lose from that? And why is this being done when we have so many kids waiting for adoption right here in the US?
@sisterspooky: Because the intra-U.S. system is flawed to the point where a lot of us will never be selected as adoptive parents thanks to arbitrary factors such as age. International systems, such as China, are efficient and user-friendly (comparatively speaking).
You know, I'm guessing that most prospective parents who are willing to put up with all this crap are really dedicated to the idea of having a child. Just the fact that they would work so hard to adopt a child means that they are probably (not guaranteed but probably) going to be fairly good parents. They've obviously already put some thought into it.
What I'd really like to see (she said facetiously) is people having to pass a test before they breed naturally. Surely that would weed out a lot of undesirable parenting candidates.
I've spent this entire morning calling and emailing foster/adoption centers in Texas. I've yet to speak with anyone. Apparently, there is an "information meeting" tomorrow. But, I can't find out if I need to bring anything with me, what particular topics will be covered, how long the meeting will last, if I should bring my children, etc.
I've read almost nothing but horror stories about domestic adoption. And I'm very conflicted about inter-racial adoption. Not at all because I feel my family would exclude a child of a different race or love her/him less, but because of the social and psychological repercussions the child will likely deal with.
I recently read the list of home-study requirements for Texas. Its intense. For example, my kids' trampoline (the type with safety netting) that provides hours of fun exercise, is prohibited by Texas safety requirements. Little things like that. And they keep adding up.
Plus, the huge nightmare that my family could be placed with a child, bone with the child, and then loose her/him - that makes domestic adoption terrifying.
I'm prepared for a long and rocky road. Kids need homes. I've got room in my life, home, and heart for one or two more children. Yet, I get the feeling that despite all our qualifications, my family will be deemed not good enough (ie: perfect) to offer a child a permanent, safe, and loving home.
@crampyscamp: I wouldn't worry too much about social and psychological repercussions. The other option is dead (especially when we are talking about international adoption).
Obama grew up black in a white family. I'm sure many people thought he was a foster child or adopted. He's done OK.
@SweetSerengeti: I would like to not worry about it. I always tell myself the same advice that you gave me. But, any time I do research, I hear heartbreaking stories.
But, yeah, in the end, I think the need for a stable, loving home trumps everything else, including race and ethnicity.
@officedrone4: Wow, where in my post did I say I thought parents needed to be "graduates of good parent academy?" I just meant adoption needs to be easier than picking up a loaf of bread to screen out people who aren't really committed to raising kids, especially kids who have been through a lot and/or may have physical or emotional problems.
@crampyscamp: Crampy, I want to second, third, etc. that thought that no matter what nationality/race, etc. your adopted child is, your loving home is the be-all and end-all. I'm so pissed off at the fact I listend to so many people (black and white) who talked me out of adopting from Sierra Leone several years ago. Goddamn it, those kids need a home and safety and love and I wish I hadn't been so concerned about a black child living in a small town in Kansas. KNOW WHAT I MEAN????
@crampyscamp: Good luck on your journey, and prepare for a life of tepid showers. To be licensed I had to turn my water heater way down to prevent scalding, and I had about 5 minutes of decent shower time before the arctic blast hit. Their rules are silly and arbitrary, but the results will be worth it.
@midwesternmom: I know very little about the adoption process (so this thread has been very informative), and your comment made me wonder about something. With the homestudy, I'm assuming all the things you have to do to be deemed "fit" (like have the shower a certain temperature, no trampoline as another person posted upthread, etc) are only required *before* a child is placed with you? Are there follow-up visits after the adoption has cleared?
If not, those nit-picky things all seem sort of pointless. While I definitely think the home environment should be checked out to make sure the prospective parents have been honest about everything and are on the up-and-up, who really cares if there is a trampoline or the hot water is turned to high? Those little things could very easily change once the child is placed.
@formergr: Personally, we had two post-placement visits are adopting our daughter. I'm told that China now requires three visits post-placement. My house was hilariously safe when we had our homestudy visits. Visible fire extinguishers everywhere; outlets covered; etc. Not to mention that I wore a yellow dress with colorful little embroidered flowers all over it and I'm known to be a WOB (wearer of black).
@Maritsa: I have no idea, but it wouldn't surprise me given the political climate. Although, having just said that, it might be a no-go because of the political climate. I've just been looking on the Homeland Security/Immigration website b/c they usually have a list of countries where it's available but I'm not finding anything. I'll keep looking and send you a PM.
@formergr: True enough, but the social worker is responsible for making sure the house meets basic safety standards -- it's mandated by law. Believe me, the social worker visits are not as horrible as they might sound. Before the adoption, my social worker checked to make sure that I had a working smoke detector, a fire extinguisher in the kitchen and stuff like that and we talked about basic baby-proofing that I would need to do. My post-placement visits weren't about those kinds of issues at all. We sat and chatted about how my daughter was doing, how I was doing, etc. -- ways that she could help both of us with the adjustment. It was actually quite helpful.
@formergr: When we were adopting through foster care, we would have had monthly enforcement visits until the child had been adopted for one year. Thankfully we never had a drop-by visit, but my caseworker lives two blocks away so I am always on my toes. Most things just get a note in your file, then you fix it and get a note that you are in compliance.
We ended up going international, and China required 4 visits for one year, with photos documenting his medical care for his special need. Nepal will require two letters a year until our daughter is 16, and I will write them with joy. And I have to say I am happy to take tepid showers, since with a toddler a five minute shower is a rare luxury.
@checkyopremisebitch: My friend who adopted from China said it was considerably cheaper to go international. You can deduct something like $12K for adoption expenses in the US, and after the tax deduction, she says they were out of pocket something like $3000. But for a domestic adoption, it would have been far, far more.
@checkyopremisebitch: My experience is with international adoption, specifically China. The bulk of the costs were fees to the two adoption agencies in the United States (one who worked with China and a local one in my city who did my homestudy) and travel expenses. People always seem surprised that the agency fees are such a significant part of the cost, but the reality is that they are performing a service for which they are paid; that's what keeps the agency running and allows them to pay salaries and overhead and rent. I didn't think the fees I paid were unreasonable.
In the case of China, the fees that you pay in-country are set and actually very low. It was a $3000 "orphanage donation" when I adopted. (Given that the orphanage fed, cared for (quite well, from everything I can tell), clothed, and housed my daughter for nine months, I thought that the about $11 per day that this works out to was pretty darn reasonable.) There are miscellaneous other fees that you pay over the course of the adoption -- getting documents certified, a lot of photocopying and mailing/overnight mail expenses, etc.
I can't recall what my full costs were at this point, but I have always maintained that it was no more than (and probably less than) the costs of giving birth. I am also certain it was nowhere near $30K. The difference is that insurance doesn't cover any of it. However, the federal tax credit does significantly lessen the net cost.
Also, thank you for phrasing the question the way you did. Most people just want to know how much it costs, not why. And, of course, you always have a few people who are idiots -- I had two people who asked me ON THE WAY HOME FROM CHINA "How much did she cost?"
@doodley27: Also, I forgot to say: Bless those employers who have adoption programs -- paid leave (very unusual, surprisingly) and/or adoption stipends. They are few and far between and incredibly enlightened. I recently found out that a certian large, world-taking-over coffee company that shall remain nameless apparently has an adoption stipend as part of its benefits, and some waiting adoptive parents are taking jobs there for that reason alone.
@doodley27: Me, too!!! And even months after bringing our daughter home, people would approach me and ask how much she cost. I ended up asking "are you interested in Chinese adoption?" and if they said yes, I'd say the cost. If they said no, then I'd just smile and say nothing.
I just went through a wedding of a friend where her husband was the first biological child of a couple who thought they couldn't have children. His older sister was adopted and it made me really sad to see how she was treated by the mother. I'm actually not sure how any of the 4 bio kids turned out so nice growing up with their mom treating their sister that way.
And sometimes, teens are really almost too much to handle. It's hard enough parenting a teenager you raised from a baby, but one that's had a lifetime of fucked up? That's got to be murder. My best friend's mom tried to foster after her kids were out of the house. She had such trouble with the girl that she eventually gave up, and believe me, raising my bf was no walk in the park. I was tough and she was my bad influence.
@lucyjae: I have to admit that for me, fostering is off the table after what my best friend went through. Her mother is a bit of a savior, and fostered teenage boys and girls all the time my friend and her sister were growing up, and both girls were repeatedly abused by foster siblings, for whom their mother would make any imaginable excuse. My friend and her sister understood from a very young age that because they had the good fortune to have a bio parent, they weren't as deserving of attention or respect as the poor foster kids were, and it messed them both up. And I understand that it came down that way because of the kind of family and the kind of people they are, and that it wouldn't necessarily be that way for me. But the whole thing has left a very bad taste about it for me.
I want to adopt someday; I was adopted myself. Supposedly, Minnesota has some of the best adoption laws on the books. It's one of the reasons I'm glad I live here.
It's a fine line...regulation is a necessity but I do agree that a lot of states aren't seeing the forest for the trees.
@Devonna: Minnesota in general seems like a good place for kids. It's kinda a drag - I'd planned on going back to California when I have kids so they can be closer to my parents, but schools here vs schools there, for example? Hope the little ones like the cold!
You know, I wish the effing anti-choicers who care SOOOOOOO much about "life" would put their $$ and political clout around reforming the adoption system so that all children in foster care can be placed with people who want to be parents.
Also, I don't understand how the screening is harder for people to adopt children than for people to take them into foster care. Because if I went by just the stereotypical boozin, abusin, foster parents then uh, something is seriously wrong.
It is very difficult to adopt from foster care. I found a family of three that were losing their placement bc their foster mom was dying. After stringing me along for 6 months, my agency refused to license me for them bc they were deemed "too expensive" since two of them had asthma. They ended up being separated after their foster mom died. And I went to the head of my state's foster care agency and had my agency sanctioned for refusing to license me. They told me through a third party that if I kept quiet, they would give me the next white baby they received.
So I switched agencies. More paperwork, and noisy questions. Then I didn't get a referral for three years. The only children I was offered were not free for adoption, so if they had lived with me and any bio relative came forward in the 2-3 years it would take to finalize the adoption, I would have lost them. My state's laws suck.
I tried private adoption (open to any race) but didn't get picked. My partner and I are not photogenic and we don't have a cute story. Just two people who really want to parent.
My son is from China, and his sister will be from Nepal. Expensive as hell, but worth it to know that when they put them in my arms, they are mine for life.
let's keep in mind that adoption laws vary from state to state. many fantastic prospective parents are turned off by the idea of state laws that require the adoptive mother to physically hold the child before giving the child to the adoptive parents, and that the birth mother can back out at that moment, leaving adoptive parents out of thousands of dollars and more importantly, broken hearts. also, most adoptive agencies will not even discuss adoption with a couple undergoing IV treatment (and that also includes foreign adoption agencies), even if affadavits are signed saying the couple would accept an adoptive child even if a round of IV treatment would work.
on the flip side of the coin, i read an article last week about children conceived through anonymous sperm donors and how the men who were the sperm donors have mixed feelings about being contacted. one guy actually said that the whole thrill of doing sperm donation was that you got paid for it and that you knew you were a parent to some kid out there without having to deal with, y'know, marriage or, y'know, responsibility.
@rednrowdy: I've never understood the provision of allowing a mother to bail out at the last minute. I mean, that's just cruel to the potential adoptive parents, and I know a mother's connection to a newborn can be very strong, but if you've made up your mind to not keep the child... eh, nothing is clear cut I guess.
As to sperm donors -- piss on 'em! If they're the type who don't want the responsibility, then they shouldn't be foisting their genes off on some poor kid.
@rednrowdy: I'm sorry, if I donated reproductive cells (eggs or sperm) for money, with the agreement that I would be anonymous, I'd be pissed as shit if my identity were released and there were people coming to find me. (1) it reneges on the contract I signed when I donated the cells and (2) such a policy would severely limit the number of donors, if they knew they could be contacted by a kid they have no interest in in 18 years.
@NefariousNewt, Serving at the Pleasure of the President-Ele...: Why "piss on the sperm donors" and not on the women who go to the sperm banks? Without donors, thousands of women would not be able to have the children they want. And they're hardly "foisting" their genes off on "some poor kid". The women who visit the banks choose which genes they want!
@NefariousNewt, Serving at the Pleasure of the President-Ele...: a friend of mine went through this and decided against adoption for that very reason, even though initially she was incredibly open to it as both her brothers are adopted. it came down to dollars and cents - her IV treatments were covered by insurance, but the adoption wouldn't have been. she now has twins and is happy as can be.
@NefariousNewt, Serving at the Pleasure of the President-Ele...: Oh, I totally disagree. Donating sperm (or eggs) does not mean the donor has any responsibility. In fact, I think it means exactly the opposite. Maybe they donate for money, maybe they like the idea of helping other people who couldn't otherwise have kids (that dude red quoted is creepy, but whatever). Regardless, handing off some cellular material is not the same as committing to raise a child. I'd consider donating eggs but not if I thought I was going to have some parental responsibility, because while I might be mature enough to be glad to help someone who can't have kids, I'm sure not mature enough to have kids of my own.
@RainbowBrite: see, i feel exactly the opposite. first off, how could you donate sperm or eggs, even anonymously, 20 odd years ago and not think that your donation could potentially create a child that might want to contact you? i mean, it's not like they were being paid for urine or mucus samples. they were being paid for eggs and sperm.
i look at anonymous sperm and egg donation as the same thing as anonymous adoptions. with all the biometrics and so many of our diseases today being discovered as having genetic links..even if you didn't know that when you donated eggs and sperm, with the studies that come out now, you'd have to think that maybe, perhaps, someday someone would approach you to find out if you were their biological parent...if only for genetic purposes.
from what i can gather from the interviews i've read, nobody is coming to the biological parent asking for cash. they just want some sort of genetic links explained. personally, if you feel mature enough to donate eggs and sperm anonymously for cash, you should feel mature enough to handle the outcome 20 or 30 years later.
@RainbowBrite: The contract was with the parents, not the child. The parent doesn't get to sign away the child's rights. Many states unsealed adoption records that were supposed to be permanently sealed.
This is why I think anonymous donation is only going to last another 10-20 years. Those kids are going to grow up.
I just kind of have a hard time believing that prospective parents are lining up to adopt, for instance, a 9 year old minority boy who has been in foster care his whole life, and has behavioral problems from bouncing from home to home or being born to a mother who used drugs, alcohol or cigarettes. Or a child who is HIV positive, or has a disability.
I think it's easy to say "Yes, I would adopt a black child" or "Yes, I would a child over 5", to a survey-taker. You don't want to look like an ass. But when it comes down to reality, it's a different story.
@RainbowBrite: Of course. When you decide to do something like that, it requires a deep commitment. And when the time finally comes, perhaps the commitment is not so strong. Older kids are going to have a harder time getting adopted. Special needs children even more so.
It's tough. Adoption should be somewhat hard so that kids get good parents. On the other hand, I know a lot of people who have adopted, and they all had a long difficult time of it, whether it was domestic or international. It's one of the reasons it infuriates me when people say "Why don't infertile couples just adopt?"
My husband I really want to adopt, siblings if possible, when we're done having biological kids.
I realize that most adopted kids report bad experiences, but what's the other option? Orphanages? Being bounced in and out from foster care to an abusive or neglectful home? I think when your own parents can't care for you for whatever reason you are likely to report bad experiences growing up. I plan to adopt anyway with full knowledge that my adoptive child will probably hate my guts someday.
@Maritsa: Thank you! My husband and I are infertile and the number of times I have had friends ask if we've "thought about adoption" makes me want to scream. As though I A)Had never heard of adoption and B) Could just pick up a kid like I was buying a carton of milk.
@SweetIo: Oh, I've been there. And I have screamed - at my mother - at people who suggested it like I had never heard of it. It's a very personal choice and there's no saying people can't do both or one or neither. We did IVF (twice) and have a newborn now. I'd like to have one more and then adopt. Another thing a lot of people forget is that many agencies require you to stop fertility treatments before they will consider you.
@J.D.Regent: My niece is adopted from Russia and after everything I have learned, anything is better than those orphanages. Rescue the behbehs! It's awful to think of what those kids are going through over there.
The point about better recruitment and information for parents is a good one. However, this study is suffering from a huge Bradley effect. While people might say that they are 'willing' to adopt a child with special needs, or non-white skin, or quite a few candles on their birthday cake, the reality is that these children are widely available and people are not choosing them. I work in the field; I see it all the time. It's easier to blame a bureaucracy than to admit that most people would rather remain childless than adopt a non-white teenager.
If you are an average person with a relatively stable life, you can adopt a child from foster care with very little effort (and if you live outside of the bible belt, the agency will not care what your sexual orientation is). If you want to adopt a healthy white newborn, get in line.
It doesn't matter what people are telling pollsters, the statistics on children in foster care tell the real story.
@bpelto: I went to a local adoption fair with my sister. She has had one international adoption and we went to learn more about domestic adoption. Many, many distinct agencies were represented and they all said the same thing - most people want to adopt a white baby or toddler. They were vocal about encouraging potential adoptive parents to open their hearts to older and/or more ethnic children. The numbers DO tell the story - younger kids go faster, and children of color stay in the foster system longer. It is heartbreaking to read these kids' stories and see that parental rights were terminated years ago but the kids are still waiting for their forever family.
The surveys DO lie, because people who take surveys are trying to represent what they *should* think instead of what they really intend to do.
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Because of my brother I know a lot of families that adopted in the mid-eighties. One family adopted from the foster system and took in two older(2 and 7) white sisters(one with HIV)- I think they may have adopted them to look like the parents, because they do. I also know only one family that actually wanted and waited for a white infant to look like the parents. Most of the other kids I know are from South and Central America. I know one white family that adopted a boy from South America then a little girl from the US with mixed heritage.
The system needs to change. Parents who really want children are colorblind. They should indeed loosen the requirements and make it less expensive(though, who knows how that could be accomplished). There are so many people in this world who are desperate to be parents, and so many children who need good homes. It makes me so angry that gay parents are getting left out, the screening process is too stringent and indeed screens out great parents.
I don't know if I could ever adopt(it really is a challenge for my mother sometimes- wondering if my brother is going to look for his birth family) but I applaud anyone who does. Its the greatest thing you can do for a child.
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I know a Christian couple who is going to Uganda for their 3rd African child, and raising all of them Christian in a white town. What do these African children lose from that? And why is this being done when we have so many kids waiting for adoption right here in the US?
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What I'd really like to see (she said facetiously) is people having to pass a test before they breed naturally. Surely that would weed out a lot of undesirable parenting candidates.
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I've read almost nothing but horror stories about domestic adoption. And I'm very conflicted about inter-racial adoption. Not at all because I feel my family would exclude a child of a different race or love her/him less, but because of the social and psychological repercussions the child will likely deal with.
I recently read the list of home-study requirements for Texas. Its intense. For example, my kids' trampoline (the type with safety netting) that provides hours of fun exercise, is prohibited by Texas safety requirements. Little things like that. And they keep adding up.
Plus, the huge nightmare that my family could be placed with a child, bone with the child, and then loose her/him - that makes domestic adoption terrifying.
I'm prepared for a long and rocky road. Kids need homes. I've got room in my life, home, and heart for one or two more children. Yet, I get the feeling that despite all our qualifications, my family will be deemed not good enough (ie: perfect) to offer a child a permanent, safe, and loving home.
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Obama grew up black in a white family. I'm sure many people thought he was a foster child or adopted. He's done OK.
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But, yeah, in the end, I think the need for a stable, loving home trumps everything else, including race and ethnicity.
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Also, good luck!
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If not, those nit-picky things all seem sort of pointless. While I definitely think the home environment should be checked out to make sure the prospective parents have been honest about everything and are on the up-and-up, who really cares if there is a trampoline or the hot water is turned to high? Those little things could very easily change once the child is placed.
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We ended up going international, and China required 4 visits for one year, with photos documenting his medical care for his special need. Nepal will require two letters a year until our daughter is 16, and I will write them with joy. And I have to say I am happy to take tepid showers, since with a toddler a five minute shower is a rare luxury.
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In the case of China, the fees that you pay in-country are set and actually very low. It was a $3000 "orphanage donation" when I adopted. (Given that the orphanage fed, cared for (quite well, from everything I can tell), clothed, and housed my daughter for nine months, I thought that the about $11 per day that this works out to was pretty darn reasonable.) There are miscellaneous other fees that you pay over the course of the adoption -- getting documents certified, a lot of photocopying and mailing/overnight mail expenses, etc.
I can't recall what my full costs were at this point, but I have always maintained that it was no more than (and probably less than) the costs of giving birth. I am also certain it was nowhere near $30K. The difference is that insurance doesn't cover any of it. However, the federal tax credit does significantly lessen the net cost.
Also, thank you for phrasing the question the way you did. Most people just want to know how much it costs, not why. And, of course, you always have a few people who are idiots -- I had two people who asked me ON THE WAY HOME FROM CHINA "How much did she cost?"
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And sometimes, teens are really almost too much to handle. It's hard enough parenting a teenager you raised from a baby, but one that's had a lifetime of fucked up? That's got to be murder. My best friend's mom tried to foster after her kids were out of the house. She had such trouble with the girl that she eventually gave up, and believe me, raising my bf was no walk in the park. I was tough and she was my bad influence.
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Supposedly, Minnesota has some of the best adoption laws on the books. It's one of the reasons I'm glad I live here.
It's a fine line...regulation is a necessity but I do agree that a lot of states aren't seeing the forest for the trees.
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So I switched agencies. More paperwork, and noisy questions. Then I didn't get a referral for three years. The only children I was offered were not free for adoption, so if they had lived with me and any bio relative came forward in the 2-3 years it would take to finalize the adoption, I would have lost them. My state's laws suck.
I tried private adoption (open to any race) but didn't get picked. My partner and I are not photogenic and we don't have a cute story. Just two people who really want to parent.
My son is from China, and his sister will be from Nepal. Expensive as hell, but worth it to know that when they put them in my arms, they are mine for life.
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on the flip side of the coin, i read an article last week about children conceived through anonymous sperm donors and how the men who were the sperm donors have mixed feelings about being contacted. one guy actually said that the whole thrill of doing sperm donation was that you got paid for it and that you knew you were a parent to some kid out there without having to deal with, y'know, marriage or, y'know, responsibility.
*headdesk*
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As to sperm donors -- piss on 'em! If they're the type who don't want the responsibility, then they shouldn't be foisting their genes off on some poor kid.
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i look at anonymous sperm and egg donation as the same thing as anonymous adoptions. with all the biometrics and so many of our diseases today being discovered as having genetic links..even if you didn't know that when you donated eggs and sperm, with the studies that come out now, you'd have to think that maybe, perhaps, someday someone would approach you to find out if you were their biological parent...if only for genetic purposes.
from what i can gather from the interviews i've read, nobody is coming to the biological parent asking for cash. they just want some sort of genetic links explained. personally, if you feel mature enough to donate eggs and sperm anonymously for cash, you should feel mature enough to handle the outcome 20 or 30 years later.
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This is why I think anonymous donation is only going to last another 10-20 years. Those kids are going to grow up.
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I think it's easy to say "Yes, I would adopt a black child" or "Yes, I would a child over 5", to a survey-taker. You don't want to look like an ass. But when it comes down to reality, it's a different story.
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My husband I really want to adopt, siblings if possible, when we're done having biological kids.
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The point about better recruitment and information for parents is a good one. However, this study is suffering from a huge Bradley effect. While people might say that they are 'willing' to adopt a child with special needs, or non-white skin, or quite a few candles on their birthday cake, the reality is that these children are widely available and people are not choosing them. I work in the field; I see it all the time. It's easier to blame a bureaucracy than to admit that most people would rather remain childless than adopt a non-white teenager.
If you are an average person with a relatively stable life, you can adopt a child from foster care with very little effort (and if you live outside of the bible belt, the agency will not care what your sexual orientation is). If you want to adopt a healthy white newborn, get in line.
It doesn't matter what people are telling pollsters, the statistics on children in foster care tell the real story.
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The surveys DO lie, because people who take surveys are trying to represent what they *should* think instead of what they really intend to do.