Re’Gine Rhine
Period.2
2-23-12
SECOND DRAFT
Linda
Sanders is a preteen who attends Dorsey High School. She was diagnosed with
mild mental retardation as a baby. This “illness” explains her ill-mannered characteristics
and vulnerable actions. She does not focus well when told to do things which sometimes
results in harsh punishments. She tries to find comfort from the people around
her which leads to desperate actions, sometimes directed towards the opposite
sex. Linda lives in an African American household, she is the only Caucasian.
Linda is aware that every thirteen seconds a child is abused. She wants the
world to know that she is abused for what feels like every thirteen seconds.
From the black eyes, to the mysterious bruises, busted lips, and continuous
exclusion from fun activities, her plea for help is louder than before; she
came from a mother who didn’t want anything to do with her. Linda is adopted
and in her mind the perfect family doesn’t exists. Why must she go through
this?
Adoption
is the process where parents provide parentless children or unfortunate
children with care. Adoption is ancient, originally spoken of in the bible. The
first systems were associated with the Greeks, Romans, Egyptians, and
Babylonians. In modern society many effects have come along with child
adoption: Money is now given to parents by the government for taking care of
these children, social workers check up on families for security, and many
types of adoption are available. Adoption was legally recognized in the 1850’s.
It was a decade later when the “Revolution’s on current adoption practices”,
took place and the actions within agencies that happen now were created (1).
Over the
past few decades there has been an increase in ongoing child abuse cases, many
of which have taken place in adopted homes (2). Social workers have been
tricked into believing foster parents offer nothing but the best for adopted
children because horrible crimes have been covered up. As a result, emotional
defects have controlled adoptees, leading to misconduct. Child adoption can in
many ways be beneficial to birth parents, foster parents and children, but many
things can go untold in foster family households. The government’s lack of
involvement takes a great effect, along with ill prepared child providers which
ultimately affects the child. The concerning question that controls our future
is. ‘Is child adoption beneficial to the adoptee?’.
It is
often said that adoption allows children to live a better life because they are
with a family that “cares” for them. Child adoption can be beneficial to the
child because they are offered better chances at life but it benefits the birth
parent and adopted parent. The birth parent is overall given a chance to
succeed in life without worrying about their child’s well being; this is most
popular in teen mom situations. Adopted parents are benefited because they are
given someone they can call their own and care for. Most people overlook the
negative effects on the adoptee in child adoption, by adopting children at
early ages so that they will not have trauma that relates to their original
families. The complications with this route, regarding adoptees is that they
will have to be aware of the truth in their later years (3). Moreover, I myself believe that money is an
option that brings in parents to adopting. Many will argue that money does not
matter with child adoption because the majority of the people who adopt are
sure to be financially stable (4). The leading question is, do the minority
parents believe the same thing?
Although
I agree with the opposing view up to a point, I cannot accept the overall
conclusion that all child adoption cases benefit children. January 2012, Linda
was punished for lying and stealing at a K mart store. This could have led to
major consequences such as juvenile hall but she was given second chances. This
particular finding leads to important consequences for the broader domain of the
increase in juvenile crimes because of negative adoption effects. Research
proved that “a significant underrepresentation of adopted children and
adolescents referred to the juvenile court” (volume 27, issue 1 of the journal
of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry). This evidence
proves that an increasing amount of adopted children result in violent action
(5). The included word, “underrepresentation”, infers that because the child is
adopted, the crimes were not broadly recognized. The reason for this may result
from emotional defects, which has increased in adopted children, particularly
child syndrome (ACS). Adopted child syndrome is used to explain defiant and
destructive behavior in adopted children such as violence, lying, stealing, and
reactive attachment issues (6). The risks of this syndrome are high. The upshot
of all this is that adoption is a beautiful thing but in an increasing amount
of cases, children are not well taken care of. The controversial question still
remains, ‘Is child adoption beneficial to the adoptee?’.
Furthermore,
in 1891, in the state of Michigan judicial investigations in adoptive homes before
the final approval of an adoption, was required. This was a permanent decision
of the court by the 1930’s (1). The government’s role in child adoption
includes providing social workers with jobs and giving financial checks to
parents who take care of adopted children. The issue lies within home study
reports which are investigations by the social workers of the family’s
household. They are usually conducted before a child is adopted and many times
during the adoption period. Home studies are becoming less efficient after the
first checks if not from the start. My discussion of the revolutions on current
adoption practices which resulted in the social workers role is in fact
addressing the larger matter of their lack of effort in security checks. The
lack of effort social workers put into home studies encourages the negative
actions of many adopting parents which in most cases are child abuse (7). For
example, the movie precious sheds light on the role of social workers. During a
social worker visit mistreatment toward two children with mental issues were
covered up by the parent through constructing physical and household appearances
making fake conversations primarily to receive welfare checks. Welfare checks
contribute to the government’s lack of involvement with child adoption; they
hand checks out to parents who don’t deserve them because of the mischievous
actions previously mentioned. This ultimately leads to the conclusion that the
government finds any solution of a particular problem and pushes it aside.
In
conclusion, crime from the youth is on the rise and in majority of the cases we
find these children and teens come from adopted families. The government’s role
in child adoption is decreasing, affecting the work of social workers who put
little effort into striving to fix problems in adopted families which could
possibly contribute to a decrease in child adoption. Also, emotional defects
have increased in adopted children. The upshot of all this is that adoption is
a beautiful thing but in an increasing amount of cases children are not well
taken care of. The controversial question still remains, ‘Is child adoption
beneficial to the adoptee?’.
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