Why international adoption and not domestic for our family?
International, domestic, and trans-racial adoptions along with foster care are all crucial in helping children's current conditions and offering them a more promising future. Each type of child care has it's unique set of gains and loses for all peoples involved: the birth parents, the child, and the adoptive parents. Each adoptive parent has to weigh out the gains and loses and chose which type of adoption or child care is right for them.
While we can't claim that one is more noble of a cause than another, Todd and I perceive the needs of an international orphan as much more dire than those in our country's system. Given that our country has a welfare system in place, though flawed, it still ensures that children are provided with free quality education, meals at school and/or through food programs, medical assistance, and foster care programs. Third world children are in an entirely different situation. In many cases there is no public education and the costs of schooling can take up to 75% of the family income just to send one child. Families struggle to provide food for survival, and medical needs being met in the simplest of forms, is a luxury.
We have several friends who are foster parents and friends who have adopted domestically. They are absolutely making a tremendous difference in the lives of the children for whom they care. More foster parents are desperately needed to help the half million children in the system. Foster parents have a different set of obstacles and challenges and a different set of loses and gains than adoptive parents with international adoption. All in all, a child is being cared for who otherwise may have no one and this too is important.
Again, it's a choice of what is right for each person and what gains and loses they are willing to face. We greatly esteem parent(s) for stepping up to care for children in need and for taking action when the heart tugs.
Click here for "Why Ethiopia?"
International, domestic, and trans-racial adoptions along with foster care are all crucial in helping children's current conditions and offering them a more promising future. Each type of child care has it's unique set of gains and loses for all peoples involved: the birth parents, the child, and the adoptive parents. Each adoptive parent has to weigh out the gains and loses and chose which type of adoption or child care is right for them.
While we can't claim that one is more noble of a cause than another, Todd and I perceive the needs of an international orphan as much more dire than those in our country's system. Given that our country has a welfare system in place, though flawed, it still ensures that children are provided with free quality education, meals at school and/or through food programs, medical assistance, and foster care programs. Third world children are in an entirely different situation. In many cases there is no public education and the costs of schooling can take up to 75% of the family income just to send one child. Families struggle to provide food for survival, and medical needs being met in the simplest of forms, is a luxury. We have several friends who are foster parents and friends who have adopted domestically. They are absolutely making a tremendous difference in the lives of the children for whom they care. More foster parents are desperately needed to help the half million children in the system. Foster parents have a different set of obstacles and challenges and a different set of loses and gains than adoptive parents with international adoption. All in all, a child is being cared for who otherwise may have no one and this too is important.
Again, it's a choice of what is right for each person and what gains and loses they are willing to face. We greatly esteem parent(s) for stepping up to care for children in need and for taking action when the heart tugs.
Click here for "Why Ethiopia?"
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