Actual realities of International Adoption - Why People do it.

So even if we accepted the premise from the proposition that foster homes are bad and that the state can place this problem at the feet of prospective parents, we would point out that the proposition has provided no link between banning international adoption and solving the problems of domestic adoption. Their problem is that they assume that all those who internationally adopt do so instead of domestically. This is incorrect. Whilst there might be a small minority who decide not to go through the system most people who internationally adopt do so either because the American system has failed to find them a suitable match or because they have some link to the child/country in question. The first one is self explanatory, so onto the second. The United States has the highest level of immigration of any country in the world. These are people who are fleeing what they believe to be a worse life in another country to come live in the US. This bad life which they had in their previous home, is probably had by many of the children in that country as well. Is it that surprising that many people who successfully get citizenship in the US then want to help others escape the poverty that they did? We don't think it's a surprise that many of the countries from which there are high adoption rates are also many of the countries from which there are high rates of immigration. Family members, children of close friends, many of these children have lost their parents and would domestically be an ideal case for adoption from a close friend/relative. Why should we deprive these children the right to escape the foster care that proposition claims is so damaging? We do not accept the premise that parents who adopt Internationally are doing so for convenience only. It's not the case that all of these parents would then adopt domestically. In the majority of cases you are denying the benefits of an adopted life to a child from a poor country, in favour of nothing at all. This isn't a good thing. Moreover why should we deny the parents the right to adopt these children? Parents shape their children so that a part of them can live on. In domestic adoption we allow for racial categorisation for example, where we try to match up children from certain racial backgrounds with similar parents. Whilst these are not absolutist rules, we see an acknowledgement that that the principle of sitting the best child with the best parent is a good one. Many parents who cannot conceive, choose to adopt an extended family member or friend from their own country. Someone they can relate to, someone they can feel justified in teaching their traditions and culture to, someone they can care about more. We think that this is a benefit which many parents are looking for, and why many choose international adoption. That not only takes me back to my point therefore that they wouldn't adopt domestically if banned from international, but also, the problems of adoption aren't solved by finding lots of homes, but by finding suitable homes. We think that allowing parents the right to adopt a child which they can love and care for the most is one which benefits parents, children and ultimately the rest of society.