Adoption And Foster Care - You Can Make A Difference

We are in a society today that continuously puts challenge to what is essential in our lives most especially for our children

. While we do not address the growing concern over exposing our children in a disadvantaged environment, we will always be plagued with an increasing number of our young population who will be raised for adoption and foster care. Concerned individuals like you who have the emotional, physical and financial capacity to share with our displaced children can be crucial in shaping their future for the betterment of society.

Although both pertain to child care for persons other than your natural born children, there are major differences between adopting and fostering particularly when you consider the legal and social aspects. An adopted child becomes part of your family permanently and will bear your family name. You take over all legal responsibilities in providing for the child in the same way as you would with your natural born children. The child's birth parents will have no legal rights whatsoever, and the child becomes an heir to your estate equal to that of your legitimate children. You accept the child as your very own and raise him or her in an environment of unconditional love.

Ideally, a child's future is better off in an environment where the biological parents take responsibility in nurturing for the child. That is why their stay in a foster home is supposedly limited and reuniting them with their own families is the best solution to an impending problem of juvenile delinquency or a messed up adult life. There is no assurance however that their conditions will improve if the family continues to have problems within, but the odds are stronger for the child when reunited with his or her parents.

There are several reasons why children are placed under foster care. The more common conditions include physical and verbal abuse, parental neglect that is detrimental to the health and well being of the child, sexual abuse and incarceration of the legal guardian due to a crime committed. The psychological and emotional stress that the child is exposed to may take a heavy toll in their perception or the lack of it of what a normal person or a conventional society is.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, there were 273,000 children placed in foster care for the year 2008 with an average age of 8 years old, and the majority of whom were infants and children up to 4 years of age. The number of teenagers with ages ranging from 13 to 17 years were quite significant also. More than half of these children returned to their respective families while about 20% were adopted. As of September 30, 2008, there were 123,000 children waiting for adoption.

If you have seen the film, "The Blind Side" starring Sandra Bullock, it is a beautiful story on adoption and foster care and revolves on the success of a white family fostering a troubled African American teenager and eventually adopting him legally, while giving him all the love and care that they also showered to their two biological children. The fostered/adopted child became a football university scholar and when he graduated, he was drafted to the U.S. National Football League (NFL) where he is currently a professional football player. It is a true to life story that reminds all of us that if you have a big heart with a persevering spirit, there is always hope for a lost child.

by: Colby Brister

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