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Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 11:38 pm
Quote: Birth mother's expenses: Whether you adopt through an agency or independently, if you want to adopt an infant in the United States you will probably need to pay at least some of the birth mother's expenses. Decide which birth parent expenses you are willing to underwrite, and know what is legal in your state. In most cases, if the birth mother lacks medical coverage and is ineligible for Medicaid, you will probably pick up prenatal and hospital delivery charges. As a benchmark, most adoption experts say to figure on spending at least $7,500 on these expenses. Explore whether a doctor or hospital can be paid in installments or will extend you a discount for services. Some states will also permit you to pay "maternity-related" expenses, such as rent, food, utilities, counseling and even lost income for the birth mother for time off work. Others, like Pennsylvania, forbid reimbursing the birth mother for anything but her medical costs. Source: http://www.adoptivefamilies.com/adoption.phpIt sort of disturbed me how much they used "infant" when talking about adoption...relegating the part about "waiting" children to about a paragraph or two... Quote: Over half of the more than 50,000 U.S. children adopted last year were beyond infancy or deemed "special needs" because of physical, mental or behavioral disabilities, their age, their minority group status, or their membership in a sibling group. Estimates put the number of children in foster care who are eligible for adoption at approximately 131,000. States and agencies caring for these "waiting children" consider all of them adoptable and will feature them in picture books you can find at public libraries or subscribe to by mail. Another source is the AdoptUSKids computerized photo-listing book (www.adoptuskids.org), which shows hundreds of waiting children throughout the United States. To adopt an older child from the foster care system, you must go through an agency. The government gives all kinds of tax breaks and incentives to adopting "special needs" children, so guess what that's going to encourage? The kinds of bastards who put their children in cages and leave them to sit in their own s**t and piss all day long, because of the MONEY...the ******** money. Oh, yeah, it's so much WORSE to give birth to a child with a hugely debilitating disease so their adoption profile lists great "pros" like "She can move her eyes so you really know she's watching you" and "She has to be fed through a tube in her throat but loves her food time!" and "He shakes his arms when he's happy!" etc. A lot of these kids are relegated to a life in a wheelchair with a food tube down the throat, or the inability to ever take care of themselves properly. So, what do you think?
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Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 12:58 am
Do you mean choosing adoptiong over abortion or choosing adoption as in adopting kids?
Personally, I'd rather go through an illegal abortion (should it come to that) that might scar me for life or even kill me, then to give birth to an innocent kid and have them lead a lifetime of pain and scars in the adoption system.
Or if your talking about adopting kids: Again personally - I plan on adopting at least one kid in my life. Perferably an older child, slight mental/physical issues don't bother me, but I am not able to give the best type of care to.....say someone with autism, it's just something I can't do - not because I don't want to, just because I can't, I lack some ability.
Reading things over and over like the second paragraph you quoted, and worse, like the stories that make the news because they are so gruesome. while doing research on the abortion front have given me the insight that even though I didn't have the best of childhoods', those children have it much worse off. And if the other side is just willing to push the adoption issue without thinking about the kids inquestion, well then I guess It's my job to be woman enough to step up to the plate and give one or more of those kids something better.
They didn't choose to live the life they are living, but it could be my choice that changes it all.
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Posted: Sun Apr 01, 2007 3:16 pm
Honestly, people shouldn't be having kids if they know their child will be mentally or physically disabled and then putting it into adoption centers because people don't really want kids with problems like that.
I know it seems mean, but unless the parents are going to keep their own mentally/physically disabled child, I really don't see a point in them going through the pregnancy and then dumping it in the adoption centers.
These kids need special attention and love. People shouldn't be adopting them because of the money, they should be adopting them because they want them and will love/be there for them. As a parent, that is their job.
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Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 9:24 am
As pro-choice as I may be, I feel that the main (if not the only real) justification for aborting is as a means of preventing women from undergoing the stresses of raising and/or bearing children. Adoption is NOT a substitute as it is even more selfish to expect someone to raise a child for you than to just put your uterus on the back burner, so to speak. To produce a child, only to give it to someone else, is nonsensical if not arrogant. Likewise, to produce a child only to cast it aside because of issues with that particular child is the highest form of reproductive arrogance.
Which, of course, leads to the question of aborting based on defect. I don't feel that it's particularly good rationale, as various problems are more difficult than others, and of course as the ability to determine problems in utero arises (Oh, look! We have an autistic fetus! Or they could just be a goth-in-training . . .), there will be issues in which problems are worth nipping in the bud and which have ethical constraints where the problems found are not life-threatening, just aggravating.
I don't feel that aborting a child based on ability is any better than aborting based on gender. Honestly? If you're not thinking about this based on the efforts you'll have to put forth to raise ANY child, let alone raising one differently based on ability, then why does it make a difference what the child actually is?
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Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 6:56 pm
Geez, the severe disabilities you're describing in the first post sound horrible.
I don't think I could ever care for someone or live with someone like that. Not only is that a horrible financial strain and physical strain, but you actually have to watch someone live in a condition like that. I know that some severely disabled people want to live, and good for them, they're braver than I'll ever be, but I just wouldn't be able to live like that.
I'm taking care of a crippled baby pigeon right now, and it's horrible. S/he can feed him/herself, but its leg is so messed up that it can't walk, perch, or land, meaning it can't fly, either. Legs actually are very important to their flight. All I have to do is feed, water, and clean this bird and make sure it gets some sort of stimulation and socialization so it won't go crazy, and it's really tough to watch. If I had known this would happen when it was an egg and I had the choice to destroy it then, I would.
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Posted: Wed Apr 04, 2007 10:05 am
The concept of keeping sibling groups together is a double-edged sword. On one side, yes, it does retain some sense of family for the children. On the other side, it's sad to see them rot in the adoption system just because people only want to adopt ONE child. This upsets me...if I do choose to adopt, I'll definitely look into adopting siblings, if only to keep them together and give them a better life at the same time.
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