ADOPTION HISTORY

I had recently read an article by a natural or birth mother. It really shocked me and made me realize that I needed to do additional research on adoption history. The article is listed at:

http://www.opednews.com/webber022704_adoption.htm

It made me stop and really wonder where our country is heading to. It was about how President Bush is pushing the adoption issue and is giving adoptive parents an incentive on their taxes ( a $10,000). Pat Robertson, Mr. Wingnut, is telling his audience that to be supportive of open adoption records is to be supportive of abortion. I went through a partial list of adoption stories alone. The list was 163,000 long. I probably tackled maybe 200 of them. One website gave me some numbers that I thought were real interesting:

One site that I went to the advertising costs of an adoption agency is over $1,000,000. They say this is a non-profit business. Looks like BIG BUSINESS to me.

140,000,000 Americans (roughly half of the American population) is affected by adoption.

$60,000 is the average cost of Adoptions.

98% of all natural mothers want to be found.

99% of all adoptees want to be found.

13% to 25% of adoptees were returned to state officials in 1989.

Of 1,000 natural mothers surveyed, most would prefer abortion to secret adoptions.

Now all this information is very interesting. Too bad someone can't put this information on Pat Robertson's desk for him to see. Maybe even put a bug in President Bush's ear as well.

The following information came from several studies done:

http://ubalt.edu/glance/ur_portfolio/NotaBenne/fall_02/columns/adoptee.html
http://www.americanadoptioncongress.org/aaclogo.jpg



As far as the history of closed adoptions go, initially they were closed to protect the child and the adoptive parents from harassment and interference from the natural/birth parents. The adopted child would have access later to the information. Birth mothers were considered to be mentally ill for having a child out of wedlock. The unmarried mother ofcourse could be cured and should be rehabilitated so that she could be of marriage material. This is of course for the unmarried white woman. The unmarried black woman and her child were considered to be part of a cultural context that allowed pregnancy that resulted out of the slavery days. Of course the adoptive parents wanted to also be sure of the fact that the birth mother's immorality was not an inherited disease. That little comment sent me through the roof. This kind of thing went on in the thirties and the fourties. A woman's natural function is a disease if done outside the laws of marriage. Adoptees even during this time were still allowed access to their records up to this point in many states. The United States Children's Bureau even stated that "every person has a right to know who he is and who his people were." It was later in the late fourties, fifties and the sixites were the records became closed.

During that time, the attitudes changed. The birth family then had to be protected from the adoptee. We became ungrateful and pathological because we wanted to know who, where, why, when, and what about our adoption. It was seriously frowned upon to even question our identity. Yet most of humanity has based life questions on those type of issues. It was considered normal. There are many adoptees who are in mental institutions. Every time an adoptee does something bad it is pathologically linked to an adoption issue. Go figure. Maybe we are so angry at being lied to, being treated like property, and being treated like a criminals. Heck even criminals seem to have more rights than we do. It seems like adoptees and birth parents are just bad. As late as 1960, some states had laws on the books that the adoptee was to have unrestricted access to their records.

The lifelong secrecy was created to give the adoptee the feeling of naturalness and legality. It was considered the "perfect and complete substitute for creating a family through childbirth."

In many states, the laws are changing. In many countries where adoption records have been opened up, the rate of abortion has gone down. It is in several studies. Fortunately pregnant women of all races have more support from their families, friends, and even government services if she should choose to keep her child. She also has more choices. If people like Pat Robertson and President Bush continue in their beliefs and ideologies, we will go back to being property of the society in which we live. We will be considered diseased and pathological. Sorry guys I ain't gonna let it happen.

I will write and write until my dying breath. I will fight the unconstitutional laws that the Wingnuts in our country with my own blood. In doing so I am protecting the mothers, sisters, and daughters in my life. I believe that my God is a compassionate one. He will forgive me of my sins if I ask. He won't condemn me for the rest of my life. So in closing Lets continue the fight. Don't let these idiots continue to pound us with their so called beliefs.