You Are Prolife, How Do You Feel About Adoption?

[fides quarens intellectum]

Even infant adoptions can be inexpensive - friends of mine lucked out by knowing a teen mom who wanted to give hers up, which cost them $1500 in legal fees, which is cheaper than our (hopefully) live birth is going to cost us (even with medical insurance).

We had actually started the process of becoming licensed for fostering to adopt during the few months between our pregnancies. I know foster care gets a bad rap, but there are so many children who become legally free to adopt (b/c parents lose rights and relatives don't step up) who have no one willing to adopt them.

[Jaime]

[quote name='rachael' timestamp='1318201552' post='2318738']
I've always said that if I was going to have children, they would e adopted.
[/quote]

Any idea who you would let adopt your children?

[kamiller42]

[quote name='Jesus_lol' timestamp='1318179844' post='2318551']
It is too bad, many prolife people i have talked to also said that they would never consider adopting a child, and others would refuse to allow tax money to help "aint my problem".

I understand the Catholic Church used to do alot of adoptions?
[/quote]
You're hanging with the wrong people.

At a federal level, you get to keep more of your money through tax deductions for adoption expenses.

In Texas, all adoption fees are paid for when adopting children in foster care. Catholic Charities in my town will work out finances if you cannot afford them all at once. Keep in mind that you can't work out a plan if you are living paycheck to paycheck. Adoption agencies will want to see some financial security.

By the way, our family will adopt you j_lol if you're looking.

Edited October 13, 2011 by kamiller42

[Jesus_lol]

[quote name='kamiller42' timestamp='1318483270' post='2320514']
You're hanging with the wrong people.

At a federal level, you get to keep more of your money through tax deductions for adoption expenses.

In Texas, all adoption fees are paid for when adopting children in foster care. Catholic Charities in my town will work out finances if you cannot afford them all at once. Keep in mind that you can't work out a plan if you are living paycheck to paycheck. Adoption agencies will want to see some financial security.

By the way, our family will adopt you j_lol if you're looking.
[/quote]
LOL, nah im good thanks!

thats interesting to know how it is done down there

[ImageTrinity]

My husband and I feel like the "open to life" part of our marriage vows means being open to the possibility of adoption too. We don't have the finances for it right now, but we do plan to adopt in the future. I would love to see tax dollars go to making adoption more affordable.

[Lisa]

Adoption is such a beautiful thing. It does require sacrifice on the part of the birth parents, but it seems like a more or less win-win situation. I think the government and non-profits can do alot to promote adoption as a feasible option by helping to reduce costs for the adoptive parents, and providing health care assistance for the birth parents who go through the pregnancy.

Also, it's really sad that it does cost so much to adopt a child. There are families who want a child more than anything -through adoption, especially if they can't have children of their own- and yet the cost from some agencies is up to $40,000!!!!!! (source: adoption.com)

I'm currently seriously discerning religious life, but if I'm meant to be married and have a family, that would also mean being open to adoption.

[kamiller42]

Lisa, if it's any conciliation, much of the expenses are returned in a tax credit, up to $13,170 per child currently, and non-recurring, i.e. you won't pay again when adopting a second child.

[dominicansoul]

A friend of mine is very active with the pro-life organizations in her home state, and she and her husband are challenging their prolife community to be open to adoptions. They feel that is the next step in our fight against abortion, we save the unborn babies, lets adopt those who no one else wants to care for...

I know it takes a great deal of discernment, because parenting is a vocation... through months of praying about it, she and her husband are in the process of adopting three young boys, all siblings...

Edited October 15, 2011 by dominicansoul

[Mercy me]

The adoption laws in this country need to be changed. I have 6 friends who have adopted. 2 of them adopted internationally. The issues with an American adoption are nerve wracking. A close friend of mine came close to losing her son adopted at birth when another "father" came forward and challenged the already final adoption. That cost alot of money that she and her husband did not have. Other friends adopted minority children although they had to deal with a few issues with that. Makes no sense to me why that is a problem.

[Aloysius]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb8AeSh1rGs



I'd consider adoption, but I'd be interested in having my own flesh and blood kids first.

[tinytherese]

With all of this red tape in adopting, is it any wonder that people look into in vitro fertilization, surrogate motherhood, and artificial insemination? Note that I am not advocating for doing such practices in any way, but maybe this plays a significant part in why people don't decide to adopt.

Edited October 15, 2011 by tinytherese

[MissScripture]

[quote name='tinytherese' timestamp='1318705058' post='2321667']
With all of this red tape in adopting, is it any wonder that people look into in vitro fertilization, surrogate motherhood, and artificial insemination? Note that I am not advocating for doing such practices in any way, but maybe this plays a significant part in why people don't decide to adopt.
[/quote]
Another reason though, is that alot of people think it wouldn't be the same as having their "own" baby (and obviously there would be things that are different than having a child that was biologically yours, but it's not like it would be a little stranger running around your house, any more than a biological child would be). I was listening to a guy talk on Catholic radio a few years back about how he and his wife adopted a baby girl and someone (another Catholic) said to him something like, "Wow, I could never do that! I just couldn't raise a baby that wasn't mine!" And he said, "Well, she is ours. She is a gift from God just like any other baby, He just gave her to us in a different way."

[LaPetiteSoeur]

[quote name='Jesus_lol' timestamp='1318179844' post='2318551']
It is too bad, many prolife people i have talked to also said that they would never consider adopting a child, and others would refuse to allow tax money to help "aint my problem".

I understand the Catholic Church used to do alot of adoptions?
[/quote]
Still do. Catholic Charities does alot of work with this--actually, one of my best friends and his three siblings were adopted through CC!

[Little Flower]

The government should just give all the money thats currently going to planned parenthood to adoptions. thats my idea!

and if i were to get married i would give birth to 10 kids and adopt 10 more.

[MithLuin]

I've considered foster parenting and adopting, but not right now.

I'm single, for one thing, and I think that adoption is something that one should not walk into lightly as a single parent. I mean, on one level, a parent is better than no parents, so I'm sure I could provide a loving home to a kid who wouldn't have that chance otherwise....but....not lightly.

Secondly, one must have a home to be a foster parent. You need a seperate bedroom (no bunk beds) to put the kid(s) into. I do not have this at the moment, so I could not be approved to be a foster parent.

The state does provide money to foster parents, to go towards the upkeep of the child. That's part of the scandal of foster homes - sometimes the adults are asking to be foster parents for some ulterior reason, not to provide a loving home for needy kids. If the gov't pays for adoption...it can introduce some of this scandal into the situation, so one has to be very careful how that is done. Encouraging adoption without making adoption worse is the idea.