Realities of Adoption

I am truly saddened by the complete lack of awareness and understanding of so many people regarding adoption issues.

Do they know that

• it costs more than $20,000 per domestic infant adoption
• most states allow adoptive families to provide financial assistance to birthmothers for basic necessities, including healthcare, food, clothing, shelter. These costs are in addition to the adoption fees the adoptive family is already providing for the stringent background approval process, counseling services for the birthfamily, and legal fees.
• international adoptions cost $30,000-40,000 or more

Therefore, for EACH child a middle-class adoptive couple wants to add to their family, the couple must save about ½ a year’s gross income. That’s in addition to the thousands the couple probably already spent to find out they are infertile, most of which is NOT covered by insurance.

After all, how many people do you know who had saved ½ a year’s paycheck or more in order to pay for the cost of having a baby? How many of our parents or grandparents were independently wealthy when they had children? Weren’t they just starting out, too? Aren’t most of us here because our parents or grandparents or great-grandparents simply got pregnant? I doubt most of them had saved ½ a year’s paycheck or more to pay for each child added to their families (including US!).

In addition

• most couples wait a year or more before receiving a baby into their homes—that’s in addition to the months or years the couple spent in trying to get pregnant and undergoing infertility testing.
• that there are probably 10-15 families waiting for each child that is placed
• thousands of families have adopted babies with physical, emotional, and other challenges, including future unknowns due to a birthmother’s drug or alcohol use during pregnancy

What would it be like if

• adoption costs were made minimal or were subsidized so that any family who wanted children could adopt, no matter their income levels (still undergoing the same stringent approval process to ensure children placed would be safe)
• families could adopt multiple children due to low costs
• approved families could be placed with a child within a month or so
• uninformed people who talk about the thousands of “unwanted” babies that are aborted each year because they are an “inconvenience” to their birthfamilies got a CLUE about how much those babes are DESPERATELY wanted by adoptive families.

For these reasons, I am saddened by my many friends and family, who (knowing these facts and the struggles that we have gone through in waiting for an aoption), continue to support abortion and plan to vote for Obama who has stated: "I have consistently advocated for reproductive choice and will make preserving women's rights under Roe v. Wade a priority as President. I oppose any constitutional amendment to overturn the Supreme Court's ruling in this case." In addition, he has a 100% pro-choice voting record.

No, this is not the only issue in this election, but it always has been and will continue to be a deciding issue for me.