ethics?

stubborngirl

Brief intro: I've always been drawn to adoption, though my husband and I decided to start off our family by having a biological child. Since my pregnancy and labor was fairly difficult, I am even more strongly considering adoption if we expand our family in the next few years.  I was leaning toward international (though undecided about that still). I mentioned this to some friends and got the response "are you worried about the ethical issues?" Of course I have thought about this before but I don't feel fully researched on it yet.  Could anyone point to resources, articles, books, or leave some personal thoughts about ethical issues in adoption? Thanks!

 

Dr.Loretta

I"m not sure what you mean by ethical issues. Can you elaborate?

stubborngirl

I think the major concern is whether the children were given up, willingly by the mother (or whether there was coercion or money changing hands there). Perhaps there are other issues as well? 

Mrs_Liberto

Thankfully the Hague Adoption Convention has created a standard by which the "good" international adoption can be measured. You can find more information here:

https://adoption.state.gov/hague/overview.html

 

CaptainSerious

There are many ethical concerns in any form of adoption.  Perhaps the most pressing is the need to be assured that the birth mother/family is not coerced in any way to relinquish her/their rights to the child and that the child really is free for adoption (has not been kidnapped, etc.).  This is a matter that is as relevant in domestic adoptions as international.

Other issues include:

 - how much the adoption fees are and where the money goes; 

 - concerns about raising a child outside of his/her native culture; and

 - concerns about adopting a child that is not really an orphan (This happens for a variety of reasons, most commonly because the parents cannot raise the child appropriately/safely themselves, but it leads back to the above concern about coercion/baby smuggling.)

These are some of the most common ethical concerns I can think of regarding adoption in general.  Then, once you start researching agencies, there is a whole other set of ethical issues you consider to determine if an agency operates fairly.  These include:

 - their fees and what those fees are used for (these are different from the above country fees, and should be separately itemized);

 - their contracts and policies, including how they handle failed adoptions, changes in programs, pregnancies and other major life events that might affect your adoption;

 - their reputation--how do they interact with their clients?  How do they handle problems that come up midstream?  Do they have any past lawsuits against them, what for, and what was the outcome?  Have they operated previously under another name or in another state in which they are no longer working, and if so, why did they/that change?

 - any humanitarian work they are engaged in; and

 - many more levels of detail that help you assess if the agency is trustworthy and successful.

CaptainSerious

The Hague Convention is a good start, but there are concerns that even under its regulations agencies/country officials could operate unethically if they really wanted to.  There's also some concern that the COA, which is the Hague accreditation authority for US agencies, has green-lighted certain agencies with not-so-great reputations because they are long-time Joint Council on International Children's Services (JCICS) members.  To top it all off, some countries follow Hague standards, but are not party to the Convention because it is too costly/time consuming to become a member.

So, while accreditation/participation in the Convention is a guide to help point a person in the right direction, it probably shouldn't be the sole measure of an agency or country program.

GLynn2009

Research, research, and more research I think is the key. There are many guidelines to follow and if you are trying to follow the laws I believe you will find a good agency.