Adoption Versus Foster Care

Words: 1020
Pages: 5

What is better for children: adoption or foster care? In my paper I intend to examine what is better for children, adoption or foster care, as well as its legal proceeding, adoptee and biological parent ordeal of losing a child, adoptive parent and foster caregiver experiences, the adoptee or a fostered care child and the hope of a prospective adoptive parent or a foster parent (caregiver). I will then examine the differences and similarity between adoption and foster care to ascertain which method of care is better for children. Although, I prefer adoption to foster care, I will try to find a balance in comparison. Adoption and foster care are types of care given to non-biological child, …show more content…
According to Mary Margaret Gottesman, “despite thorough scrutiny of the caregivers prior to selection, a study shows that most of the children in the licensed public foster care have behavioral and development problems due to the illiteracy and incompetency of the caregivers. And also, the fostered child is exposed to poverty, due to the caregiver’s low annual income. Although in the licensed private care, there have been no studies examining the quality of care children receive” (58-59). Children in the foster care can also be adopted or given back to their biological parents who are then competent and able to care for their …show more content…
According to Mandi MacDonald and Dominic McSherry, “keeping in touch with the biological parent of an adopted child is burdensome, and this can also present a risk to the adopted child’s self-esteem and emotional well-being, knowing the reason, he or she was given up for an adoption. Nevertheless, the study reveals the need for mechanism to facilitate communication with birth families due to the future need of the child and creating room for post-adoption contact link but contact arrangements have the potential to complicate day-to-day life for adoptive parents, requiring them to take time off work, arrange child care for siblings and rearrange family celebrations such as birthdays. Although, it is unclear how many adoptive parents agreed to this pattern of communication but helping the child to discover his / her real self is a key tasks in adoptive parenting” (4-5). Although, no parent would want to give up a child for an adoption or for a foster care but due to circumstances like “poor marital relationship, history of abuse, multiply young children, premature birth of the child, unwanted pregnancy, and mental illness” (Gottesman 62). The child’s well-being is of uppermost concern in such scenario, the right of the child will overrule that of the parent, therefore involving the Child Services and that is the genesis of adoption or foster