5 Reasons Why You Should Adopt A Child From The Foster Care System
There are many reasons why you should consider adoption, from the health of an innocent child to your own need for nurturing and caring compassion in your life. Adoption is an amazing way to give back to the world. That’s especially true if you adopt from the struggling foster care system here in the U.S.
In 2018 there were more than 430,000 children in foster care in the United States. Unfortunately, very few of those children will ever make it to adoptive families.
That’s partly because most families looking to adopt focus on babies and young children so adoption agencies like Texas Adoption Center simply fill the need. In a perfect world, parents looking to adopt might consider foster kids first, but for a number of reasons, that’s not the case.
If you’re looking to adopt, hopefully after reading this article about five reasons to adopt from foster care, you’ll consider adopting from the system despite any of the concerns you may have.
They Need An Education
According to the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, nearly 25% of foster kids that age out of the system did not have a high school diploma or GED, and ever more staggering only 6% will go on to finish a two or four-year degree.
And don’t even get me started about preschool. Young foster kids have little to no education until they reach kindergarten. Preschools like Cadence Education have reported that only a small number of their students are foster care kids. This has caused states to start reimbursement programs for Foster families in hopes they’ll take their children to preschool.
If you can provide a loving home and a consistent education for a young one who otherwise would go without, why not at least consider it?
Infertility
According to the U.S. Department of Human Health Services, between 12 and 13 out of 100 couples in the United States have trouble getting pregnant. That’s a staggering number to many.
Still, the vast majority of these couples turn to fertility clinics instead of adopting. In fact, recent data from the research firm Data Bridge revealed that by 2026 the global fertility industry could be worth over $41billion.
If even half of the couples that had trouble conceiving a child simply adopted instead of going to these fertility clinics there wouldn’t be any more foster kids.
Same-Sex Couples
For decades same-sex couples fought for the right to adopt children in the U.S. Then in 2015, the Supreme Court struck down all bans on same-sex marriage in the United States. Still, the cases keep rolling in as states and religious organizations continue to break with the Supreme Court’s ruling.
This all leads to Fulton v. Philadelphia a case that the Supreme Court will be ruling on this year or the next. The case involves a Catholic Adoption agency that has prevented same-sex couples from adopting. If the agency wins this could mean thousands of children across the country won’t be able to be adopted by same-sex couples.
Still, because of previous court rulings, same-sex couples are now allowed to adopt at any non-religious adoption agency. As of 2018, only three years after the Supreme Court’s ruling, some 114,000 children had been adopted by same-sex couples, according to data from the Williams Institute at UCLA School of Law. Hopefully, that trend will continue and the number of children in the foster care system will continue to fall.
Single Person Who Wants To Start a Family
Another group that has historically been limited from adopting children is single men and women. According to the Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) almost 15,000 single women and 2,000 single men adopted children from foster care in 2017.
That may sound like a lot of children, but in reality, the number still pales in comparison to the number of single people who have the ability to adopt. So if you’re a stable, single person looking to make an impact on the planet, why not consider adopting from foster care? It’s a great way to make a tangible difference.
Ethical Concerns Overpopulation Growth
Lastly, in 2020 climate change and overpopulation have become key concerns of many young people. Those who are especially dogmatic have even taken an extreme stance on child-rearing, arguing that giving up having kids is an effective method for saving the planet from the climate crisis.
They argue this because of research that reveals that having even one child has an enormous impact on the climate, adding some 58.6 tonnes of carbon to the environment each year.
So if you want to save the planet, why not consider adoption. You can help make a difference in reducing climate change while saving the life of a young child at the same time. That’s a hell of win-win.
At the end of the day, if we want to fix our struggling foster care system, then we are going to need new parents from every walk of life to contribute. It doesn’t matter if you’re a same-sex couple, an infertile couple, or not a couple at all, adopting is a great thing to do not only for the children but also for the planet