Ethics & Religion
Column #1,978
July 18, 2019
Make Adoption More Appealing
By Mike McManus
One out of six couples discover that they are infertile. That's 7.4
million couples in America!
While some are able to take fertility treatments that are successful,
the vast majority are unable to do so. What if they want to adopt a
baby?
There were 1,534,000 births to unwed women in 2017. That is nearly 40%
of all births in the nation. So there should be no problem in find a
child to adopt.
Yet how many infant adoptions were there? A paltry 18,078.
In other words, it is virtually impossible for an infertile couple to
adopt a baby in America.
What a tragic scandal! Yet no one seems to be concerned about it.
Another grim detail: Some 194,000 of those unwed births were to teenage
mothers - moms who were only 15-17 years old. None of those girls should
be forced to quit school to become a full-time mother.
Yet the message of pro-life leaders and of crisis pregnancy centers who
show the young mothers pictures of the baby in their womb - have one
message: KEEP THE BABY. What they are fighting is the option of
abortion.
I believe that giving birth is a better option than abortion. And there
were 915,000 abortions in a recent year.
However, most unwed births are to cohabiting couples - not teenagers. So
the child has both a mother and father in the household. How do those
kids fare?
Dr. Brad Wilcox reports that "The most dangerous situation is one where
a mother cohabits with an unrelated male boyfriend." A recent federal
study reported that those children are "about 10 times more likely to be
physically, sexually or emotionally abused compared to children living
with their own married parents."
Children of single parents are three times as likely to be expelled from
school or to become pregnant as teenagers as those from intact homes.
And they are five times more apt to live in poverty. As children of
single parents become teenagers, they are more than twice as likely to
commit a crime as those from intact homes.
On the other hand, if that child of an unmarried mother is adopted - his
fortunes are very bright. For example, they are more likely than
children born into intact homes - to live their young lives with both
parents because few adoptive parents divorce.
Adopted children score higher than their middle class counterparts in
school achievement, social competence, optimism and volunteerism. They
are less depressed than children of single parents, and less involved in
alcohol abuse, vandalism, group fighting or police trouble. They have
higher self-respect, self-directedness and positive values of others.
Yet there were only 18,078 children adopted in 2017 out of 1.5 million
unwed births.
Alarmingly, unwed births have soared eight-fold from 5% of all births to
nearly 40%. That figure is 20 times the 2% unwed birth rate of Japan.
These children have the worst prospects in life. In a study by Pat Fagan
when he was with the Family Research Council, compared to children from
intact homes, those from fatherless homes are:
- 24 times more likely to run away
- 15 times more apt to have behavior disorders and to land in prison as a
teenager
- 11 times more likely to commit rape
- 7 times more apt to be a teenage mother
- 73 times more likely to be killed.
What can be done to dramatically increase the adoption rate in America?
First, it should be noted that the Bush Administration created an
adoption tax credit, which was extended by the Obama Administration to
be a refundable tax credit worth $14,080 in 2019. That covers nearly
half of the typical $30,000 cost of an adoption.
Second, every pastor should preach on the importance of adoption as an
alternative to raising a child by a single mother. I suggest immodestly
that you give this column to your pastor, so he can cite the evidence
that adopted children fare well.
Third, if you are a couple who wants to adopt, I suggest that you make
that desire widely known to your friends and church members who may know
of a woman who is pregnant out-of-wedlock.
That's what my son, Adam did. In a speech he announced that he and his
wife would love to adopt a baby. In the audience was a woman whose
unmarried 18-year-old daughter was three months pregnant. The girl saw
adoption as an answer to prayer, and agreed. Adam was present at the
birth of his new son - nine years ago.
Let's set a goal of 100,000 adoptions by 2025. (There were 90,000
adoptions in 1971, before Roe v. Wade legalized abortion.) __________________________
Copyright (c) 2018 Michael J. McManus, President of Marriage Savers and
a syndicated columnist. To read past columns, go to
www.ethicsandreligion.com. Hit
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