November 14, 2012

Adoption News Round-up

Here’s some information on this week’s top (or just interesting!) adoption news:

Apparently, the TV is a great way to advertise the need for adoptive families. An ad about adoption was run on the Oxygen Network and received 30 phone calls within 24 hours, as well as saving the life of a child whose birth mother was going to leave her baby at the hospital post-birth, but now is looking into options for finding her child a home. How wonderful is that? There is a lot of junk on TV – it’s nice to see something that’s affecting change for the better.

This is a very strongly written article on The Conversation about children adopted internationally, and how many of them actually have families. It’s devastating that child trafficking and unlawfully putting children up for adoption become an increasing trend. While there are still positives to behold in international adoption, there is something in creating greater awareness about where these children are coming from. How do we protect inter-country adoption? Who is the blame for the illegal practices and what can we do to turn them around?

The Irish government knows what’s up! They are looking to amend their constitution to include stronger rights for children, which includes making it easier for them to be adopted. It would also make it a crime to hide info on a suspected child abuser, and working to protect their welfare against abuse. We think that these laws should be naturally observed in every country – no child should go unprotected – but we are glad to see Ireland working to fix the system.

Have you been following news stories about the renewal of the Adoption Tax Credit? The Washington Times has a great article written by Kathleen Strottman, who is the executive director of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute, explaining why it’s important to renew the adoption tax credit this year.

And for a final fun touch, here’s a great ad addressing gay adoption:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1o4YUY4feys