October 04, 2011

Adoption parties

The Guardian has been running a lot of articles recently about the various crises afflicting the adoption industry. Amongst others, they’ve focused on many studies detailing the decrease in actual adoptions, and how that number is antithetical to the number of people wanting to adopt and the number of children available for adoption.

Their most recent article discussed the notion of “adoption parties … a pilot project in the UK for children [but one that has had popularity in the U.S. for years] in care for whom all other family-finding methods have failed. The adults are either approved adopters or well into the process of approval, while the children all desperately need adopting. Neither the adults nor the children have met before, but the hope is that once they do, connections might be made.” Popular in the 1980s, they’ve left the scene since being compared to “cattle markets” for children, or like a metaphorical supermarket for kids. But now they’re coming back into the UK, and with surprising results.

Although one can understand the negative connotation, in this case, that doesn’t seem to apply. Children who’ve been put through the adoption wringer are thrilled with the opportunity to have an actual say in their process and who might be adopting them, and adoptive parents get to interact with and work on forming a relationship with a child that they might be bringing into their lives forever.

Of course, this doesn’t solve how expensive adoption has become, or the fact that they are far too many children without homes. But ultimately, it’s a good thing to expand the boundaries of the process, and open up the adoption journey to more than just the typical path. If the system is struggling, then we should be doing everything we can to open up opportunities for children and families and to keep the adoption process alive.

Do you know of any exciting adoption-related activities happening in your area? Let us know about them…we’d love to spread the word!