|
MYTH
|
REALITY
|
| All adoptions are expensive. |
Costs vary by agency and may be related to how the
agency is funded, where their children come from, and what services
are provided for birth parents and adoptive parents. These range from
$5,000 to $30,000 depending on the agency. The adoption of a child
waiting in foster care can be virtually without cost if the family
works directly with a public social services agency. |
| Adoptive parents must be married and without children. |
Adults who adopt may be single, divorced, widowed,
married with or without children. |
| Someone will take my child away (social services or
the birth parent). |
Once an adoption is finalized, the adoptive family
is recognized as the child’s family by law; rights of the birth parents
are terminated by the courts. |
| My adopted child must have their own bedroom. |
Children may share a bedroom if they are the same gender
and of similar ages. |
| I am too young or too old to adopt. |
People who adopt must be considered an adult legally.
There is no upper age limit. |
| Parents can’t love an adopted child as much as they
would a biological child. |
Love and attachment are not the result of nor guaranteed
by biology. The intensity of bonding and depth of emotion are the
same, regardless of how the child joined the family. |
| There are very few babies being placed for adoption
in the U.S. |
20,000 or more U.S. born infants are placed for adoption
each year—more than the number of international adoptions yearly. |
| Home studies are invasive and judgmental. |
It is important to find the most appropriate, loving
and safe home for a child. They are also intended to be beneficial
and informative for the adoptive family. |
| The process to adopt takes forever. |
Usually it takes less than one year to adopt a child
from the foster care system. For people who are willing to consider
a child other than a newborn, the wait for children within the foster
care system is four to eight months, depending on the county you work
with. |
| It is better to adopt an infant because they are easier
to take care of. |
There are many advantages to adopting an older child;
no diapers; no getting up in the middle of the night; an older child
realizes the value of having a family. There are many things to be
considered regardless of the age you are considering to adopt. |
| Adopted children are more likely to be troubled than
birth children. |
Research shows that adoptees are as well-adjusted as
their non-adopted peers. There is virtually no difference in psychological
functioning between them. |
| My family will never be able to move to another state. |
Once an adoption is legally finalized, the adoptive
parents can live in any state or country. |