What We Get Wrong About Adoption | The Nation

“work done across the political spectrum to frame adoption both as a mutually agreeable common ground in the abortion debate, and as a panacea for social complexity around the desire for parenthood.” ⤴️
“Support for adoption is one of the most enduringly unifying issues in American culture and politics.” ⤴️
“all of the stories we choose to tell about adoption—both politically, and for our entertainment—contribute to a predominant, largely unchallenged narrative of adoption as a social good.” ⤴️
“the history of private domestic adoption as a mechanism for maintaining norms of whiteness, class privilege, religion, and social order in the context of the family.” ⤴️
“taking and transfer of children has been used as a tool throughout American history in the separation of enslaved African children from their parents, the forced removal of Native American children from their families and tribes, the policing of Black families within the child welfare system, and, of course, the removal of children from immigrant and asylum-seeking families at our border.” ⤴️
“extracting obedience from vulnerable groups.” ⤴️
“this child-taking was not about “finding families,” given that the children already had families (as do most children who are available for adoption)” ⤴️
““baby scoop” era of the 1950s and ’60s, when over 1.5 million young women relinquished their infants in the United States.” ⤴️
“mothers, many of whom were likely capable of and would have been interested in parenting had they been given control of their own lives.” ⤴️
“Today, most women who relinquish infants for private adoption report wanting to parent but lacking the support and financial resources to do so. Their relinquishments are a reflection of their lack of the power in other areas of their lives that would enable them to parent in the way that they wish to do.” ⤴️
“Adoption makes many queer parent-led families possible; it allows some adults to pursue single parenthood by choice; it can create familial bonds across racial, ethnic, and cultural difference. All of these types of families would have been radical a generation ago” ⤴️
“family creativity: new ideas of kinship that can emerge as adoption allows new kinds of families to form.” ⤴️
“adoption, as a social practice, requires is not just a new paradigm for an outcome but also a new understanding of the premise” ⤴️
“giving radical support for people to determine what is best for themselves, their children, and their families” ⤴️
“given such support, few parents will choose relinquishment.” ⤴️
“Many efforts around family preservation are simply about offering American families the most basic levels of support: family leave, affordable child care, universal preschool, health insurance, public assistance that allows families to feed, diaper, and care for their children in a fundamental way.” ⤴️
“Rebekah Henson shared: “When we talk about women ‘choosing’ adoption, what we’re really talking about is a woman choosing between raising her own child or giving [them] away permanently so she can survive. No one should ever be in a position where they need to make a choice like that, and it’s absolutely unconscionable to me that we so blithely allow it to continue.”” ⤴️
“maintaining a continuity of identity for the adopted person throughout their life. For example, many adoptees have long been advocating for the right to easily access their original birth certificates and adoption records” ⤴️
“priority on kinship or community-based placements that allows adopted people to stay in their families and communities (or, for Native children, tribes) of origin, allowing for greater connection and fewer potential challenges around transracial placements.” ⤴️
“still no legal enforceability or industry consensus around openness.” ⤴️
“All these things can be true: that parental love is full and valid without a biological relationship; that children do not need a “traditional” family to thrive; that children adapt to a range of normalcies and benefit from having many adults who care about them. And all of these things can also be true: that the families made whole by adoption are more visible to us than the families separated by adoption, and adopted people are always part of both; that adoption is almost universally the transfer of infants from families with fewer resources and less power to families with more resources and more power;” ⤴️

What We Get Wrong About Adoption | The Nation

“work done across the political spectrum to frame adoption both as a mutually agreeable common ground in the abortion debate, and as a panacea for social complexity around the desire for parenthood.” ⤴️
“Support for adoption is one of the most enduringly unifying issues in American culture and politics.” ⤴️
“all of the stories we choose to tell about adoption—both politically, and for our entertainment—contribute to a predominant, largely unchallenged narrative of adoption as a social good.” ⤴️
“the history of private domestic adoption as a mechanism for maintaining norms of whiteness, class privilege, religion, and social order in the context of the family.” ⤴️
“taking and transfer of children has been used as a tool throughout American history in the separation of enslaved African children from their parents, the forced removal of Native American children from their families and tribes, the policing of Black families within the child welfare system, and, of course, the removal of children from immigrant and asylum-seeking families at our border.” ⤴️
“extracting obedience from vulnerable groups.” ⤴️
“this child-taking was not about “finding families,” given that the children already had families (as do most children who are available for adoption)” ⤴️
““baby scoop” era of the 1950s and ’60s, when over 1.5 million young women relinquished their infants in the United States.” ⤴️
“mothers, many of whom were likely capable of and would have been interested in parenting had they been given control of their own lives.” ⤴️
“Today, most women who relinquish infants for private adoption report wanting to parent but lacking the support and financial resources to do so. Their relinquishments are a reflection of their lack of the power in other areas of their lives that would enable them to parent in the way that they wish to do.” ⤴️
“Adoption makes many queer parent-led families possible; it allows some adults to pursue single parenthood by choice; it can create familial bonds across racial, ethnic, and cultural difference. All of these types of families would have been radical a generation ago” ⤴️
“family creativity: new ideas of kinship that can emerge as adoption allows new kinds of families to form.” ⤴️
“adoption, as a social practice, requires is not just a new paradigm for an outcome but also a new understanding of the premise” ⤴️
“giving radical support for people to determine what is best for themselves, their children, and their families” ⤴️
“given such support, few parents will choose relinquishment.” ⤴️
“Many efforts around family preservation are simply about offering American families the most basic levels of support: family leave, affordable child care, universal preschool, health insurance, public assistance that allows families to feed, diaper, and care for their children in a fundamental way.” ⤴️
“Rebekah Henson shared: “When we talk about women ‘choosing’ adoption, what we’re really talking about is a woman choosing between raising her own child or giving [them] away permanently so she can survive. No one should ever be in a position where they need to make a choice like that, and it’s absolutely unconscionable to me that we so blithely allow it to continue.”” ⤴️
“maintaining a continuity of identity for the adopted person throughout their life. For example, many adoptees have long been advocating for the right to easily access their original birth certificates and adoption records” ⤴️
“priority on kinship or community-based placements that allows adopted people to stay in their families and communities (or, for Native children, tribes) of origin, allowing for greater connection and fewer potential challenges around transracial placements.” ⤴️
“still no legal enforceability or industry consensus around openness.” ⤴️
“All these things can be true: that parental love is full and valid without a biological relationship; that children do not need a “traditional” family to thrive; that children adapt to a range of normalcies and benefit from having many adults who care about them. And all of these things can also be true: that the families made whole by adoption are more visible to us than the families separated by adoption, and adopted people are always part of both; that adoption is almost universally the transfer of infants from families with fewer resources and less power to families with more resources and more power;” ⤴️