In the fast changing times with new technological advancements and new ways of thinking in society single parenting is something that is a lot more common in today’s times then it was 15 to 20 years ago. Most of the time when you hear of someone being a single parent whether it is male or female you think that they are single because they either had a child out of wedlock or they may be divorced or widowed. But with these changing times and more women and men becoming independent many of them are choosing to start their family a different way than the normal way of, marry then have kids. Many are choosing to start their career get established and financial stable then start a family. Many of the people in that group consist of single people who are choosing to adopt children while they are single rather than waiting for the traditional route to start a family.
To start out by being honest, I can say that I do have a slight biased on this subject because I am currently a Social Work student who happens to have an older sister who is trying to do this very thing; adopt while single. By making this a known bias I am hoping you will be able to see why I see this as a problem in the first place. Even though there is currently no law against a single person adopting they are still met with a stigma and many a people who will approve of everything else in their life and then when they see the box checked single next to marital status they are usually shot down or moved to the bottom of the list of people waiting to be adoptive parents.
First off let’s start out with the basics and what is adoption. Adoption is a legal process which permanently gives parental rights to adoptive parents. Adoption means taking a child into your home as a permanent family member. It means caring for and guiding children through their growing years and giving them the love and understanding they need to develop their full potential. Now after reading what it means to adopt it makes you wonder what it really means to be a family and choosing to start a family when you are single is a huge decision to make.
There are many different reason that someone many choose adoption in today’s time instead of going about starting a family the traditional way. We will list a few of the reasons here why someone might choose to adoption while single: They have no desire to marry, but don't want to forego parenthood.
Now I know there are many other questions that someone may have when it comes to whether or not single people should adopt that I’m not addressing but by doing that this article would turn into a book so the ones I have addressed have been taken from some of the most frequent concerns when it comes to single parent adoption.
In current times as the stigma of single parenting lessens it’s important to have an open mind and not stick to your way of thinking that all single parenting is bad and that single parenting just leads to poverty and will put a child’s welfare at risk because that way of thinking is in fact out dated for the current times. The goal of this article is to put the thought in to adoptive parents, adoption agencies, and birth parent’s heads so that maybe a change in thought can happen and we can continue to get down to what’s important, and that’s to find good stable homes and families for these children waiting to be adopted.
Really what It comes down to and what I really want people to think about it is in these fast changing times in society and with new definitions, meanings, and structures to family, people whose marital status is single and choose to adopt should not be discriminated against when trying to adopt a child and should have the same chances as a couple would have when trying to adopt. It only seems fair.
They might like to marry but they haven't yet married, and they're afraid they might not ever find the right man or woman. However, they do know that they want to become parents. They may be gay or lesbian, and marriage isn't an available option for them. They are divorced and don't believe they will remarry—yet they don't want to forego parenting. They are infertile and want to become parents.
They want to provide families for children who need them now and single people are more likely to adopt older children which are desperately needed. Any number of these reasons to want to adopt are perfectly reasonable for wanting to adopt a child for anyone single or married.
Now there are two sides to every story and there are many reasons someone could give as a reason not to let single people adopt. Some of these reasons might include things like: What would happen if the single parent were to pass away? Would the child be left alone? How can a single parent be financial stable enough to afford a child? Is a single person able to provide everything emotional and physically that a child might need? If a child is with a woman how would the child get a male influence or vice versa?
Anyone of these questions is valid when it comes to the safety and well being of a child. So let me take the time to address some of these concerns: If the single parent were to pass away they are required to make a will as should any parent that would state who would get the child. These arrangements would all be don’t prior to any sort of even happening. A single person is just as capable as a dual parent family financial. Some single people are even better off than dual parent couples. Things like financial stability are gone over with single people and adoptive agencies prior to placement of a child. A child can be just as loved and feel emotionally safe with a single parent as with dual parents. There have been many studies that show that children with single adoptive parents do just as well as children with two parents. Many times if the single adoptive parent is a woman they do have some sort of male influence in their life whether it be a brother, dad, grandpa, or friend either way a child will get a male influence even if it’s not by the normal route and vice versa with the single adoptive males.
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