Child Adoption

Currently, there are 101,666 children available for adoption in the United States (Why We Do It). According to “It’s Easier to Adopt a Baby,” written in 1964 by The New York Times, there were “90,000 adoptions and a dozen couples for each adoptable child (Streit, P).” This newspaper article written in New York is about the changes to the adoption process at the time, and how that may affect both possible parents and child. The reason I have chosen this article for the museum of childhood analysis assignment is because it relates to topics covered in the course. Also, I find it interesting to explore how adoption was viewed during that time period and how it may have affected children at that time. I find this article emphasizes how dependent children are on adults. In order to live in a home, they need adults willing to give them that home. …show more content…
When that didn’t work, children found themselves placed in an institution (Parker). Today that is known as Foster Care. During the Child Migration movement, we saw children being shipped to Canada homes from Great Brittan (Parker). This was the beginning of Adoption. Throughout the article, we see a change in the adoption process and how that makes it easier to adopt a child out to a family more efficiently. How does this affect the child? It means less waiting time in an institution and less time before being placed with their forever family. Some of these changes included less specific criteria for prospective parents including age and race although they had to be in a heterosexual marriage (Streit). As well, children who in the past were looked at as “not adoptable” such as handicapped children were being placed in homes (Streit). This newspaper article helps us understand that every child deserves a loving home and there are possible parents willing to love and accept each child despite the child’s