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If you read this headline and thought “this is a great idea, more states should do this,” you’re not alone. I’ve seen this article being shared with many similar sentiments over the past week. So in light of #NAAM, let’s take a minute to think about this: https://www.cleveland.com/open/2019/11/proposed-ohio-law-would-offer-low-interest-loans-to-families-seeking-to-adopt.html
There are more than 2,600 children in Ohio’s foster system currently waiting to be adopted (meaning cases where parental rights have already been terminated & there are no known family members available to take guardianship.)
Adopting any of these children does NOT require a loan, because it is free (or in some cases very low cost) - and the state actually pays towards the child’s care until the adoption is finalized.
Funding these loans means less potential adoptive parents who are willing to adopt any of those 2,600+ kids, as they will be given resources to seek out private newborn adoption (or international adoption) instead.
This centers the wishes and preferences of potential adoptive parents at the direct expense of the most vulnerable kids in the system.
The state is willing to loan this money to parents seeking expensive private adoptions they otherwise can’t afford, and yet no funding exists to loan money to families at risk of losing their kids to the system due to poverty or lack of resources.
Not only would this funding help prevent the trauma of family separations, it actually saves the state money in the end - because less children taken into state custody means eliminating the costs for their care, the costs of paying caseworkers, the costs of the legal work, etc.
+No funding exists for pregnant women who feel they cant afford the costs of raising their child. In multiple studies the primary reason cited for placing a child for adoption was financial concerns, so this funding could *prevent* many adoptions from happening in the first place
If there is room in the Ohio state budget to help fund expensive private adoptions, why can’t this money be used to fund family preservation initiatives instead?
If you read the point above this and thought “but there are so many people waiting to adopt” and you bristled at the idea of funding programs that would only INCREASE those wait times by encouraging more prospective birth mothers to leave the adoption system entirely?
Really examine those feelings, and ask yourself who adoption is supposed to be “for.” If your answer is in any part “for infertile couples hoping to grow their family,” then you have commoditized children and are advocating for adoption as a form of human trafficking.
The idea that anyone “deserves” someone else’s child, simply because they want one, is the mindset of human trafficking. Adoption is supposed to be for the good of vulnerable children, full stop and end of sentence.
Anytime we prioritize the desire to adopt OVER the best interests of children (which is always to pursue family preservation until/unless it is no longer possible) we are advocating for human trafficking.
I sincerely hope this bill dies in the legislative session & never becomes law. This bill isn’t about helping children in need of a home, it’s about prioritizing the preferences of prospective adoptive parents at the direct expense of the most vulnerable kids in the system.
