International Vs Domestic Adoption

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Kimberly Lucas Ms. Moon Honors English IV 15 April 2011 International Adoption: Who will save a life? Pearl is an orphan from Ethiopia. She has no home and is all alone. Her family abandoned her three years ago. She has very few clothes and little to no happy memories from her past. She wonders if she will ever have a family that will love her or a permanent, caring home. Who will help her? There are 147 million orphans worldwide and almost five million in Ethiopia (Bestul). International Adoption is when someone from the United States adopts an orphan from another country. American families adopt over twenty thousand children from foreign countries each year (Spivack 114). Ethiopia became one of the top five countries to adopt from internationally in 2006 (Kalmar). Adopting internationally provides an orphan with a stable home and a permanent family who will love and support them. According to Debbie Spivack, “International Adoption is a life saving form of care for children who do not otherwise have families” (113). A common misconception with International Adoption is that it is horribly evil and run by evildoers, which of course is not true (Spivack 114). Many people think that International Adoption is a long paper work process and it will take forever to bring home one’s child. Another misconception is that international adoption is more costly than adopting domestically (114). Needless to say, international adoption has much better benefits than domestic adoption because of the thorough and efficient process, fewer concerns, and a wonderful and successful outcome. The process is the most stressful, but integral part of adoption. There is an astounding amount of requirements which families have to abide by to adopt. In general, the prospective parent(s) must be a United States citizen and meet the state’s adoption requirements to adopt (“Who Can

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