gofer articles

A pre-adoption psychological evaluation is invaluable in making sure that parents and adoptees will fit well together and develop into a loving family. Adoption is the practice of assuming parental duties towards another who isn’t of immediate kin. It has seen a decline in recent years, a fact which sociologists surmise may perhaps be attributed to the invention of the birth control pill as well as the increasingly widespread acceptance of illegitimacy and alternative family arrangements. Thus, adoption is no longer a straightforward matter of “Christian charity,” as the phrase goes, nor, as in ancient and even not-so-ancient times, one of apprenticeship or indentured servitude.

The cultural institution of adoption is still evolving inside the United States, but the pre-adoption psychological evaluation is a practice that is becoming increasingly the norm. Whereas it was once in effect on par with indentured servitude or at best a period of apprenticeship, after the Second World War the sentimental aspects of adoption have grown to be recognized as its standard Raîson D’être. However, concerned activists have been challenging adoptions on three fronts: open versus sealed adoptions, cross-racial adoptions, and adoption by homosexuals.

Open adoptions are increasingly becoming the norm, with quite a few states recognizing that the right to know of adoptees trumps any privacy concerns of the biological parents, who occasionally wish to remain anonymous. Sealed adoptions are nevertheless widespread, but the emphasis now is on preserving families if feasible, or at least preserving familial connections as a second-best option. Indeed, no less an authority than the New York Foundling Hospital, which was a leading force in establishing adoption norms and the very best practices within the United States, including the innovation of sealed adoptions, is now staunchly on the side of open adoptions and maintaining biological ties and contact.

The matters of cross-racial adoptions and, in particular, adoption by homosexuals still involve considerable controversy, where the pre-adoption psychological evaluation may well be politicized or otherwise misused. An emphasis on placing kids in families of a similar ethnic or racial background is gaining momentum, though by no means is it the recommended approach yet.

As a response, however, many adoptive parents have turned out to be very much more sensitive about such concerns and often encourage their adopted children to indulge in their ethnic roots and heritage. Adoptions by homosexuals are significantly more problematic in the United States, but high-profile cases such as those involved beloved celebrities have at least~ made the issue a respectable one for open discussion.