This post is part of a series on the cause of orphan care, adoption and social change that I hope to make you as passionate about as I am. You may want to start from the beginning if you’re just joining us.

The last post established adoption as a viable solution to the global orphan crisis, but only a partial solution. It’s really important to understand that each child who is adopted would have grown up without the love and permanence of a family otherwise, in almost every case.

In other words, if being orphaned was a medical condition, we need to work on both prevention and treatment, and adoption fits the latter description. We can’t spend all of our time on orphan prevention and ignore the children in need of permanence today.

So how do we dramatically grow the impact of adoption on the global orphan crisis? I see four key obstacles that need to be knocked down.

1. Adoption is intimidating to plan

Getting started in the journey of adoption is really tough for many people. I remember the feeling of being completely lost and not knowing exactly where to start – and I was already a part of a family that had adopted! There are three major types of adoption – international, private domestic and foster – and there are pros and cons to each choice.

2. Adoption can be expensive to finance

The costs to adopt vary widely based on the choices adoptive parents make. Foster adoption (if available) can be very affordable, depending on the local area you work with. Private domestic adoption is often quite expensive (though not always). International adoption can be very expensive or relatively affordable, depending on the country program and fee.

3. Adoption presents unique issues in parenting

No matter what kind of adoption you pursue, you’ll be having a series of very special conversations with that child about how they were born, and how their first parents weren’t able to care for a new child, but loved them so much that they made an adoption plan for them. This can be a beautiful conversation, but I’m sure it’s one that many adoptive parents approach with trepidation.

In addition, adoption often presents a unique set of things for new parents to worry about. Some wonder if they’ll be able to love and bond with an adopted child just like they would a biological one. (The good news is: the answer is yes!) In the case of international adoption, many wonder whether extended family members, friends or neighbors will embrace their transformation into a multi-cultural, multi-racial family.

Finally, some adopted children are deeply scarred as I wrote about previously – neglect, abuse, poverty and war are often the causes. The cumulative effects can result in physical disabilities, but more often than not, this kind of child has special emotional needs or developmental delays. Put simply, wounded children may require you to learn parenting skills you didn’t expect to need (the good news is, many of those resources are easily available).

4. Adoption is often opposed by powerful interests putting children’s needs last

This is a controversial subject that probably deserves its own post some day, but this is an important obstacle: from county governments in the United States to UNICEF’s work around the world, some very powerful interests are opposed to placing priority on a child’s need for permanence.

Look closely, and you’ll see the hidden priorities. Local foster care systems often work until the bitter end to reunite children with birth parents unable or unwilling to care for them. Whether this is driven by financial incentives (an adopted child no longer a ward of the state reduces funding for that agency) or anti-adoption attitudes, this approach does not consistently put the child’s best interests first.

On a global scale, UNICEF has become quite controversial for their dramatic and stubborn opposition to international adoption, literally preferring that children grow up in horribly understaffed orphanages in their “native culture” rather than be adopted by parents in another culture. Senator Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana) is a hero in the adoption movement and has led efforts to get them to change their attitude and policy approach.

What UNICEF perhaps doesn’t understand is that, in all modern cases that I’ve seen, the child’s culture becomes deeply interwoven into that family. My own family isn’t just an American family any longer – we’re proud to be a richly multi-cultural Korean-Ethiopian-American family. We feast on Korean bulkogi and Ethiopian doro wat and injera. We cheer for all three teams in the Olympics. We fly all three flags in our house. And while it’s up to our kids, we’d love for them (and for us) to learn the languages of their heritage in addition to the language of their home country.

How do we remove these obstacles?

Now that you see the four major obstacles to adoption, how do we knock them down? The final post on adoption will focus on four steps we need to take to remove the obstacles, and four ways that you can get involved in growing adoption as a partial solution to the global orphan crisis.

Next Post: Clearing the Path for Adoption to Grow

Photo Credit: Casey and Mary Beth Picker