Adoption Myths

Sometimes it seems that everyone "knows" something about adoption. They know someone who knew someone who's second cousin's best friend was adopted. They read a story in the paper. They watched a made for daytime TV movie about an adoption gone wrong.

The basis for most people's knowledge about adoption is pretty limited. It's usually a sweeping generalization, based on unsubstantiated information, and/or tainted with more prejudice than reality.

On occasion, I'll be taking on some adoption myths and hopefully help in dispelling those notions.

Myth: Most babies placed in adoption are from teen mothers.
Reality: Women of all ages choose adoption, but the majority of babies are from women in their early 20s.

I'm not quite sure why people belabor this point. What difference does the birth mother's age make anyway?

It's a hard choice and one made of caring for the life of the child. The life of the birth mother is a factor too, of course. It's a valid and honorable way to handle an unwanted pregnancy. So why does anyone care about how old the woman was?

But for those that need to know, there are a few statistics. Studies conducted in the past 20 years have shown a few common characteristics about women who choose adoption.

In the U.S., most are unmarried, over 18, white, and have a high-school degree. They are likely to have come from an intact family and never have been on public assistance (I'll bet that fact shocks people). They tend to choose adoption because they believe they are unable to parent the child or offer them the necessary environment. And these women generally tend to have more positive outlooks on their futures.

And am thankful for women who are brave enough to make this decision.

For a more in-depth information on birth mothers, check out this.