C&P: Student Example

Adoption.

How it affects relationships.

Author: Anonymous

Issue 7- 4.6.2013

Recently, there has been talk about the effect being adopted from another country can have on a child. It can cause cultural relationship issues. Though taking a child from one country and bringing them to Australia to escape poverty and diseases can be in their best interest, it needs to be recognised that the adoption has an impact on their identity and their feeling of belonging.

The question this raises is, are we protecting the less fortunate children as well as we can? In many countries children are faced with many difficulties and problems, many countries are disease ridden and families are forced to put their children into orphanages to protect them. All they wish is for their children to have safe and secure living conditions. We caught up with a local Victorian woman, Mia Francis, who recently visited the Philippines to adopt a young boy who was living in the orphanages, whose mother chose to give him up as she could not look after him as a mother should. Mia Francis and her husband flew home to Australia blessed with a beautiful son whom they could call their own.

Adopting a child and bringing them into a foreign country comes with many advantages and disadvantages, as Mia Francis and her husband have witnessed firsthand with their adoption. “When you were adopting, did you not think of all the children in Australia who need homes ?” this is just one of many questions they were asked throughout the adoption process.

“We should not be asking who this child belongs to, but who belongs to this child.” Jim Gritter, revered child psychologist and adoption asserts expert. Many women in Australia have fertility difficulties and some are left to resort to adoption, many adopt a child in Australia but some choose to go overseas and adopt as it gives them a sense of comfort to know they have saved a child and given a child a comfortable lifestyle back in Australia. But some mother question themselves about taking that child away from their traditional culture. This is issue Mia Francis was faced with as her Pilipino son grew older. She didn’t know much about Asian culture but did take the time to take him to festivals and cultural events, but as he grew older he became uninterested.

Relationships with your parents, and the relationship with your culture all have an impact on how you form your identity and how strongly you believe you belong. Bringing a child from a different culture into a new culture can impact their idea to belong, especially at a young age. Adoption in Australia isn’t as easy as people think, there is a lot involved in the process but in the end a new mother is blessed with a child , whether it be Australian or Asian or from anywhere else in the world.

Therefore, the cultural heritage of the child being adopted shouldn’t matter rather, the important fact is that a child feels safe and secure with their new family. As long as there is love and care children will have a sense of belonging. A new world opens up to adopted children and in the modern landscape it is not one that will deny them the opportunity to acknowledge their original origins and heritage, where they come from or where they go their identity will continue to be impacted by the relationships they share with the people around them.