Adoption

I know that a majority of kids when they hear or think about the word adoption, they think that it is something tragic. The purpose of my essay is to tell them that it is not. I know from my personal experience that adoption is not what it is sometimes thought to be. What is adoption and how are children adopted? In reality, adoption is a child’s second chance at another or better life.

You go through a legal process before that child can be claimed as your own. Most of the time, the child and parent aren’t even blood related. With me it was different I was adopted by another part of my huge family, and a much cleaner and safer part of it. Growing up being adopted can be a difficult journey. You go through foster homes and family after family, but if you’re lucky you’ll find a home quickly.

If you are not the lucky child and are constantly being moved around it may seem that you are never going to find a home. Some children lose themselves waiting to be loved. What I mean is that they give up and just stop caring. Good books to read that shows adoption through the life of a child’s eyes are Dave Pelzer’s trilogy about his life. Reading those is a great way to open up your eyes to the kind of world we live in. in his books, Dave tells about how he stopped caring about where he was going or what he was doing and this almost got him into very deep trouble.

Being a foster child you have certain things that you can and can’t do. You basically have a very short leash, if you get into trouble you could end up in juvenile hall. With all that goes on in the life of a foster child, think about what the parents have to deal with once that child has finally found a more permanent home. Now, a mother or father has to deal with a child. It is much harder to raise a child who knows about their adoption or knows their biological parents.

The child starts to wonder and ask questions about the adoption once they hit the teenage years. Or if you are younger and you know about it you can end up being a brat/pest. Children tend to make the worst of the smallest problems. I’m not saying that adoption is a small thing because it is not. What I was trying to say is that when a child feels like the parents are paying more attention to their birth children the child recoils feeling all butt-hurt.

Then the parents have to deal with a child that goes to school making stuff up or saying things that they aren’t even sure is true to the faculty and students. Also, when a child tells other kids that you aren’t their real parents the parents have to deal with the kids and other people who come to them and exclaim “So you aren’t ____ real parents!” or “Oh my gosh I never knew that little ____is adopted!”If you are a parent hearing this you would probably get a little mad and feel unappreciated. You tried so hard to give your child all the love that their real parent should have given them, and yet they still don’t love you. Life for adopted children isn’t easy other kids worry about clothes and what they look like and you worry about more important things. You still try hard to fit in, but it is harder for you.

This I have experienced myself and I know how hard it is. When you get made fun of the damage doubles, when you are praised it means so much more. A family with an adopted child will have its ups and downs. It is stressful on the child and the parent. Some of the things I talked about came from my personal experiences. I was a stubborn child and always complained that I was adopted.

I know realize that I have a lot to be thankful for. This family provided me with a new chance at a better life. I’ve grown out of some of the problems I had as a child but some will still remain because they are marks from my childhood. Like when someone yells at me I’ll cry because whenever there was yelling when I was a child something scary always followed. Or when my parents move a hand to fast I unthinkably flinch because I don’t want to be hit.

On the other hand, other children have had it worst than me. This is why I don’t go around anymore feeling bad for myself. Thinking about the other children in the world that have a worse life than mine, makes me want to make a difference in the world. When you see a child who struggled through this grow up to be someone great is just something truly amazing.