4. There’s “something wrong” with women who give up their children for adoption.
The reasons behind a woman’s choice to place her child for adoption vary. Certainly there are birth mothers who have addiction problems or who don’t get adequate healthcare. In this country, women who choose to place their children for adoption are often young and/or don’t have the financial resources to raise a child properly. “Many of the women we work with have other children already,” says Helene Lauffer, associate executive director for programs, Spence-Chapin Services to Families and Children in New York City. “They know what parenting involves, and they recognize that they aren’t able to provide a satisfactory life for another child.” With international adoption, these issues may be combined with societal stigmas, political realities, and the lack of availability of safe abortion. China, for example, has had a one-child policy for years and there is a clear preference for male children; hence, thousands of baby girls have been relinquished by their birth mothers.
