We've a lot of children in the orphanage due to several reasons such as death of parents, inability of parents to cater to their needs, and child services taking them, to name but a few. Even though we know an orphanage home is a system put in place to help children without a family or home get the basic needs, we can't neglect the fact that the orphanage can never be like an actual home, and that's why the system still finds a way to integrate these children back to the home of willing parents who can meet the various criteria laid down for the adoption to go through. But should these criteria be reduced to give room for more kids to be adopted, since it seems the criteria for adoption kind of make many prospective adopters give up?
To be honest I feel for prospective parents who want to adopt but have to go through the rigorous criteria involved before being able to finally adopt the child of their dreams. But then do I think because of that the criteria should be reduced so parents can easily adopt children from orphanages without much to do or sign? No, inasmuch as I think the criteria are somewhat much, I think parents who really want to adopt a child should be willing and ready to go through each phase of the adoption, but the stress it involves and the numerous complicated papers. Why is that? Because since they didn't give birth to the child themselves, they should just look at the adoption stage like a pregnancy stage that comes with lots of ups and downs.
Besides, we must also understand that the system is only trying to protect these orphans from evil individuals hiding under the canopy of good people trying to adopt a child and save a soul. Because there are lot of people whose intentions of adopting a child is so they can turn such a child to a slave or maid around the house. It's in such a kind of home you'll see them using the kid to hawk and sell goods or do all the chores around the house while their own biological children do nothing, thereby making the adopted child feel less or unloved, and that's why we've all this paperwork and criteria that helps the child service come to inspect the situation of such a child regularly.
In a nutshell, like I stated before, prospective parents who want to adopt such children see the adoption stage as the pregnancy stage because despite all the ups and downs of the pregnancy stage and the illness it brings, many families live through it with the joy of the expectations of the bundle of joy with them, their baby. The same should be the case with the adoption; you should go through each phase of the adoption with resilience because you cherish the gift of a child you're about to welcome to your family. So with that being said, I think the criteria for adoption should remain as it is for the safety and welfare of their orphans.
All photos are mine.