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After talking with Shawn Kane, the Executive Director of American Adoptions he cleared some of the misconceptions about adoption. I learned that 100% of all birth mothers have the right to choose the amount of openness of the adoptive relationship. This allows the birth mother to still stay in contact with her child after she has handed he or she over to another family. Additionally, according to American adoptions ninety percent of adopted children ages five and older have positive feelings about their adoption and are happy in their new homes. Furthermore, the National Center for Health Statistics clarified that 85% of adopted children are rated to have excellent or very good health.

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One problem that arises around the process of adoption is the weight time and heavy cost. According to American Adoptions, the average cost to raise a child to age eighteen is more than $230,000 which covers the cost of food, clothing, and medical care. This is an enormous amount of money for any family and cost is a huge factor that pushes people against adoption. Additionally, when people place an interest in adopting, the process could take many years as it did for pastor Drew. He and his wife had to wait five years before hearing back from an agency after they placed an interest. The wait in time could make families loose hope and forget the idea at all.

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We encouraged people to sign our posters and share the news of our project with their friends. We want people to know that these issues are important and matter to us and we hope through this that it matters to others as well.

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Everyone can help out !! One way to get involved is to raise money and donate to either local or national adoption agencies to support the system and help eliminate the cost for families struggling because of money means. Although we are too young to have children now, I would encourage each and every one of you to consider adoption when growing your families when you are older. There are millions of little children in need of loving homes and families and you can help by taking someone in.

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The law I am focusing my attention on is the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 which is a federal law that was designed to provide for implementation by the United States of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect to Intercountry Adoption. This act accepted standards and procedures for adoptions between implementing countries that prevents abuses such as abduction or sale of children, ensures proper consent for the adoption, allows for the child's transfer to the receiving country, and established the adopted child's status in the receiving country.

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Many women don't know where to turn or who to turn to when going through an unplanned pregnancy. Some fear the idea of adoption questioning whether her son or daughter will end up in another unsuitable family and concern for the future of her child arises. Others  cannot adopt because money is tight or there is doubt as to whether the adopted child will integrate well into the family. Millions of children each year in the United States alone are filing into adoption agencies where the fate of each individual is unknown.

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To effectively raise awareness for a cause, getting involved and being an active citizens is necessary to evoke change. My friends and I all made posters and hung them outside the library asking people to sign if they support each of our individual causes. We left the signs up for about a week and a half and throughout the time period we had numerous signatures. It was nice seeing other people support our causes and let us know that they hope to see change as well.

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Both Shawn and Drew told me that money is often a factor that can turn people away from adoption. It is a very expensive process costing thousands of dollars and this is an amount many families are nervous to take on. I am curious as to why so many people are in orphanages, waiting to be adopted and the price for families looking to do so remains so high. Putting ones child up for adoption can be a very emotional experience for both the mother giving her child up and the parents taking the child in. Fear about the future of the child can also be another thing pushing parents away.

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Shawn Kane told me that around 3,200 people visit the site every day and some resources they offer are 24/7 days a week free support and education through phone call and email. He also shared that China has been the most popular country to adopt from and oftentimes more families are looking to adopt over single parents.

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For my second interview I contacted Shawn Kane the Executive Director of the American Adoption Agency. I asked him questions like how many people visit their web page daily and how many of those that visit pursue adoption. I was also curious as to what resources the agency has to offer to young mothers and which countries are most popular when parent are looking towards international adoption.

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After speaking with Drew and his wife I learned that fear is often a factor that pushes couples against the idea of adoption. The fear that the child won't fit well into the family or struggle with his or her identity. I also learned that money is also a reason people turn away from adoption because the process can be very expensive.

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As soon as I heard that our pastor would be speaking about adoption both in reference to the bible and his personal life I knew I must attend every week after. The series was called "chosen" which mirrors the idea of an adopted child fitting in to a family as if they were predetermined to do so; as if they were chosen. Each week he talked about the factors that he and his wife had to consider before adoption and what made them take the final step. He showed footage of their new son learning to fit in to their family and he explained some of the challenges that went along with the process.

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The first interview I conducted was face to face with the pastor of Northridge Church, Drew Karschner. Drew and his wife adopted their son Malachi last year from China and shared their story with the church. I was captivated by their experience and was curious to learn more.

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Adoption has always been a topic I have been interested in as I hope to adopt children when I am older. Being that this is an activism project, one of the first steps is to research and expand your knowledge. I decided to research about the number of children in the United States being both put up for adoption and being adopted each year. I also wanted to see if adoption was an option that young unexpected mothers truly consider when deciding to not keep her child and what are some of the factors that hold a mother back from doing so.

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Although I am not adopted or have adopted a child myself, my cousin is adopted and I have seen how an adopted child has been integrated into a loving family and I have seen first hand some of the struggles and success he has faced. The pastor of my church has also shared his families adoption story through a series which included lessons about letting people in and loving all.

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By: Eva Boothby

For my activism project I decided to raise awareness for adoption in hopes of encouraging families looking to expand to consider adoption when growing their families.