THIS IS AMERICA - International Adoptions

THIS IS AMERICA - International Adoptions²
By Jerilyn Watson

Broadcast: Monday, July 19, 2004

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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English. I'm Steve Ember.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Gwen Outen. Our subject this week is international adoptions.

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VOICE ONE:

Adoption¹ is the legal process where people take a child of other parents as their own. The Census³ Bureau says more than two percent of children in the United States are adopted. That is about one-point-six million children. These numbers are from the national population count in two-thousand.

But since the nineteen-sixties and seventies, the number of American-born children in need of adoption has decreased. So today many people go to other countries to adopt a child. In nineteen-eighty-nine, Americans brought eight thousand foreign children to the United States. By last year, the State Department says the number was more than twenty-one thousand.

VOICE TWO:

 
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The Census Bureau says thirteen percent of the adopted children in the United States were born in another country. Of these foreign-born children, one-sixth are from Europe. One-third are from Latin America. And almost half are from Asia. The largest number of foreign-born adopted children in the United States, twenty-two percent, are from South Korea.

But immigration reports show that, in recent years, the largest numbers of foreign children brought here are from Russia and China. By last year South Korea was fourth, behind Guatemala.

Four years ago, Romania suspended most international adoptions. Romania used to be one of the top countries where Americans adopted children. By last year Romania was twelfth on the list of countries. Two hundred Romanian children were brought here to live.

VOICE ONE:

Romania's president, Ion Iliescu, signed a bill into law last month to bar most foreign adoptions of Romanian children. The law will permit grandparents who live in other countries to adopt their Romanian grandchildren.

Romania wants to join the European Union in two-thousand-seven. E.U. officials were concerned that Romania's adoption system could not prevent the illegal sale of children. So the E.U. urged Romania to pass a new law.

But, in April, American Deputy⁵ Secretary of State Richard Armitage called the plan a "tragedy" for children in state care. Critics of the new restrictions⁶ on international adoption say Romania does not have enough families for all the children who need parents.

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VOICE TWO:

 
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Americans who want to adopt mainly want healthy babies or very young children. But there are not enough in the United States to meet the demand. Birth rates are down. And, in nineteen-seventy-three, the Supreme⁷ Court ruled that women have the right to end unwanted pregnancies⁸. This meant fewer babies to put up for adoption.

Yet there are many older children in the United States who need adoption but cannot find new parents. Thousands live in temporary homes under adult supervision⁹ as dependents of the state.

VOICE ONE:

Years ago, few unmarried Americans or couples older than about forty adopted children. Today, it is much more common for single people to adopt. The same is true of older married couples as well as older singles. Some couples of the same sex also adopt children.

Laws about adoptions within the United States differ from state to state. People who want to adopt are asked to show that they can provide a safe and loving home. Then they wait until an adoption agency finds a child for them. Sometimes people wait years. Other adoptions happen much more quickly.

Costs differ greatly. Some estimates say the average may be about ten thousand dollars; others say at least twenty thousand dollars.

Adoptions also take place without the services of an agency. In a private adoption, a lawyer or doctor brings together a pregnant¹⁰ woman with people seeking a child. But this does not always guarantee there will be a baby to adopt. Biological parents who decide to surrender a child for adoption are given time to reconsider.

VOICE TWO:

Many adoption agencies in the United States also handle foreign adoptions. For parents, the easiest adoptions often involve what is called direct relinquishment¹¹. This means the biological parents may be dead. Or they may have already surrendered their child to an orphanage¹². The new parents then may take the child directly home to the United States.

Like most adoptions within the United States, international adoptions take time -- in some cases, many months. Adoption agencies and the State Department have a number of requirements for people who want to adopt a foreign child.

A social worker visits the home of the prospective¹³ parents, to make sure the home and family will be good for the child. For example, the prospective parent must show the ability to provide financial support. Officials also look for criminal records.

VOICE ONE:

Prospective parents must also meet any requirements by foreign agencies and governments. For example, China recently has been a major provider of children for adoption in the United States. Americans adopted almost seven thousand children from China last year. One American adoption agency says most children adopted from China are baby girls about seven months or older.

Chinese officials will permit single people as well as married couples to adopt children. But China makes a legal difference between children whose parents are dead and those who have been left without care.

Generally only childless people age thirty-five or older can adopt a healthy child who has a living biological parent. People under thirty-five can only adopt children whose parents are dead. This is also true of people who already have a child.

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VOICE TWO:

Many foreign adoption centers require prospective parents to make two trips. On the first, the people meet and spend time with a child. On the second, they complete the adoption process. Parents also are advised to repeat the legal process in the United States when they return.

Foreign adoptions can be costly¹⁴. For example, to adopt a Russian child can cost thirty thousand dollars or more.

International adoptions involve more than just time and money, both for the adoption itself and the travel. They also require energy. And sometimes they even involve safety risks.

For example, many Americans over the years have adopted children from Haiti. But the State Department has lately advised Americans not to travel to the Caribbean nation for any reason, because of political unrest.

Last year, many prospective parents had to delay trips to China. That was because of the health risk from severe acute¹⁵ respiratory syndrome¹⁶, SARS. Some people had already waited a long time to become parents or add to their families.

Earlier this year, cases of measles¹⁷ led the United States to suspend adoptions from an orphanage in Hunan province. American health officials ended the ban last month.

VOICE ONE:

Parents do not always know much about the physical or mental health of a child they adopt in another country. Or problems may develop later. Experts say children who have lived in large orphanages¹⁸ often develop more slowly than others. Children kept in group situations also have a greater risk of infections. And children from some countries may have diseases that American doctors rarely see.

Some doctors in the United States provide special services for parents who want to adopt a foreign child. A doctor can meet with families before they go out of the country to adopt. The doctor can study any medical records that foreign agencies provide for a child. Agencies may also provide videotapes of the child. And the doctor can examine the child after the adoption is completed.

VOICE TWO:

But for many people, all the work and the chances they might have had to take are clearly worth the effort.

Gordon and Jan Forbes live in Rockville, Maryland. They adopted a Korean girl more than thirty years ago. They say it is difficult to express the happiness that their daughter has brought them.

Our program was written by Jerilyn Watson and produced by Mario Ritter. I'm Gwen Outen.

VOICE ONE:

And I'm Steve Ember. Join us again next week for THIS IS AMERICA in VOA Special English.

1 adoption   

n.采用，采纳，通过；收养

参考例句：

• An adoption agency had sent the boys to two different families.一个收养机构把他们送给两个不同的家庭。
• The adoption of this policy would relieve them of a tremendous burden.采取这一政策会给他们解除一个巨大的负担。

2 adoptions   

n.采用，收养( adoption的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Adoption agencies are always so open to alternative family adoptions. 领养中介机构永远都对领养家庭敞开。 来自电影对白
• The number of adoptions has grown in the past year. 去年，收养子女的数字增加了。 来自互联网

3 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

4 graphic   

adj.生动的，形象的，绘画的，文字的，图表的

参考例句：

• The book gave a graphic description of the war.这本书生动地描述了战争的情况。
• Distinguish important text items in lists with graphic icons.用图标来区分重要的文本项。

5 deputy   

n.代理人，代表，副职；adj.代理的，副的

参考例句：

• John will act as a deputy for me during my absence.我离开期间，约翰将代理我的职务。
• She is the deputy headmistress of the school.她是那所学校的代理校长。

6 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

7 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

8 pregnancies   

怀孕，妊娠( pregnancy的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Since the wartime population needed replenishment, pregnancies were a good sign. 最后一桩倒不失为好现象，战时人口正该补充。
• She's had three pregnancies in four years. 她在四年中怀孕叁次。

9 supervision   

n.监督，管理

参考例句：

• The work was done under my supervision.这项工作是在我的监督之下完成的。
• The old man's will was executed under the personal supervision of the lawyer.老人的遗嘱是在律师的亲自监督下执行的。

10 pregnant   

adj.怀孕的，怀胎的

参考例句：

• She is a pregnant woman.她是一名孕妇。
• She is pregnant with her first child.她怀了第一胎。

11 relinquishment   

n.放弃；撤回；停止

参考例句：

• One kind of love is called relinquishment. 有一种爱叫做放手。
• Our curriculum trains for the relinquishment of judgment as the necessary condition of salvation. 我们的课程则训练我们把放弃判断作为得救的必需条件。

12 orphanage   

n.孤儿院

参考例句：

• They dispensed new clothes to the children in the orphanage.他们把新衣服发给孤儿院的小孩们。
• They gave the proceeds of the sale to the orphanage.他们把销售的收入给了这家孤儿院。

13 prospective   

adj.预期的，未来的，前瞻性的

参考例句：

• The story should act as a warning to other prospective buyers.这篇报道应该对其他潜在的购买者起到警示作用。
• They have all these great activities for prospective freshmen.这会举办各种各样的活动来招待未来的新人。

14 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

15 acute   

adj.严重的，激烈的，敏锐的，急性的，尖的

参考例句：

• A period of acute depression can sometimes follow childbirth.分娩之后可能会有一段时间的急性抑郁期。
• The publication comes as the answer to an acute demand.这一出版物是为满足急需而出版的。

16 syndrome   

n.综合病症；并存特性

参考例句：

• The Institute says that an unidentified virus is to blame for the syndrome. 该研究所表示,引起这种综合症的是一种尚未确认的病毒。
• Results indicated that 11 fetuses had Down syndrome. 结果表明有11个胎儿患有唐氏综合征。

17 measles   

n.麻疹，风疹，包虫病，痧子

参考例句：

• The doctor is quite definite about Tom having measles.医生十分肯定汤姆得了麻疹。
• The doctor told her to watch out for symptoms of measles.医生叫她注意麻疹出现的症状。

18 orphanages   

孤儿院( orphanage的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It is Rotarians running orphanages for children who have no homes. 扶轮社员们为没有家的孩子办孤儿院。
• Through the years, she built churches, hospitals and orphanages. 许多年来，她盖了一间间的教堂、医院、育幼院。