Chapter - 13

The Children Who Wait

Marsha Traugot

Summary of the essay

In the essay “The Children Who Wait”, Marsha Traugot suggest reasons for a new trend in adoption in the American society. The parentless (orphans) children need to be adopted by other families. In the past, no one wanted to look after handicapped children or children who had emotional problems. But now a wider variety of families can open their homes to children who in the past would have been labeled “unadoptable”.

In the past, only healthy white infants could be adopted but now a five and a half-year-old black child, suffering from fatal alcohol syndrome has been legally free for adoption. She is Tammy, a black girl. Her social worker is looking for one or two-parent, a black or biracial family with older siblings. Fatal alcohol syndrome is a medical condition or an illness that babies get when their mothers drink too much alcohol while they are pregnant. It causes a child's mental and physical development damaged. Children with fatal alcohol syndrome usually have a very low level of intelligence. It can put a stop to one's intellectual growth at any time. It is difficult to find a home for Tammy because she is black, ill and beyond infancy.

20 years ago, it was impossible to find homes for children like Tammy. She would have been forced to stay in a foster home or other government-run home or hospital. In the last 20 years, it has become easier to find homes for children with problems. For example, white families began to adopt black children. Young girls who got pregnant used to give their children for adoption but now they are either having abortions or looking after the children themselves. There are no longer a lot of healthy white children waiting to be adopted. Experts are worried that children, who stay for a long time in foster homes turn into criminals or become abnormal.

In the past children were only adopted by wealthy white families. Now they are adopted by many different types of families. For example, an unmarried man might adopt a badly behaved 15 years old boy and a religious family with children might adopt a handicapped child. Until 1960, the adoptive family was very selective about children they wanted to adopt.

According to Traugot, the American adoption scene has completely changed after the different parents are ready to adopt any children like sick, weak, healthy, unhealthy, dull, or intelligent, etc. Even a mentally retarded childlike Tammy has been free for adoption. There are many factors responsible for the changes. Various civil rights movements, social and conceptual developments, birth control, legalization or right to abortion, changing values, social science research, women movements, freedom in sex and marriage, harsh economic, realities, etc. brought a radical change in adoption. Study of anthropology, sociological research, economic crisis, bad management of foster homes also caused the change of adoption. As a result, fewer unwanted babies were born. Unwed mothers who keep their babies with them without any objection of society. All these factors caused the society of healthy white babies and opened up the adoption scenario.

The politicians do not invest money to begin new programs for homeless children because children do not vote. Money from the government for the children’s services has always been scarce. The specialist persuaded politicians to pay more attention to the problem of children in foster care.