Argumentative Essay on Adoption

"Adoption Should be Abolished" is an excerption from Evelyn Burns Robinson's book Adoption and Loss: The Hidden Grief. While Robinson does have some authority on the matter due to personal experiences, she tends to have a one-sided opinion that doesn't touch often on the other side's views. She offers some good alternatives to adoption, but tends to state that adoption is very rarely done by choice and is usually forced on young mothers. She claims in her article that there is no justification for adoption and makes some fairly disturbing comparisons to slavery. Although I agree with some of Evelyn Burns Robinson's ways to help avoid adoption, I agree with little else she says.

Evelyn Burns Robinson does have some authority to write about adoption and her views on it, being a woman who as a teenager, gave up a baby for adoption. She feels that in her case she was forced to give up her baby, and she states that almost all teen mothers are made to give up their baby. I don't think that's the case however. I know several people who have had babies as teenagers, and when asked, all of them said that though it was hard, they wanted their baby to have a better life than they were able to provide and loved their child enough to let it go.

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The very first line in the article is "There is no justification for adoption." I don't agree with this at all. Sure, some people don't consider any of their other options, such as foster care or asking a friend or family member to help, but that's rarely the case. Many adopted children came from a home where they would not have enough shelter, family support, or safety to become functional members of society. If a young child is in an unsafe situation, in my mind their parent then loses the right to have them in the house and should automatically have to give them up, even if only for a short time until they can be rehabilitated. Another justification for adoption would be if a baby is born into a war-torn country and their parents can't afford to have the whole family leave the country, but they can get their children out. Those parents are extremely brave and unselfish for wanting a better life for their kids that they know they can't provide.

Robinson's use of language is quite biased towards not having adoption. Her personal experience makes her have a negative opinion of adoption, and it's very apparent. Not only does she say outright that she thinks it's morally wrong and unjust, she also blatantly compares it to slavery, as though adoption is the same as buying and selling people. She looks at abstract views of slavery, such as the belief that slaves were better off being owned by a good master that provided them with a home and security, and rescued them from a life of disadvantage. This, most people will agree with is a very wrong and indecent belief. She says that since adoption's defenders use the same reasoning (a better life with a home and security) it's very comparable.

I do agree with the author that there are other solutions that aren't adoption. One such example is that she states "if a woman is unable to care for her child because she lacks the skills, then we should try to teach her the skills." I agree with her completely on that. I don't believe we should just uproot children out of a home unless their life is in danger or everything else has been tried and has failed. I believe that society ad a whole should help these parents, especially if they're single, raise their child/children well, but there's got to be a point where you've tried all you can. I also agree with her that the biological parents should be at least somewhat involved in their children's lives, whether they have ongoing visiting sessions or just keep the adoptive parents informed on family issues, such as heredity health issues.

The article "Adoption Should be Abolished" from Evelyn Burns Robinson's book Adoption and Loss: The Hidden Grief touches on why she believes that adoption should be illegal. Her personal experience with giving up a baby at a young age makes some of her views understandable, I think that if she had included more of what the people who support adoption's view points to somehow make her arguments stronger, she would have had a more powerful argument. I believe adoption is overall a good thing and although there are a few bad things about it, generally speaking, I think the good strongly outweighs the bad.