Politicians continue to cite adoption as an alternative to abortion…These adoptees think otherwise.
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00:00Adoption is not an alternative to abortion.
00:06The commodification of children should never be associated as an option or even in the conversation
00:15when it comes to a person with a uterus and their right to health care.
00:21I truly do believe as we stand without apology for the sanctity of life,
00:31we must stand for and expand access to adoption in America.
00:52Both Roe and Casey emphasize the burdens of parenting and the obligations of motherhood
00:57that flow from pregnancy. Why don't the safe haven laws take care of that problem?
01:06There are many things people need to learn to have the necessary discussions about adoption.
01:10People want infants. They want infants because they think that infants don't have baggage,
01:24they don't have trauma, that they're going to come to your home and it's all going to be a
01:27magical adoption experience. Adoptees and people in the foster care system are more likely to
01:31experience neglect, abuse, attempt suicide, and struggle with their mental health. Well,
01:36guess what? Adoption is trauma. No matter what stage or what age
01:40your child is when you adopt them, they're still going to have trauma.
01:51When these white, often religious, families adopt BIPOC children, they may see it as an
01:56act of charity. This comment says placing a child is traumatic, being an adoptee is traumatic,
02:00and as a transracial adoptee who had a pretty positive and privileged experience,
02:03I completely agree with that sentiment. I was adopted from Calcutta, India, a very poor part
02:08of Calcutta, and I've had so many people tell me that I need to be grateful to my parents for
02:13saving me. In reality, this only made me feel unworthy of love and forever in debt to my
02:19parents. I'm here with my adoptive parents to talk a bit more about that. I like to say that
02:23in an ideal world, every child is born into a loving family with the supports, any supports
02:28they need to be able to raise that child. We had to do a lot of things to get out of our
02:32privileged white bubble and build a community, a diverse community.
02:39We knew that we wanted to adopt internationally. The wait for domestic adoption was just very,
02:45very long, and there were so many children in need, and we researched, and Haiti
02:51is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere.
03:02It's incredibly sad how many children are abandoned in our hospitals. First, we will
03:08triple the adoption tax credit from $2,000 to $6,000 to help offset the incredible cost of
03:16adoption. I've been adopting myself. I am already so tired of seeing pro-life people
03:24saying, now let's make adoption affordable. Adoption agencies must be loving the SCOTUS
03:29ruling because they're going to be making bank because the more babies they get, the more money
03:33they can make. It's not about the kids and the well-being of these kids. It's about putting more
03:39of a product, the product being children, into their industry.
03:49Most child protective services offices are overrun. There's not enough space. Kids are
03:54sleeping on floors awaiting placements. We will be flooded with kids in the child welfare system.
03:59As a foster parent, I am at max capacity. Every single bed in my house is full,
04:06and I still get calls every week from caseworkers begging me to take children that have been
04:13in offices, in hotel rooms with caseworkers because they can't find homes.