Adoption, The Census & Us

>ur Census form arrived in the mail on Monday. I was not surprised by the questions as I had already seen on Twitter a flurry of #adoption comments regarding the Census questions, specifically question #2. The first time this question was included on the Census form was 10 years ago, 2000.

As an adoptive parent, I find this box upsetting. I swore in a court of law to treat my son as a “natural biological child” & yet the US government wants me to differentiate my son as adopted versus biological. I can’t even begin to think what parents who have both biological and adopted kids or even step-children feel. We struggle to not make our kids feel any different from any other child and yet it is being specifically pointed out on an official government form.

I understand, in theory, why the federal government is asking this question. They are searching for data to help guide legislation regarding adoptions, welfare assistance services, etc. Apparently there is no national source of data or information other than the Census. States collect various statistics on adoption, each state determining how much & what data they will collect. Supposedly there is no requirement for the states to share this information with the federal government.

I find this odd. International adoptions are tracked via the federal government; they have to be for visa/passport applications. Adoptions can be tracked via birth certificates which are changed at the point of finalization (another whole adoption issue) so theoretically that data can be processed as well. Foster to adopt is tracked via the social service system. Plus adoption itself has a wide range of type of adoptions which is being totally ignored on the Census form. And what about adult adoptees? Step child adoptions? How exactly is a generic “adopted child” number going to help things (whatever these things may be) in the long run?

I know the adoption industry is not perfect. There is a very real need for national legislation to provide cohesive, uniform laws regulating adoption processess. There is a lot of unethical behavior going on – not just from the adoption agencies but also birth parents & adoptive parents too. If this data would be used towards that end, it might not bother me so much. I just don’t see how this vague data can provide solid information towards that.

There are lots of blogs out there discussing this issue. Most of them are better written & thought out than mine. Others have done the research as well. I just wanted to add my 2 cents. Please check out these links – there is great reading from the authors & their comments! You can probably google for more.

http://www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/censr-6.pdf – the gov’t explaination of why the box on the form

http://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/statistics/adoption.cfm

http://thechroniclesofmunchkinland.com/2010/03/15/the-census-and-adoption/

http://www.blogher.com/adoption-census-your-thoughts

http://lianaandmason.com/dollhouse/2010/03/17/the-census-civil-disobedience-no-check-box-for-my-kidlet/

http://adoptivemomma.blogspot.com/2010/03/2010-census.html

Elizabeth

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