New initiatives on Capitol Hill may make it easier for couples and individuals to adopt children. They could also make it easier for women with unwanted pregnancies to choose adoption over abortion.
Sixty members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives have formed a nonpartisan coalition to examine current barriers to adoption. U.S. Sen. Gordon Humphrey (R.-N.H.) convened the coalition in response to what he calls “the tragedy that leads over a million women a year to terminate their pregnancies in abortion, while many couples unsuccessfully seek an infant to adopt.”
Most women with unplanned pregnancies choose either to keep the child or to abort it. Adoption is a distant third choice. Humphrey says a lack of adequate counseling may be one reason. “Adoption may be the right choice for more women [with unwanted pregnancies],” he said, “but they don’t get a fair chance to choose that alternative.”
Humphrey introduced an amendment to family-planning legislation that would authorize—but not require—federally funded family-planning projects to offer adoption services. The amendment’s opponents contend that most family-planning counselors lack the expertise to present adequately the adoption alternative. And they say Humphrey’s amendment would divert funds from family-planning projects to nongovernmental adoption services.
He also introduced legislation that would require states to provide statistics on adoption. A lack of reliable data has thwarted efforts to remove barriers to adoption, according to Jeff Rosenberg, director of public policy at the National Committee for Adoption. “Without accurate data, you can’t make informed, sensible adoption policy.”
The adoption coalition in Congress has focused attention on the approximately 36,000 children in the fostercare system who are waiting for permanent adoptive homes. Current tax law allows a $1,500 tax deduction for families that adopt a child with special needs. But that deduction is not included in the tax-reform bill expected to pass Congress.
By Kelsey Menehan.
