I always hear that it is very hard to adopt a baby and that you need to meet all sorts of requirements. Is it the government setting these requirements? Is it individual agencies? Are the agencies private entities? Are there a bunch of babies sitting around in orphanages waiting for people to meet requirements?
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It’s a case of optimization vs maximization. You could maximize adoptions if you relaxed requirements. But you’d also maximize sex trafficking victims. Or you’d just contribute to the original problem – unprepared parents who don’t want a kid anymore.
So you have to take protect against that even if it means lower adoption rates.
Some of the regulation is government mandated. Some is enforced by private agencies who don’t want to be sued/charged into oblivion by any district attorney.
Yes, governments are setting the requirements, adoption agencies add their own requirements along with fees, lawyers add even more to the cost, the whole ordeal ends up expensive and time consuming. Depending on the country and where you’re adopting from agencies may be private or government run, and like all human things there are corrupt agencies. They have in the past even been caught selling babies to prospective couple and even worse things. Most of the children waiting to be adopted are not babies though, and they are adopted a lot less frequently.
>Are the agencies private entities?
Yes
>Is it individual agencies?
No, all of them have pretty strict requirements, for very good reasons. You don’t want anyone to be able to walk up and get their hands on a child, no questions asked. You want to *vet* these people, make sure they’re not criminals or predators. You also want to make sure they actually can take care of a child, like they have a decent home, a job, money.
>Are there a bunch of babies sitting around in orphanages waiting for people to meet requirements?
No. Part of the reason it’s so hard to adopt a child is *because* there aren’t a ton of available babies sitting around waiting to be adopted. Orphaned babies are a highly in-demand commodity. There’s 10 prospective families waiting for every one single baby who needs a home. Any pregnant mother who wants to give away her child will be linked up immediately with a family willing to take it. Though these deals often fall through because mothers back out, unable to bring themselves to hand off the baby.
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