What happens when parents decide to adopt a child? How to prepare for this whole process? What do adoptive parents need to know before adopting? On May 25th, Brazil celebrates the National Adoption Day, which seeks to raise awareness and reflect on the importance of adopting a child. It also promotes the debate on the basic right of young people and children to have a dignified family life.
To better understand the situation of adoptive families and why this process is so difficult, it is important to look at some data. According to a research by the National Adoption and Shelter System, of the National Council of Justice (NCJ), the number of sheltered children is about 29.000 in Brazil. Also, there are 33.000 interested people. Problem solved, right? We wish. There’s a certain discrepancy regarding the age of the children: most of them are over 8 to 10 years old and only 1.180 are willing to adopt these children.
For Carina Machado, the adoptive mother of her 3-year-old son Levi, the adoption situation in the country is complicated precisely by the delay in the queue, because the suitors want a different profile from the vast majority of children who are available for adoption.
This is greatly intensified with the issue of “late adoption” resulting from the suitors’ insecurity in not being able to create sufficient affective bonds with this child or even the child’s adaptation to the new family routine. This consequently affects the child’s life, whether due to insecurity in relation to the new family or the fear of a new rejection or abandonment.
They are those who are “forgotten” in institutions, waiting for a family. “But it is up to the family to understand the health history, previous experiences and the psychological issue and to be able to meet the needs that may arise during these early stages of the adoption process”, completes Carina.
Some campaigns encourage the adoption of young people over 8 years old or with a disability, which is the case of the initiative called “Adote um Boa noite”. With this project, 19 adoptions were won and another 27 adoption processes are in progress, according to the Court of Justice of the State of São Paulo (CJSP).
In times of a pandemic, caused by Covid-19, adoption processes underwent changes, which caused a slow, time-consuming process and a certain abandonment among parents to adopt. In fact, in that time, the adoptions decreased and there are no studies that specifically point out a factor. One of the possibilities may be issues of adjustment of the applicants themselves or even those who had their standard of living economically altered, which led to requests for suspension of the process or withdrawal.
However, a great tool that increases the visibility of adoption are social media, which bring more in-depth information to applicants who have some doubts and the exchange of experiences that in many accounts, especially Carina on her Intagram profile, allows greater comfort and security for those who will adopt or are in the process.
Several profiles on social media have a positive impact, showing the daily life and adaptation of adopted children. Carina, for example, explains that Levi, her son, adapted very quickly and the affection, contact and empathy with the welcoming family greatly facilitated the process. Although he is only 3 years old, he still doesn’t have a full understanding of what is happening because of his age, but she made a book with the entire beginning of their history together so that in the future, he will already know the truth in a transparent and sincere way.
In the hope that the deepening of this theme is simple and of great importance for everyone, this knowledge helps to reduce the psychological suffering that each youth and child spends these years in institutes.
To better understand this subject that is increasingly recurring, here are some accounts on social networks and some campaigns that you might like:
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The article above was edited by Laura Enchioglo.
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