If there are a given number of homes, and a limited number of children, people will move down the list until they find what is available unacceptable, whether it be for color, or depth of need, and then they will look elsewhere. It's hard for me to blame someone for not wanting to take on a severely handicapped baby who will never be able to fulfill any of their dreams for parenthood, never be able to feed himself, or perhaps ever be independant. But if they are passing up healthy babies for color, it is hard to see them as fit to be parents.
When I placed my daughter for adoption, I spoke to a family who had returned a baby to the mother because he started to look bi-racial. They told me they would do this again if I misled them about the color of my baby's father. I told them no problem, and never spoke to them again. I wouldn't have given them a three legged puppy, much less my baby even though she met their standards.
What scares me is that if birth control/abortion is restricted, while there may be an abundance of "desirable children" filling homes that might have taken in a child with some level of challlenge. The saddest cases still won't be adopted, but there will be many more of them as well as a higher "cut off" line, as people find it un-necessary to compromise in order to satisfy their baby-hunger.
Even if we can't "save the world" we shouldn't let that stop us from fighting as if we can. How much better the world is for future generations is in each our hands. |
