Why private adoption is big business in the US
Business Daily
BBC
4.4 • 816 Ratings
🗓️ 6 December 2021
⏱️ 17 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
At any given time, about a million American families are looking to adopt and most prefer newborns. The industry is regulated on a state-by-state basis and many advocates argue that, not only the existing rules are not enforced properly, but that much greater federal regulation is needed to ensure that the whole process is ethical and safe. Ivana Davidovic hears from Shyanne Klupp, who says she felt pressured by an adoption agency to give her son up for adoption when she wanted to change her mind. She is now a reform campaigner and wants the private adoption industry, in its current form, abolished. Maureen Flatley, who has been working in the field of adoption legislation for two decades, is very concerned about the internet blurring the lines of legality and ethics and "trading of children" on social media without proper oversight. She hopes that 2022 will see some federal legislation governing this field finally implemented. And adoptive parents from Ohio explain why, after spending $70,000 on their first adoption through an agency, they have decided to take the matter into their own hands and advertise themselves online as prospective parents.
PHOTO: Woman holding little boys hand walking down the street/Getty Images
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello and welcome to Business Daily with me, Ivana Davidovich. |
| 0:04.4 | In today's program, the spotlight is on the private adoption industry in the United States. |
| 0:10.0 | An estimated 1 million American families are looking to adopt and many of them want newborns. |
| 0:15.9 | An increasing number of voices are calling for a much larger oversight of this $19 billion industry. |
| 0:22.1 | Agencies, it's like they prey on vulnerable women. You know, you come in and you're scared |
| 0:29.2 | and you're not sure if you can do this and you don't have support. And they say, oh, you |
| 0:33.6 | definitely can't do that. Let's get you the real help for your baby. |
| 0:38.4 | So far, the industry has largely avoided federal regulation, |
| 0:41.8 | but that may well start to change from next year. |
| 0:44.7 | Campaigners believe that social media giants should be a part of that effort. |
| 0:48.2 | The issue of advertising kids on the internet, I personally feel that it needs to stop. |
| 0:52.8 | I think in terms of private adoption, |
| 0:54.9 | we need to shut down these secret Facebook groups like yesterday. That's all coming up in Business |
| 1:01.4 | Daily from the BBC. I'm Cheyenne Club and I'm a stay-o-mom right now. I'm also a foster parent for the state of California. |
| 1:16.3 | We have three biological kids at home. I have my fourth child. When we talk about my home |
| 1:24.9 | kids, I don't include him because it can be confusing. |
| 1:29.9 | I think that's about all. |
| 1:35.1 | Shine Club was 20 years old when she met her boyfriend in 2009. |
| 1:39.1 | Within weeks, they had married, and within months, she was pregnant. |
| 1:44.7 | But a sudden change of circumstances made her consider putting her baby up for adoption. |
| 1:50.3 | My child was born 11 years ago. It was young. I was like 20 when I met his dad. |
| 1:54.9 | I fell in love really fast and I was just so excited to have a family. |
... |
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