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Thanks to Texas Pro-life Gov George W Bush, a series of improvements have been made that will dramatically streamline the adoption process. |
In Texas Gov. George W. Bush saw the problems in the existing public foster care and adoption systems, appointed a task force to draft recommendations, and saw his proposals successfully through the legislature. And in Ohio, researchers from the University of Dayton have demonstrated that teenagers who place their children for adoption benefit in four distinct ways.
While the research shows benefits to young women who place their babies for adoption, from the pro-life point of view the pre-eminent concern is that the child is allowed to be born in the first place. Such a decision benefits both the mother, who honors her obligation to her unborn child, and the child, who is not aborted.
It was those children who do end up in the foster care system that were the primary concern of Gov. Bush. He and his policy advisors were aware that hundreds upon hundreds of children were lingering in the Texas foster care system.
To analyze the problems and prescribe potential solutions, Gov. Bush appointed a "blue ribbon" committee. But unlike many other such committees that have been appointed at the state level, Gov. Bush's committee was not dominated by the same interests that in many instances either caused the problems in the first place or who were wedded to solutions that have not worked.
Gov. Bush's committee quickly focused on its mission and presented a remarkable action agenda. Once Gov. Bush received the report, he and his aides prepared a legislative strategy to get changes made immediately.
Using skillful diplomacy, Gov. Bush secured three pieces of legislation. Those bills contained these major features:
The results from Ohio are important because they should be encouraging to those who have been saying that giving more information about the adoption option would be beneficial not only to their children, but also to the young mothers.
The Ohio research results, first published in Family Relations late last year but also publicized by Family Planning Perspectives recently, are from a study conducted by Brenda W Donnelly and Patricia Voydanoff, research associates at the Center for the Study of Family Development.
The researchers had some important comments regarding the implications of their findings. For instance, they said that those who counsel pregnant teens usually try to present information "in a fairly detached way. Given some of the benefits of adoption cited [in the study], however, it may be important to more explicitly and accurately convey this information to teens. ... All too often, the benefits of adoption to the birth mother are not explored adequately."
The Dayton team also stressed the importance of follow-up counseling so that teens who placed babies would get help with their grieving, come to closure, and move on with their lives.
Copies of the report of Gov. Bush's Committee to Promote Adoption may be obtained by calling Gov. Bush's office at 512-463-1800. A five-page summary of the Texas changes appears in the June 1997 issue of National Adoption Reports, the monthly newsletter of the National Council For Adoption (NCFA).
Free copies of the five-page summary may be obtained by calling NCFA at 202-328-1200; writing to NCFA at 1930 17th St., N.W., Washington, D.C. 20009; or reading it on NCFA's web site, www.ncfa-usa.org.
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Posted 9 Sep 2000.
Copyright 1997 by National Right to Life Committee.
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