children or puppies, a matter of priorities?

Fascinating, ennit?

I'm amazed there are children waiting for adoption. In Oz, there's a huge demand for adoptive children, and no kids available. I think foster-care is a bit different.

It explains though, how all those movie stars can just adopt kids, when they want them. I thought it was something to do with having heaps of cash - but with kids waiting, they'd have a pick.

How unfortunate for the children The poor little bugger adopted by Callista Flockhart would be considered lucky to go and live in the home of an anorexic egotist

Well, at least he gets to hang out with Harrison Ford! (Sorry for the digression, dys...)

People do not want life-long commitment that is a part of adoption of human beings; it is much easier with pets: if the owner gets fed up with them, he may sell them.

There's a huge demand in the US for adopting BABIES, seems there's more trouble finding parents for the kids as they get a bit older. Most find there way to good foster care, far better than the poor unwanted animals, who just get gassed.

Adopting pets is another thing all together, I know people who will adopt animals just to keep them from being destroyed, and then find good homes for them. I've done that twice.

Foster homes are another thing all together, between all of the church scandals and foster kids being taken from celebrities for abuses,...I think that the screening process is becoming more difficult. Hopefully, the days when people just took in foster kids as a way to up their income will be ending soon!

"There's a huge demand in the US for adopting BABIES"
if they are blond/blue eyed infants, otherwise we dont really seem to give a sh*t.

Do you mean that even the Black and Hispanic families insist on adopting the "Aryan" babies?

Dys,..that's not my experience, I know a few couples here in Mass. that have had to go out of the country to adopt. South America, Asia, and Russia.

And, they were not disciminating either, the only thing they were searching for were healthy, happy babies,..color didn't matter.
They were on waiting lists for years here.

Denver Colorado has 250 children available for adoption.

I know that infertile Israeli couples used to adopt kids in Romania and Brasil. Due to enormous corruption in these countries, they often got problems with law or fell victims to frauds that presented themselves as mediators.

The two don't compare! The fact that X amount of people would want a pet and Y amount of people want a child has nothing to do with each other.

Imagine I go to pet store to buy a dog and someone says to me "why not adopt a kid!" What? I came in here for a dog! Where does a child have to do with my decision to get a pet?

Besides, there's a huge difference between the adoption of a pet and adopting a child! I don't need anyone to check out my home, lifestyle, habits, background, marital status, employment history, criminal record, pay scale, religion, age, medical history to get a pet!

There are more than enough people in the world willing to adopt all the adoptable children out there - it's the red tape that prevents them all from finding each other and getting together.

Dys, gonna adopt a kid?

i would if i was not geriatric. i did have guardianship of a child with downs syndrome until he died.

I agree with Heeven on the comparison. It's apples and oranges.

Also consider that many of the children that are awaiting adoption and foster homes may have mental and physical problems. A high percentage aren't children given up for adoption at birth but are children that have been removed from their homes. They may have past histories of abuse, have special education needs, and some need continued contact with their families even after adoption or trial placement.

This is not to say that all children shouldn't have a home, but it's more complicated than just adopting a child because you want a child. Many adopted children need special care that some people just do not have the resources for.

My cousin has adopted 5 children (and has 2 of her own), only one of the adopted children was an infant and one of her own was born with Downs. She has had a terrible time even with the older children with the birth family members, the courts, healthcare and educational needs....all of the children need special care, 2 of them are from other countries

There are families out there and it's no fault of the children, but the difficulties of adoption and foster care are sometimes mindboggling. There needs to be changes in the system to provide more support for adopting families. Many times adoptions are stopped mid or end of process because of legalities. Many families are slow to try and adopt foster children because they are afraid the child will be taken from the home if the birth families protest.

I second what Heeven said.