Having dedicated our lives to helping children find love and permanency, and supporting families who have hearts and homes to share, we are convinced that the vast majority of adults who seek to adopt, are good people. Not only are our adoptive and foster families good, they are usually exceptional. The time and effort, the financial and emotional cost involved in adopting a child, this process is designed to deter the ill-intended. Applicants are required to bare their souls, share their hopes and dreams with social work staff. Tax returns, letters of reference, medical, child abuse, and criminal clearances are required. Agency staff interview anyone living in the applicants' home, and conduct home checks.
We know our client families and we know them to be good people. The reason that Ariel is no longer here to enjoy a day a the beach, or charm a teacher, has nothing to do with the rigorous requirements of foster and adoptive parents, and everything to do with a social welfare system that is under-funded and over worked. The rules to protect Ariel were already in place when she tragically went missing. She should and her siblings should never have landed in that unfortunate foster and eventual adoptive home. Her foster/adoptive parents should not have passed the initial screening. There were red flags all over the place. The system failed. Making it harder for good people to adopt or provide foster homes for children is the last thing we need to be doing.
