What are the pros and cons of adopting a child?

Answer 1

Depends on the age of the child. As an adoptive parent myself I will tell you first that the PROS far outweigh the CONS! Those who only list a couple of pros are not seeing the whole picture. For us, we have been having problems with conception and God put our daughter into our life. We took her home from the hospital and so we are mommy and daddy. We get to watch her grow up, help her make the right choices in life, watch her on her first day of school, see her graduate, pay for college, meet the boyfriends, teach her to drive, teach her about life and how to be successful, enjoy her laughter, comfort her tears, guide her and love her forever. Her birthmother has become a part of our life too so we have a special relationship with that family too. It has been a wonderful experience. The key to it is to be honest and open from the get go regardless of the circumstances of the adoption. If the child is older, then perhaps the issues would be different but I would definately do it again! Now, don't forget there are also tax benefits and such but those are not the reason to adopt!

Cons - well it is difficult sometimes to think that you can not have a child but that is not the child's fault. You will love him/her the same. It will be hard to explain to her about the situation behind it all. The father is unknown so it will be hard if she wants to find her biological father (who raped her biological mother). There is of course the expense beyond what is normal when you have your own child. The cost to adopt can be anywhere from 10,000 to 30,000 dollars depending on the situation. We were fortunate to get lawyers pro-bono and to do this privately so our total cost was about 14000. From an agency it can get quite a bit more expensive. So be sure you are ready for this cost as it can be a lot at one time then nothing then more.

All-in-all.....GO FOR IT!