The adoption history is so extensive given the different issues that underlie it, such as the laws, the different types of adoption, among others. Adoption in one form or another has been in existence as long as human beings have. Many decades ago, adoption did not have an official name, but it was still celebrated openly since it provided ways in which those parents who could not care for their children to place the children in homes where the parents were willing to take care of them. In the 20 th century, adoption was very secretive and was used by those women who were not married and had children to avoid their children being labelled as illegitimate. The purpose of this paper is to contrast and compare adoption between the 60s and Today and closed vs open adoption. The paper will also identify the impact of open vs closed adoption on the behaviours of the kids, identify differences or similarities in amount of approvals that are international between the 60s and Today and its changes as well as the changes in rules of confirmation.
Adoption between the 60s and Today
In the United States between the 60s and Today, a large number of children have been placed for adoption with an estimated 2 million children during the 1960s alone. Between the years 1960 and 1970, the number of passages by non-relative increased gradually to around 89200, which drastically declined in 1075 to 47700. According to the department of human and health services in the United States, in 2003, only about 14000 children were placed for adoption ( Jones & Placek, 2017) .
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As compared to the world today, where most adoptions are related to incapability to take care of children by parents, in the 60s ,passage was meant to prevent a child from being called illegitimate. Most parents Today who place their children up for adoption are due to the inability to fed and take care of them; illegitimacy is not much of a concern Today since most children are being raised by single mothers.
In the 1960s, however, children were mostly put up for adoption because unmarried mothers feared that their children would be labelled as illegitimate. Illegitimacy was defined as a deficit psychologically on the mother's part. A combination of the restriction on access to some birth control and the liberalization of sexual morals increased unintended early pregnancies. The social and psychological view was that unmarried mothers were better off if they were separated from their newborn babies through adoption.
Adoption in the 60s involved infertile, young and married couples. These were allowed to adopt and not unmarried people. Today, however, approval can be done by a variety of people including divorced, gay, unmarried, beyond the age of childbearing, and even the fertile. Equally the adoption laws have significantly changed between 60 and Today with most policies which applied in the olden days not being applicable Today
In the early 60s, a decline in infant adoption was noted due to the decreased birth rates and the legal and social changes that allowed the mothers from the middle class to have alternative single motherhood. Both adoptions in the 60s and Today involved laws and agencies were used to allow for adoption, and most of the approvals were closed such that a birthparent had no contact with the adoptive parent. Today most adoptions are towards open adoption.
Adoption in recent years has been on the decrease. For example, between 2007 and 2014, the number of adoptions fell from 133737 to 110373 in which related adoptions amounted to 41023 and unrelated adoptions amounting 69350. NCFA in their interest to identify infant adoptions which have remained steady since 2007, found out that infant adoptions increased between 2007 and 2014 from 18078 to 18329 ( Jones & Placek, 2017) . A decrease in infant adoption has been noted Today since the year 1992. In the early 80s adoption of infants with special needs was not common, unlike in recent years. Unlike in the 60s, when the adoption of infants with special needs was rare, Today special needs adoptions have been on the increase. For example, between 1982 and 2014, NCFA found out that the number increased from 14005 to 69350 in the United States.
Open vs Closed Adoption
Open adoption is that where the adoptive parents and the birth parents get into contact during the adoption process, and they remain in the lives of each other such that the Child knows the birth parents and the birth parents know the adoptive parents. Closed adoption, on the other hand, means the adoptive parents and the Child and the birth parents do not have any contact with each other once the adoption has taken place ( Demick & Warner, 1988) .
For the open adoption, there is an exchange of information between the adoptive parents and the birth parents. The adoptive family and the birth mother once matched, they can exchange information such as the names, personal addresses, and any information that can help in keeping contact. In a closed adoption, there is little or no exchange of information on identity. A birth mother and the adoptive parents do not share identity information or keep contact once the adoption has taken place.
Pre-placement contact: Before a baby is born, the adoptive family and the birth mother get into contact through emails, a one-time phone conversation. The adoptive family also makes visits to the location of the birth mother. This happens for both closed and open adoption.
Contact agreement post-placement: In an open adoption, the adoptive family and the birth mother can still communicate after agreeing on the relationship they want the Child to have with the birth mother and how often communication can take place ( Demick & Warner, 1988) . This is not the case in closed adoption since communication ceases once adoption takes place. No visits or exchange of information is allowed.
In the 60s, almost all of the adoptions were closed with only around one out of 50 women accepting to place their children for adoption through open adoption. Today, however, adoption is mostly open due to the laws set to unseal secret documents.
Impact of Closed and Open Adoption on the Child's behaviour
As children grow up, their sense of identity and psychosocial well-being develop and their self-esteem and self-concept. They start to feel comfortable with themselves but with the adopted children, things may be different. When children who are adopted become older, have issues of self-esteem and self-image. The levels of these issues depend on whether adoption was closed or open ( Kohler, Grotevant, & McRoy, 2002) .
A child adopted through a closed adoption, have feelings of grief due to the loss of the relationship between them and their birth parents. Given that closed adoption does not allow for contact with the birth parents, the Child feels unwanted, and as if there are no roots to their existence. This feeling of loss is greater during adolescence and youth age when the adopted kids know themselves. The loss does not only include that of the birth parents but also of culture and language.
Both closed and open adoption has psychological effects on the kids when they grow old. The kids struggle with the development of identity and self-esteem issues as compared to their peers who are not adopted. The problems are more evident withy those children adopted in the closed circumstances especially because they wonder why their birth parents gave them up for adoption and how the birth family may be like ( Kohler, Grotevant, & McRoy, 2002) . Though this feeling is also present in open adoption, it is, however not as severe as in closed since the adopted children have the opportunity to contact their birth family and gain access to some information. These kids also establish a relationship with their birth family as agreed during adoption. Identity confusion is also familiar with adoption cases as the adults struggle to know where they come from and who they could be. This is common in children adopted through closed circumstances.
Most adopted adults have shown high levels of mental health issues. Depression is evident, and they also engage in bad behaviour such as substance abuse and the rates of suicide attempts and ideation are high. They also have antisocial behaviours since they feel like other people do not appreciate them. This is due to insecurity ( Kohler, Grotevant, & McRoy, 2002) .
The adopted children also tend to be rebellious as they try to know details about how unique they may be and their genetic history. They reflect on their adoptive families and themselves to identify any existing differences and similarities, and as they do so, they rebel. With a closed adoption, the level of rebellion is higher, especially because they are not allowed to dig into their past or contact their birth families.
With open adoption, the rebellion may be caused by the desire of the adopted Child to get back to the birth parents. The idea of allowing the Child and the adoptive family to be in contact with the birth parents gives the Child a chance to know the birth parents well, and sometimes they could want to live with the birth parents. Refusing the adopted Child to stay with their birth family may cause them to rebel ( Siegel, 2012) .
International Adoption History
International adoption refers to the placement of a child for approval in a different country from that of the Child's birth. The adoption process can be done through private or public agencies, depending on the preference of the adoptive family. There is an excellent variation in domestic and international adoption. For example, in Sweden, international adoption accounts for more cases than domestic adoption. However, in the U.S. Today, the rate of domestic adoption is much higher compared to international adoption. International adoption in the U.S. accounts for less than 15% of the total adoption cases.
Research indicates that in the U.S. the rate of international adoption grew from the 1940s to 2005. However, since 2005, the rate of global adoption cases has significantly dropped between 2005 to Today by almost 98%. The complexity and sensitivity of international adoption have led to individual countries developing laws that guide the process of intercountry confirmation. Consequently, after realizing the challenges and difficulties that are involved in the process of international adoption it an international law known as the Hague Adoption Convention was developed to protect the adoptive families from exploitation and corruption from the agencies ( Selman, 2009) .
According to Selman, (2009), international adoption, initially known as intercountry adoption has changed from different perspectives over the years. First, the numbers have been inconsistent but have grown gradually since the 1980s to the highest number in 2004. However, after the change of laws guiding the process of international adoption, the number of kids adopted has declined.
Research indicates that international adoption is much harder now that it was back in the 1960s. In the 1960s, the adoptive family back in the 1960s had little work to undertake compared to Today. Initially, the adoptive family was supposed to complete the paperwork, and in a span of three to seven months, the family would land the adoptee in their family. Today, the tides have changed, and it has become harder and complex to adopt children from another country. Today the adoptive family has to engage in a lot of paperwork for many months which makes the whole process more complicated and tiring.
The cost of International adoption Today is much higher than it was in the 1960s. In the 1960s, the adopting process was less costly because of reduced travel between the countries of adopting a family to that of the adoptee. In the 1960s, the adoptive family did not have to travel to and from both countries as most of the process was handled by the agency involved ( Stevenson, 2019) . Today, however, the process is entirely different, which increases the total cost of the entire adoptive process. Today, the adoptive family has to travel to the country of the adoptee several times and has to stay for a few weeks, which can prove to be expensive. The entire process takes more than a year which at the end has high costs on the adopting family.
There were fewer strict laws that guided and protected international adoption in the 1960s compared to today. In the beginning, the thoughts of international adoption were seen as a sign of empathy and the willingness of the adoptive family to help. Most of the adopted kids in the 1960s were orphaned, or children of soldiers who had gone to war in Asia; thus, the entire process was seen as a way of helping ( Stevenson, 2019). However, over the year’s difficulties and challenges facing international adoption has forced countries and international bodies to create protective and restrictive laws.
One of the biggest similarities of international adoption in the 1960s and today is the fact that the numbers of persons who were being adopted then are almost similar to the number of adoptions Today ( Stevenson, 2019) . After the many years of the rise in adoption between the 1960s and 2004 from when the numbers began falling.
Change in Numbers of Adoption from the 1960s to Day
The change in the number of kids adopted has been dynamic over the years across the world. The movement has been affected by different factors such as laws governing international adoption, political instability, and so forth. The year between 1994 and 2004 saw a rise in the number of kids adopted. However, the number has declined since 2005. The number of children adopted in 2005 was 46,000 across the world, with half of this number going into the U.S. (The Conversation, 2015).
The decline in these numbers can be attributed to factors such as countries stopping the adoption of kids across borders. According to The Conversation (2015), in 2015, Ethiopia stopped the adoption of its kids by foreign parents. Ethiopia joined countries like China, Romania, South Korea, Kazakhstan, Russia and Guatemala in banning or cutting back on international custody duties. Countries like China and Russia are requesting the citizens to embrace domestic adoption. The numbers had dropped to 12,000 by 2015, which was a decline of 72 % globally showing that cross border adoption activities have been declining over the years.
The data available show that few countries with the most children adopted internationally in the 1990s, including China, Ukraine and the Democratic Republic of Congo has declined significantly. China which had the largest number of kids adopted, has gradually led to a decrease in the number by 86 % since the 1990s. Consequently, the U.S. which has been the leading adoptive country in all the years globally, the country has cut down the number of adopted kids into U.S. 18,856 children were adopted in 2000 from five of the most populous countries that send their kids to other countries. The number had declined by 75% by 2016 of children adopted from these five countries by families in U.S. (The Conversation, 2015)
Adoption Laws
The process of International adoption has largely been affected by different types of laws. For example, there are international laws that guide international adoption. Each country has its laws that guide how people are supposed to carry out international adoption and state laws for countries that are state-divided.
There countries that allow Lesbian, Bisexual, Gay, Transgender, Questioning (LBGTQ) couples to adopt while others do not allow. In the U.S., LBGTQ couples are allowed to adopt kids from other countries. LBGTQ adoption was made legal in 2016 in 50 states ( Farr, & Goldberg, 2018) . Countries like Colombia, the Philippines, and Brazil have allowed their kids to be adopted by LBGTQ couples. The U.S. has retained its support for adoption by all types of families despite the rejection by some of the faith-based agencies. Countries like China do not support the adoption of kids in other marriages other than heterosexual. It means that in China, LBGTQ families and others that are not heterosexual are not allowed to adopt kids. China also does not allow its kids to be adopted by such families from other countries.
The laws have allowed single parents to adopt, but the person adopting has to provide more references compared to married couples. Thus, based on the law, it is much easier for married couples to adopt cross-border than it is for single parents. Thus for single parents, it might be much easier to adopt domestically.
Thus, research indicates that the U.S. has supported the adoption process by allowing different kinds of families to be adopted. According to Farr, & Goldberg (2018), the U.S. has accepted the various families in the society like LBGTQ families, single-parent families, trans-ratio families and so forth and thus has created laws that allow these families to adopt kids. Other countries have mixed reactions to allowing kids to be adopted by families that are not heterosexual, which complicate the process of cross-border adoption.
The laws that govern adoption, either domestically or internationally are strict because of the law act in the best interest of the kid. Thus, the laws remain strict to protect these kids from landing in a family that is functional. The issues of LBGTQ and single parents are largely accepted in the U.S. thus, the law allowing these families to adopt kids.
References
Demick, J., & Warner, S. (1988). Open and closed adoption: A developmental conceptualization. Family Process , 27 (2), 229-249.
Farr, R. H., & Goldberg, A. E. (2018). Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Adoption Law. Family Court Review , 56 (3), 374-383.
Jones, J., & Placek, P. (2017). Adoption By the Numbers, A Comprehensive Report of U.S. Adoption Statistics. National Council on Adoption .
Kohler, J. K., Grotevant, H. D., & McRoy, R. G. (2002). Adopted adolescents' preoccupation with adoption: The impact on adoptive family relationships. Journal of Marriage and Family , 64 (1), 93-104.
Selman, P. (2009). The rise and fall of intercountry adoption in the 21st century. International Social Work , 52 (5), 575-594.
Siegel, D. H. (2012). Growing up in open adoption: Young adults' perspectives. Families in society , 93 (2), 133-140.
Stevenson, A. D. (2019). " Democracy in Action:" International Adoption in Twentieth-Century America. Reviews in American History , 47 (2), 271-278.
The Conversation (2015). International adoptions have dropped 72 per cent since 2005 – here's why. Retrieved from http://theconversation.com/international-adoptions-have-dropped-72-percent-since-2005-heres-why-91809
