Wednesday, June 22, 2011

The Children Who Wait - Marsha Traugot

Summary:
Marsha Traugot's essay "The children Who Wait" discusses the scene of adoption in American context. There is a dramatic change in the attitude towards adoption. Prior to 1960 people had prejudiced concept towards adoption. After 1960 people's tendency of searching for healthy white children for adoption ended due to various factor. The various factors responsible for the dramatic change are black civil right movement, women's movement and awareness through media campaign. Though there is change in peoples mind, childcare specialists still have problems. Traugot's essay ends with the activities childcare specialist have been doing for proper match of family and the needy child. Summary- MarshaTraugot begins her essay with the picture of Tammy, which has been published in a magazine with the hope that someone would be ready for her adoption. She is five and half years old with the face of Mona Lisa. The writer describes her inadaptable child had she been born before 1960. During that period only white healthy children were considered adaptable. Physically deformed children’s were rehired as damaged goods. No one was ready to adopt such children. This view, however, started disappearing after the sixties. People attitude towards them gradually became positive. The change in thoughts was brought by various factors. Traugot mentions black civil right movement, legalization of abortion, change in attitude of the people, and change in government's policy as responsible factors. Black civil rights movement brought sympathetic attitude towards black people. White people started regarding them as humans and treated accordingly. Another responsible factor was women's movement. Because of women’s movement they got right to decide on the matter of childbirth in addition to other right. The lady who had to do abortion to maintain her status could live with dignity with her child. No body showed her with index finger. It has the impact in reduction of unwanted children. The third factor responsible for change in attitude is government's policy towards adoption. The government used to emphasize on faster care before the seventies. As they became knowledgeable about the drawbacks, they made change in their policy. Rater than emphasizing on foster care, they tried to find permanent home. Another factor responsible is the role played by social activists. Their campaign brought not only in attitude of the people but also in their behavior. Though the situation in the present context is favorable, there are still problem in this sector. Activists have to get proper family for destitute child. They need to search suitable family for child. Unlike previous activists, they can't get two-parent family. Instead of searching for two-parent family, they need to evaluate the characteristic of a child and match it with the proper family. To overcome this problem, they hold meetings and discuss about the children and families where theycan put them.

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