Conversation Questions

Adoption
Conversation Questions for the ESL Classroom.

 What is adoption?

 What is the difference between adoption and fostering?

 Do you know anyone who has adopted a child?

 What happens to children that are not adopted?

 How do you go about adopting a child?

 Would you want to adopt a boy or a girl? Why?

 Do you think brothers and sisters should be separated in adoptions?

 Should you tell the child that he or she was adopted? If so at what age? Or when?

 Should adopted children have the right to know their biological parents?

 Is the real parent the birth parent or the adoptive parent?

 Should a gay or lesbian couple be allowed to adopt a child?

 Should a single man or woman be able to adopt a child?

 When is the right time for a child to be told that he/she was adopted?

 Do you think it is preferable to adopt or to use artificial reproduction technology?

 What is an open adoption?

 Would you want to find your birth family? Why or why not?

 How would you feel if a child you had adopted wanted to search for his or her birth

parents?
 Conversation Questions
Adoption
Conversation Questions for the ESL Classroom.

  What is adoption? Adoption is a way of providing new families for children who

cannot be brought up by their biological parents. It is a legal procedure in which all

parental responsibility is transferred to the adopters.Once an adoption has been

granted, it cannot be reversed. An adopted child loses all legal ties with their birth

parents and becomes a full member of the adoptive family, usually taking the

family's name.

 What is the difference between adoption and fostering? Adoption is a legal

process by which a child becomes a full member of a new family, with the adoptive

parents assuming all parental responsibilities. Fostering is a temporary arrangement

where a child lives with a family until circumstances enable the child to return to their

own family, to live independently or to be placed for adoption.

 Do you know anyone who has adopted a child?

Lots of reasons and it depends on the people involved.

One or both of the parents may have a medical condition that can be passed onto

biological children.

There may be a strong belief about not wanting to contribute to global

overpopulation.

There may be a strong belief about wanting to offer a home and family to a child/ren
 who need one.

There may be some health condition that would make a pregnancy higher risk.

And yes, there are a few people who just don't want to ruin their bodies by getting

pregnant. I think a fair amount of models/movie stars who adopt fall into this

category!

 What happens to children that are not adopted?

If a child is not adopted, which is highly unlikely if they are infants, they are put into

group homes or foster care. They are kept in this system until they are legally adults,

at 18 years of age. Technically, no babies stay in an "adopting center." All children

reside in these group homes and foster homes until someone wants to adopt them,

and then the adoption agency takes the child from the home and gives them to a

family.

 How do you go about adopting a child?

 Would you want to adopt a boy or a girl? Why?

 Do you think brothers and sisters should be separated in adoptions?

 Should you tell the child that he or she was adopted? If so at what age? Or when?

 Should adopted children have the right to know their biological parents?

 Is the real parent the birth parent or the adoptive parent?

 Should a gay or lesbian couple be allowed to adopt a child?

 “The protections there for children are not there

for our children,” said Rowse.
 Added DeBoer, “All we’re asking for is for our children to have
the right to two parents — that’s all we’re asking.”

 Also on the show was Gary Glenn, president of the American

Family Association of Michigan, and a former candidate for
U.S. Senate, who is against same-sex couples adopting
children.

 He said it’s a matter of social science as well as a matter of

right and wrong.

 “There’s no question that these two ladies … are no

doubt capable of providing care and love to children. But, in
this situation — and remember that the children are in this
situation through no decision of their own … are in a situation
in which they are intentionally denied the impact of … in this
case a father, and, if it were two men, they would be
intentionally denied the benefit of having a mother,” said
Glenn.

 “Healthy development of a human child requires having the

role model and the care of a mother and a father,” said Glenn.
“It shouldn’t be the emotional needs of adults that drives the
 public policy. It’s up to the adults to make sure we act in the
best interest of the children.”

 Nessel said that’s flat-out incorrect — stating that “being a

good parent doesn’t depend on whether you have a vagina or
a penis.”

 “In fact I’m holding in my hands right now a position statement

that was done by the American Psychiatric Association … a
very well-respected psychiatric association, which
… specifically states that children are just as well off with a
same-sex couple than they are with a differently sexed couple
and that emotionally, cognitively, socially, in every way, shape
in form, the children of same-sex parents raised in a same-
sex environment thrive just as much as they would if they
were raised by heterosexual parents.”

 “The studies say as long as they are two individuals that are
in a loving, stable relationship, it doesn’t matter if it’s two
women, two men or a woman and a man,” she said. ”There’s
not a line of people who want to adopt these kids and my
clients are wonderful people who stepped in to care for these
kids … even though they’re the ones who, every single day
 are taking these kids to their doctor’s appointment and loving
them and nurturing them and kissing them goodnight every
single night, but people like you (Gary Glen) step in and they
say that that is somehow wrong.”

 Caller Nick, from Detroit, also took issue with Glenn’s

argument — saying, based on Glenn’s statements, he clearly
doesn’t want single women to be allowed to adopt either. “I
think Mr. Glen should go home and formulate a cohesive and
cogent argument that has some basis in fact,” he added.

 Caller Leroy, from Detroit, said he believe it’s better that

abandoned children remain parent-less rather than being
adopted and raised by a gay couple.

 “It’s
easy to take an isolated incident and say this is our example,
but the reality is a lot of those kids that come from those gay,
especially those lesbian relationships, have a lot of behavioral
problems in school, they act out, and they cause a lot of
disturbances,” he said. ”This is nothin’ to toy with … because
even if, like that woman said, let’s say nobody wants them
(the kids) — sometimes it’s better to be in no relationship than
 to be in a relationship like that, because what you’re telling
them is that this same-sex relationship is OK.”

 Should a single man or woman be able to adopt a child?

 When is the right time for a child to be told that he/she was adopted?

 Do you think it is preferable to adopt or to use artificial reproduction technology?

 What is an open adoption?

Open adoption is a form of adoption in which the biological and adoptive

families have access to varying degrees of each other's personal

information and have an option of contact. In Open Adoption, the adoptive

parents hold all the rights as the legal parents, yet the individuals of the

biological and adoptive families may exercise the option to open the

contact in varying forms: from just sending mail and/or photos, to face-to-

face visits between birth and adoptive families.

 Would you want to find your birth family? Why or why not?

 How would you feel if a child you had adopted wanted to search for his or her birth

parents?