There are a lot of people who want to adopt and can't because of the policies at certain orphanages and other shelter-type places. Many couples (who have a religion, and are hetero) are still turned down even if they would be wonderful parents. Fix the system, and the solution will come.

I plan on having kids. I have thought about adoption, but the simple fact is that I want my own children. I want to look at my children and see my grandfather, to know that they completely belong in our mixed up family.
But on the same hand, I might not be able to have kids, or I might find out my future husband and I have a high chance of having a child with sever problems. If this happens then I will adopt.
The sad fact is though that it is much harder and longer to adopt then simply getting pregnant.

I am a child that was adopted.

I think adoption is good for children who are in need and would love to adopt some of my own.

However, I think one of the real problems is not the fact that people keep having kids, but rather that some women think that that is all they're good for in this life, making babies. Or that they simply don't care about their bodies enough to prtect from pregnancy or other diseases.

I'm not say this of everyone, but there are some women out there like this.

I think the other part of the problem is that parents can't truly parent their children these days. You can't reprimand a child that's unruly. You haev to talk to them like they are already adults... and they aren't! Children are spoilt in the here and now, so what do you suppose that will do to the over population in the future? Personally I think it's going to increase the problem, because when these kids get older, they will want what they want now and if they want babies, by god they're going to have them babies.

People have kids to carry on the family name, and their blood. Yes, adopting a child will, in a sense, make them yours, but they are not of your blood, that's why people have their own children. But I do feel that more people should adopt. The thing that really bothers me about children and how many there are, is when people continue to have children when they KNOW they cannot take care of them. Which it mainly happens in countries like Africa (yes I know a LOT of people do it here also in the U.S.) if you already have 3 children that are starving to death, don't you think you would STOP making more children?? Seriously...

Many women seem set on the idea of having a child from their own genes... even when possibly infertile. When you try to bring up adoption to some, they just don't care... they want a kid of their own. I can't understand that... so many kids need good homes... they should stop being so selfish about paying thousands of dollars for fertility eggs and stuff and just help out a kid instead of waiting on a 10 percent chance.
It's ok to want kids of your own, but... there's way too many unfit parents out there, not to mention oversized families. People need to use their heads, or protection. Possibly both, too.
Spoken from a woman, by the way. I don't want kids, don't plan on them, nor adoption because I'm not and won't ever probably be responsible enough. I call that using my head. :D

I have many friends that were foster kids and my husband mother makes it her life to foster kids that are harder to get placed. I hate that we live in such a narcissistic world. So many people are obsessed with having babies so they can see their own faces looking back at them. Parents are the people who loved you and raised you, not the sperm and egg donors, and your children aren't your genes, they are the ones you raised and loved.

adoption is great, dont get me wrong or anything, but some people when have their own kids, you know a part of them, and be able to raise them...

and other people cant, so they use adoption to raise kids.

but i want to have a kid of my own, and i want to adopt a kid, to make a difference in his or her life.

Adoption is expensive and often selective. There is a long, drawn out legal process to adopting that many cannot afford and many could not pass. Adopting a child (as opposed to an infant, comes with even more struggle in that children who have been through foster care and who haven't had the same stable home throughout their childhood, typically end up with serious emotional/mental problems.
While it is a wonderful thing for those with the resources (both financially and emotionally) to adopt, it is rather unreasonable to say that everyone wanting children should adopt as it's just not possible for many to do so.

One, giving birth is just as unpredictable, you don't know if your child will be born without physical or emotional defect. And two, having a child is extremely expensive and we wouldn't have the extremely high illiteracy and poverty rate in the U.S. if people who couldn't really afford to have children didn't have children. I think if you want to have children, you should have to go through the same psychological evaluation and background checks as you would if you want to adopt. You should have a solid plan on how you plan to raise that child to have a college education as well. So many people just pop out kids like pez dispensers and act like they have accomplished something, at least when the children are adopted the parents are saying, I really want this child and I want to make a difference by trying to raise it to be a good human being. You don't go through the effort if you don't really know what you're getting into, but billions of people get knocked up without a second thought, or simply to have someone to love THEM not someone to love.

Well I've talked to some of these people that'd rather have their own children than adopt children. The most prevalent thing I heard was "I want my own flesh and blood" or "I want a child that's a union of me and my lover" or "I couldn't love a child that's not my own". These people seem narcissistic to me as they seem to only value children bearing their characteristics.

There's also the cost and red tape of adopting--so much trouble to give a child a good home. If you're a homosexual, it's even worse to try and get a child.

I want to have my own kids. I want to experience pregnancy, I want people to tell me how much my child looks like me.
You don't get that with adopted kids.
Also, many children are orphaned, and this leaves them traumatized. For a first time parent, it's very difficult to deal with a child who has had these experiences.

Ah here's another mindset I've noticed when it comes to adoption:

"Someone else will do it!"

The greater part of society is selfish in so many ways when it comes to orphaned children. Not only do they want their own crotch-droppings (because they couldn't possibly love one that isn't their own), they always rely on those FEW willing adults out there to take care of the MASSIVE orphan population.

These attitudes make me wish that there wasn't any stigma attached to abortion and that abortion was legal in ALL cases... because I don't know what we're going to do with a rising orphan population versus a tiny adopting population.

@Cheya- I find it hard to blame everyone for following the biological imperative to reproduce. Instead of blaming the would-be parents for being selfish, shouldn't we be blaming the people who are having these kids and just dumping them into adoption systems to begin with?

I understand not everyone shares my view of abortion, but I find it rather morally wrong to have a child just to hope that someone else takes care of it.

I think there a lot of reasons few people adopt. I can think of a few right off the top of my head...

First, it's not an easy or inexpensive process. A lot of people know about adoption, but how many people actually know how to go about the process? How many people know where to go, who talk to, and how to apply for a child? Making one is a little easier to understand. xD

Second, the only children that are really suffering for lack of a long-term home are older and often have disabilities or emotional problems. A lot of people just don't want to deal with a child who already has developmental or emotional issues, and I wouldn't be surprised if most first-time parents are terrified of that.

I blame society as a whole actually, but it is possible to put a monkey wrench in the biological imperative to reproduce and adopt. It requires will power.

I'm split on this issue. It's a big topic to debate, there are so many factors to consider and so many points of view to see through. I myself will probably end up adopting an orphan [perhaps a Chinese girl or something].

However, like I said, there are so many things to look at. For one, many orphans are severely traumatized [as stated before] and taking care of them would be very difficult, especially once they realize that you're not their biological father/mother. The ridicule they would receive from being adopted would be something to look at as well. I, myself, was/am adopted to American parents and got the piss taken out of me a lot for it.

It wasn't really made clear if this thread was about America/Western Europe or the whole world, but many people in Sub-Saharan Africa and Central/South America couldn't adopt children if they wanted to, either because their country lacks the resources to do so or the dictatorship of said country prohibits it. Many people have lots of children in more disease and poverty stricken parts of the world because so many children and babies die young.

But on the opposite spectrum of the argument, many people adopt simply because they want to ease their conscience and at the same time have less/no children. Some certain people are also trying to compensate for the ridiculous number of births going on because people don't, or can't, wrap their willy.

So even though I'm going to adopt a child eventually, I can certainly understand why some parents don't want to.

[I know I missed something, but I can't put my finger on it.]

I do agree, and I might do that. There are so many kids from poorer countries who could be adopted. I want to help them.

But I still kind of want to have my own kid. At least one. Just for the experience.

It's the emotional side of it. If me and my boyfriend got married, and decided we wanted children, absolutely I'd consider adoption. But I'd also want at least one baby of my own flesh and blood.

It's an emotional thing. That baby belongs not only to you, but to the person you love and who you chose to spend your life with. (This obviously doesn't apply to cases of rape or abandonment.) It's the ultimate consumation of your love for another person. And besides that, it's natural instinct to want to pass your genes on to the next generation.

I think there are better ways of controlling overpopulation than telling people they should adopt rather than make their own. First of all, encourage both. And for those who simply don't want to adopt at all, encourage them not to have more than two. I mean, if they want to have more than two, it's their right, and sorry OP, but it's not your place or mine to tell them otherwise, but some people can be convinced.

One child will replace one of you and decrease the population. Two will replace both of you and keep i the same. Three will replace both of you and create another person besides, increasing the population.

I don't think world population is NEARLY as much of a problem as world poverty. At least in the united states and other developed countries, nearly everyone gets fed. The rate of death by starvation is exponentially greater in undeveloped countries than it is here, because they can't afford to buy food, their economies are in the crapper, or they can't grow their own food for whatever reason. Ending world poverty could end this, and then overpopulation wouldn't be as big a problem for humanity. The problem is figuring out how.

It would still leave many many young children in orphanages, but the only solution to that is to make people be more responsible with their reproductive organs. Teens who can't keep their babies, people who don't want kids at all, or people who aren't fit to raise their kids and get them taken away, these are the culprits. They need to be better educated (in terms of teens), better monitored (in the case of the irresponsible or incompetant), or simply castrated in extreme cases.

I suggest illiminating tax cuts after a certain amount of children. That would discourage overly huge families, especially from the scum that just keeps having babies to get money from the government.