Currently, it is astronomically expensive to adopt a child. On top of that, there are a lot of rules that protect the birth parent more than the adopting parents, such as being able to change their mind AFTER the adopting parents have ALREADY paid THOUSANDS of dollars in lawyer fees. That is not only discouraging people from adopting these children, but also punishing those who are trying to do so.
The birth parents are often THROWING these children away. It should be, once the birth parent sign that paper, there’s no going back.
There are consequences for every action, this should be one of them. They shouldn’t be able to be flippant about making this decision.
There are so many children in foster care, being bounced around from house to house. Not having parents, and growing up in the system. Make it easier, so that people can adopt these children at a younger age, so that they do not leave the system damaged, as they do now.
Children often go straight from the foster system into the prison system, because they are so damaged, they often do not have the skills to cope and so get into trouble.
Perhaps make it so that there is a standard form for adopting, so that there is little to no lawyer fees for the adopting parents.