Game of Words: View vs. Counter View 1.40

SINGLE PARENTS AND ADOPTION

VIEW:  RICHITA KUDLAMATH

Love, affection, care, understanding, discipline are all attributes that describe a parent, apart from the fact that they can ground you. Well… parents will be parents. The question here is should single parents be allowed to adopt. I think that they should be allowed to adopt. They all are very capable of giving love and showing love to children. I think a parent should just be of a mature age. They should have the willingness to show the kids the right way in life.

The concerns that stop us from making single’s a parent, is usually the fact that they won’t be able to give the fathers love or a mother’s love and maybe their single income won’t be able to suffice the needs of a child and the adult.  But that’s a completely wrong notion, an example of a single parent adopting a child, In India is one of Aditya who adopted Binny and named him Avnish.  

Avnish was a child who was affected by Down syndrome and had a hole in his heart and his vision was also affected because of this. In India, the legal age to adopt a child is 30 years and the person had to be married as well, but Aditya was only 27 and he was not married. He was in fact the youngest male to adopt a child in India. The story of Aditya and Avnish is such a soul touching heart wrenching story, it’s a pure story of love and determination. He’s an example of how money or other material things don’t determine the love and affection that single parents can give. Although he was just a middle-class software engineer, he still managed to pay for Avnish’s medical treatments,that is what a parent is, a person who goes beyond expectations and beyond ever circumstance to provide for their son or daughter. Also, now, because of this the new adoption guidelines were being discussed in Parliament to be implemented in the Juvenile Justice Act. Aditya wrote a letter to the honourable Speaker of Lok Sabha, Mrs. Sumitra Mahajan, requesting her to pass the Bill, which had a clause in which the age limit of the Prospective Adoptive Parent (PAP) was lowered to 25. The bill was passed in the Lok Sabha on 9th may, 2015, but was pending in the Rajya Sabha. It was eventually passed on the 1st of august. Apart from him, Sushmita Sen, who is an actor in the Bollywood industry is another example of a single parent.

These examples only show that single parents who adopt children run with the same enthusiasm and determination as the other parents. So why should they be judged for wanting to care for someone?

COUNTER VIEW: TRESA ALEX

   I believe that to adopt a child and take the responsibility of an individual who may or may not have gone through trauma, must have the love and support of parents, both the mother and father.  

     A single parent may or may not be able to give her/his all and this would affect the wellbeing of the child as an adopted child needs the extra bit of love and affection which may lack from a single parent. A single parent also needs to be emotionally stable and see to that the child does not feel left out.

     Every child needs a mother and father, as they pick up traits and characteristics from both which help with an overall development of personality and character. It’s also hard for a single parent to commit to a child as he/she may lack the emotional or physical support which one usually requires from their spouse in order to raise a child. It’s the little things that matter and if they lack in these, it can cause a huge problem in the outcome.   

    In conclusion, it is best for a couple to adopt rather than a single individual as this benefits both the parent, and the distressed child.