1. Adoption
Jess Heetland
I. Introduction
A. Attention Getter: According to the United States Government’s Fiscal Year
2014 Annual Report, there were 249,694 adoptions between the years of
1999 and 2014. That may seem like a large number of adoptions, but
there are still 463,000 children living in foster care.
B. Introduce Topic: Adoption is extremely important for the lives of children
and I’m here to convince you to adopt a child if the opportunity ever arises
for you.
C. Significance: I bet that most of you know someone who was adopted, and
you can vouch for the fact that they have been given better opportunities
because of their adoption situation.
D. Preview of Main Points: Adoption gives children more opportunities, allows
them to feel more safe and protected, and enables people that are unable
to conceive children to build a family.
Transition: Growing up with a family has given many children opportunities that
they would have never had if they were still living in foster care.
II. Body
A. Main Point #1: Children who grow up in institutions are not raised in a
healthy way, especially the younger children.
1. Subpoint #1: Children who live in a foster home do not live
comfortably because they never know how long they will be living
there. The children do not know whether they should start to adapt
to the institution they are currently living in, or if they should try to
be positive about when they will be adopted.
a. Supporting Evidence: The children do not know when they
are going to be adopted, and “on average, children wait to be
adopted for four years,” according to Argys and Duncan’s research
on Economic Incentives and Foster Child Adoption in 2013.
2. Subpoint #2: Growing up in a foster home can have many
psychological effects on the children.
a. Supporting Evidence: According to page 6 of Laura
Goran’s 2013 research, “young children in institutional care have
reduced intellectual, social, and behavioral abilities compared with
those growing up in a family home.”
b. Supporting Evidence: Placing young children in
institutional care puts them at risk for attachment disorder and
developmental delays in their behavior. Institutional care is
particularly damaging for development, especially in the first few
years of life.

2. Internal Summary/Transition: Children raised in foster homes can feel less safe
because of where they are living.
B. Main Point #2: According to Whitney Reitz’s speech that was delivered
at the Pepperdine Law School International Adoption Conference in Malibu,
California in 2013, “institutions cannot love like parents can.”
1. Subpoint #1: Institutions do a great job of providing the basic
needs of children.
a. Supporting Evidence: Institutions can provide children with
food, clothes, water, and shelter, but they cannot give them the love
they need to feel supported and content with their lives.
b. Supporting Evidence: In her speech, Whitney Reitz states,
“an institution won’t agonize over when to step in and when to give
a child a little bit more hope, nurturing, or encouragement.” This
shows that the institutions cannot love like parents can.
2. Subpoint #2: Parents care about the children even before they
are legally their children, and that shows that they can love more than
institutions do.
a. Supporting Evidence: Before a child is adopted, there is a
long process that the potential parents have to go through. Their
living environment has to be inspected, their relationship is
questioned, and they are interviewed to make sure they are
qualified to adopt a child.
b. Supporting Evidence: Even after going through all that
work, the potential parents are still excited to meet their child and
they are constantly preparing for their child to arrive at their new
home.
Internal Summary/Transition: Couples who can’t have children love and
appreciate the opportunity to have a family because of adoption.
C. Main Point #3: Couples who are not able to conceive children on their
own can use adoption to build a family.
1. Subpoint #1: Couples with medical complications that prevent
them from having children can build a family because of
adoption.
a. Supporting Evidence: According to Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, about 6% of married women ages 15-
44 are infertile. About 12% of women ages 15-44 have difficulty
getting pregnant or carrying a pregnancy term, regardless of
marital status.
b. Supporting Evidence: In a study done in 2002 by the
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 7.5% of all sexually
experienced men younger than age 45 reported seeing a fertility
doctor in their lifetime. Of the men who sought help, 18% were
diagnosed with a male-related infertility problem.

3. 2. Subpoint #2: Same-sex couples are enabled to have children
through adoption, even though there is a lot of controversy that
stands with this subject.
a. Supporting Evidence: Homosexual couples have just as
many qualifications to adopt a child as heterosexual couples
do.
b. Supporting Evidence: An article by the Child Welfare
League of America states, “A 1995 National Health and
Social Life Survey by E.O. Lauman found that up to 9 million
children in America have gay or lesbian parents.” This
amazes me. Out of those 9 million, 65,500 of those children
were adopted. That does not seem like a lot compared to 9
million, but it is 65,500 children who now have a home
because of those couples.
Brakelight: So, to wrap up my point, adoption is beneficial to parents as well as
children.
III. Conclusion
A. Summarize Main Points/Review: Children never know when they are
going to be adopted; so making them stay in institutions for years is unfair.
They should be able to know that they can count on someone to give them
a home. Children also need to have the love and encouragement that
comes with having that loving family and home.
B. Reemphasize central idea: Adoption allows couples who are unable to
have children build a family, gives children opportunities, and allows them
to feel more safe and protected at home.
C. Motivate Audience to Respond: I know you are all not going to go out
and adopt a child because of everything I just told you, but if you ever
get the opportunity, do not let it pass.
D. Closure/Clincher: Adoption is one of the most beneficial contributions a
person could make to society because you are giving a child a home
instead of forcing them to live in an institution for the rest of their lives.

4. References
Adoption options. [electronic resource]. (2010). Washington, DC : U.S. Dept. of
Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families,
Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children's Bureau, [2010].
Adoption: The Best Form of Protection. (2013). Vital Speeches of the Day,
79(5), 148-151.
Child adoption : trends and policies. (2009). New York : United Nations, 2009.
Argys, L., & Duncan, B. (2013). Economic Incentives and Foster Child Adoption.
Demography, 50(3), 933-954. doi:10.1007/s13524-012-0166-0
Brooks, D., & Goldberg, S. (2001). Gay and Lesbian Adoptive and Foster Care
Placements: Can They Meet the Needs of Waiting Children?. Social Work,
46(2), 147-157.
GORAN, L. (2013). THE DAMAGING PSYCHOLOGICAL CONSEQUENCES
FOR CHILDREN RAISED IN INSTITUTIONAL CARE. Annals Of Spiru
Haret University, Journalism Studies, 14(2), 5-10.
Brumble, K., & Kampfe, C. M. (2011). The history of adoption in the United
States: A focus on the unique group of intercountry transracial special
needs children. Counselling Psychology Quarterly, 24(2), 157-162.
doi:10.1080/09515070.2011.586413
Craft, C. (n.d.). How Many Children Have Gay Parents in the US? Retrieved from
http://adoption.about.com/od/gaylesbian/f/gayparents.htm