What Can Adopted Children Grow Up to Be? [Endless Opportunities]
Many people wonder what the lasting effects of adoption are on adoptees and what adopted children grow up to be.
The short answer is anything they want to be.
In fact, many studies show that adoptees may have certain advantages over non-adopted children. Adopted children are rarely limited by the fact that they were adopted.
Birth parents place their child for adoption in the first place because they want to give their child a chance to have a life full of opportunity.
Many adoptees grow up with adoptive parents who can give them all the resources and skills they need to get to where they want to be in life. Adoptees are anything but limited by their status as an adopted child.
How Adoption Effects What Adopted Children Grow Up to Be
Both the birth parents and the adoptive family play a role in what adopted children grow up to be.
Simply by choosing to place their baby for adoption, the birth parent is giving their child a chance to have a life full of opportunity. When choosing the adoptive parents they want to raise their child, they are able to choose a family with certain traditions, hobbies or activities they want their child to experience.
For example, if a birth parent wants their child to experience the world, they may choose an adoptive family that travels frequently.
Adoptive families may have struggled to start a family biologically and know the pain of feeling like they might not be able to have a child.
That’s why when they are chosen by a birth parent, they are fully committed to giving their child all the love, care and resources they need to be happy and successful.
The Wellbeing of Adoptees
Excellent Health
Many adopted children grow up to be mentally and physically healthy. The study showed that 85% of adoptees are in “excellent or very good” health.
This could be largely in part due to the fact that 91% of adoptees have access to continuous health insurance compared to that of 85% of non-adopted children.
Emotional Well-Being
Just as adopted children grow up to be in excellent physical health, many of them also fair well with their mental health. Studies show that a small percentage of adoptees are ever diagnosed with mental illnesses or social disorders such as anxiety, depression, attachment disorder, ADD/ADHD and more.
Not only is mental illness less prevalent, but positive social behaviors are increasingly common among 88% of adoptees over the age of six.
Positive Family Experiences
It’s largely because of the positive experiences with their adoptive parents that adopted children grow up to be happy and successful.
About 85% of adoptees are more likely to participate in after-school extracurriculars. By extension, children involved in extracurriculars grow up to be more well-rounded adults.
Of the adopted families surveyed, 87% of adoptees have parents who would still choose to adopt their child if given the option to do it over again. In fact, nine out of 10 adopted children grow up to be “positive or mostly positive” towards their adoption experience.
American Adoptions Founder, Scott Mars, is an adoptee himself. His positive adoption experience inspired him to create the adoption agency that became American Adoptions.
“Every day I realize how important I am to my parents. The fact that I was adopted doesn’t matter. It is simply another way to become a parent. My parents have been asked by other couples considering adoption if they could go back in time would they choose to have a child of their own blood,” says Scott.
“The answer has always been a resounding ‘No!’. The love we share can be no greater than that experienced by biological children and their parents. After adoption, every adoptive family comes to learn this fact. Those who have the luxury of seeing my parents and I interact can see the bond between us.”
The Love of Two Families
Because of open adoption, many adopted children grow up to be loved by two families. The birth parents who chose to give them a better life through adoption, and the adoptive family who raised and cared for them.
“My birth parents were young and weren’t ready to raise a baby. They didn’t stay in a relationship, but they both visited when they could — since before I can remember, they’ve just been there and their presence was a normal thing,” says Diana about her connection to her birth parents.
“My parents had struggled with infertility before adopting my brother and I, but were very much of the ‘any baby will be great, thanks,’ mentality, and were only onboard if maintaining a relationship with birth parents was an option. Everyone was just kinda, ‘Let’s do this — let's raise a baby together!’”
This contact allows for adoptees to form a relationship with their birth parents. This means the adoptee can ask questions and fully understand their adoption story.
The adoptee comes to respect their birth parents adoption choice and understand that it comes from a place of love.
There’s no limit to what adoptees can grow up to do. Many are shaped by the positive experience they have had with their adoption.
To get more insight into what adopted children grow up to be, look into these resources.
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