Before now, we knew that adoption was not common in Taiwan. Somewhere, I read once that Taiwan has the highest out-of-wedlock birth rate of any of the Asian countries. This week, someone on one of my Yahoo groups posted an expert from a newsletter. The author lived between the US and Taiwan for over 20 years. Here is a summary of what the article said.
A generation ago families still lived on the farm and had many children, many of whom did not survive to adulthood. As Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Singapore became more technology-based, couples waited longer to marry and had fewer children. The governments of these countries have become concerned with the decreasing growth rate and have instituted cash incentives for couples to have babies. The author believes this has decreased the number of babies available for adoption but that there are still many babies in need of Forever Families.
The author said, "Domestic adoption is taboo." She goes on to say that she has known couples in Taiwan who, after failing fertility treatments, would rather remain childless than adopt. She believes as Taiwan and other countries become more Westernized (and, as Ralph added, affluent), they will become more accepting of adoption.
The article leads me to believe if Taiwan did not have an international adoption program, there would be more children growing up in orphanages than there currently are. At some time, Taiwan and other Asian countries may be more open to adoption, but until that time, and fortunately for us, there are babies in Taiwan in need of a Forever Family.
1 comment:
That is very interesting. We are considering Taiwan again. Who knows where the world will take us.
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