User:Nsjohnson28/sandbox

Child Abandonment: EDIT PROPOSAL: I have a proposal for a new subsection of the article that I think would add value to the page. The subsection would discuss the policy aspect of child abandonment. First, it would delve into the various aspects of child abandonment laws in the U.S., such as what technically constitutes child abandonment and how the law varies state to state and globally. Next, the subsection would include how certain domestic and international policies affect rates of child abandonment nationwide. For example, how China's One Child Policy affected rates of child abandonment in China over the past few decades. Another example is how American involvement in the Vietnam War resulted in the abandonment of thousands of Vietnamese-American babies by Vietnamese mothers that were unable to care for children in the war-torn country. Lastly, in Romania, Nicolae Ceausescu's Decree 770, limiting rights to contraception and abortion in the late 1960s for the sake of developing a robust Romanian population, resulted in tens of thousands of babies being abandoned in maternity wards across the country.

Sources: Nsjohnson28 (talk) 21:04, 11 February 2018 (UTC)

FIRST DRAFT OF CHILD ABANDONMENT EDITS:

Lede

Child abandonment is the practice of relinquishing interests and claims over one's offspring in an extralegal way with the intent of never again resuming or reasserting guardianship over them. Typically the phrase is used to describe the physical abandoning of a child, but it can also include severe cases of neglect and emotional abandonment, such as in the case of a parent who fails to offer financial and emotional support for their child over a long period of time. An abandoned child is referred to as a foundling (as opposed to a runaway or an orphan). Baby dumping refers to parents leaving a child younger than 12 months in a public or private place with the intent of terminating their care for the child. It is also known as rehoming, in cases where parents use illegal means, such as the internet, to find a new home for their child. In most cases, child abandonment is classified under a subsection of child abuse statutes and is punishable with a felony. Following felonious charges, one or both guardians give up their parental rights over the child thus severing their relationship with the child. Some states allow for a reinstatement of parental rights, in which case the parent or parents can have a relationship with the child again. However, it is unlikely that the parents can ever regain custody. The perpetrator can additionally be charged with reckless abandonment if the victim dies as a result of their actions or neglect.

Subsection: History

Historically, many cultures practiced abandonment of infants, often called "infant exposure." Although such children would survive if taken up by others, exposure is often considered a form of infanticide—as described by Tertullian in his Apology: "it is certainly the more cruel way to kill... by exposure to cold and hunger and dogs."

In Ancient Greece and Rome, when a family had excess children they often handed them off to a family that needed more children either as slaves or sometimes family members. Roman societies in particular chose slaves to raise children rather than family members, who were often indifferent towards their children.

Medieval laws in Europe governing child abandonment, as for example the Visigothic Code, often prescribed that the person who had taken up the child was entitled to the child's service as a slave.

Conscripting or enslaving children into armies and labor pools often occurred as a consequence of war or pestilence when many children were left parentless. Abandoned children then became the ward of the state, military organization, or religious group. When this practice happened en masse, it had the advantage of ensuring the strength and continuity of cultural and religious practices in medieval society.

19th Century Europe saw the rise of foundling homes and increased abandonment of children to these homes. These numbers continued to rise and peaked when 5% of all births resulted in abandonment in France around 1830. (cite) The national reaction to this was to limit the resources provided by foundling homes and switch to foster homes instead such that fewer children would die within overcrowded foundling homes during infancy. (cite) As access to contraception increased and economic conditions improved in Europe towards the end of the 19th century the numbers of children being abandoned declined.

The largest migration of abandoned children in history took place in the United States between 1854 and 1929. Over two hundred thousand orphans (not all of whom were intentionally abandoned) were forced onto railroad cars and shipped west, where any family desiring their services as laborers, maids, and servants used and abused them. Orphan trains were highly popular as a source of free labor. The sheer size of the displacement and degree of exploitation that occurred gave rise to new agencies and a series of laws that promoted adoption rather than indenture. Eventually, adoption became a quintessential American institution, embodying faith in social engineering and mobility. By 1945, adoption was formulated as a legal act with consideration of the child’s best interests. The origin of the move toward secrecy and the sealing of all adoption and birth records began when Charles Loring Brace introduced the concept to prevent children from the orphan trains from returning to or being reclaimed by their parents. Brace feared the impact of the parents’ poverty and their Catholic religion, in particular, on the youth.

Subsection: Causes
 * Poverty and homelessness are often root cause of child abandonment. People living in countries with poor social welfare systems and who are not financially capable of taking care of a child are more likely to abandon their children because of a lack of resources.  In some cases the parents already have a child or children, but are unable to take care of another child at that time.


 * In societies where women are looked down upon for being teenage and/or single mothers, child abandonment is more common.
 * Children born out of the confines of marriage may be abandoned in a family's attempt to prevent being shamed by their community.


 * Physical disability, mental illness, and substance abuse problems that parents are facing can also cause them to abandon their children.


 * Children who are born with congenital disorders or other health complications may be abandoned if their parents feel unequipped to provide them with the level of care that their condition requires.


 * In cultures where the sex of the child is of utmost importance, parents are more likely to abandon a baby of the undesired sex. Similarly, people may choose to pursue the, often controversial, option of sex-selective abortion.

Disownment of a child is a form of abandonment which entails ending contact with, and support for, one's dependent. Disownment tends to occur later in a child's life, generally due to a conflict between the parent(s) and the child, but can also occur when children are still young. Reasons include: divorce of parents, discovering the true paternity of a child, and a child's actions bringing shame to a family; most commonly, breaking the law, teenage pregnancy, major ideological differences, and identifying as LGBTQ+.
 * Political conditions, such as war and displacement of a family, are also cause for parents to abandon their children.
 * Additionally, a parent being incarcerated or deported can result in the involuntary abandonment of a child, even if the parent(s) did not voluntarily relinquish their parental role.

Subsection: International Policy and its Effects on Abandonment Rates

China’s One Child Policy: In 1979 China introduced its one-child policy which set up penalties for families that chose to have more than one child. Women were compelled to undergo a surgical implantation of an IUD following the birth of their first child and tubal ligation if they were to have another child. Families that disobeyed the law were levied a fine and lost their right to many government services, including access to health and educational services. Nevertheless, transgressions of the law most certainly occurred. Consequently, over the course of over three decades, hundreds of thousands of children, the majority of which were girls, were abandoned and required caretaking. Non-governmental organizations stepped in to assist with the re-housing of these girls, leading to the international adoption of over 120,000 Chinese children. Today, China's fertility rate has not quite returned to the rate of replacement. In fact, in the years since the relinquishing of the policy, China's fertility rate has only risen .04 per family.

Vietnam War: During and following the Vietnam War, initiated by aggressive American foreign policy under the Kennedy and Johnson administrations due to a fear of the spread of communism into southeastern Asia, it is estimated that roughly 50,000 babies were born of American fathers and Vietnamese mothers. A large contingent of these children were either unwanted to the circumstances of their conception or unable to be cared for due to the lack of available resources and assistance in the war-torn country. Locally, these children were known as "children of the dust." Non-governmental organizations attempted to alleviate the problem by setting up international adoptions and other rehoming methods but were largely ineffective. To this day, attempts are being made to link American veterans to children that they may have fathered during their time in Vietnam.

Romania under Nicolae Ceaușescu: During the rule of Communist politician Nicolae Ceaușescu, Romania underwent drastic changes to its populace. Ceaușescu, in an attempt to form a robust and young population, outlawed methods of contraception and encouraged the creation of large families with many children. Much like during the Fascist period of Italian history, incentives and cultural praise were offered to parents who produced many children. Ceaușescu established Decree 770 which outlawed abortion and contraception for all women, except those who were over 40, had already borne 4-5 children, had life-threatening complications during pregnancy, or who became pregnant through rape or incest. In the following years, Romania’s birth rate nearly doubled. However, due to a lack of resources necessary to care for the abundance of children, thousands were abandoned or left to die. Other women resorted to unsafe forms of abortion carried out by people without medical training. The problem persisted until the coup that overthrew Ceaușescu in 1989. Following the coup, Romania's birthrate steadily declined for the following decades. Today, the birth rate has dropped to 1.52 births per woman, under the rate of replacement, meaning that the population is shrinking.

Effects on Survivors Societal Cost
 * Possibility of experiencing abuse and neglect in institutionalized care
 * Low self-esteem stemming from feelings of guilt about being at fault for being abandoned
 * Separation anxiety: feelings of anxiety about being separated from parents or caregivers
 * Attachment issues: difficulty becoming emotionally attached to and trusting other people, especially caregivers
 * Abandonment issues, characteristic of Abandoned Child Syndrome, including:
 * social alienation, guilt, anxiety, clinginess, insomnia and/or nightmares, eating disorders, anger issues, depression, substance abuse, and traumatic reenactment through romantic relationships
 * Symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), referred to as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder of Abandonment
 * Depending upon the severity of their symptoms, children who have developed certain maladjusted tendencies in social interaction may be diagnosed with Reactive Attachment Disorder or Disinhibited Social Engagement Disorder
 * In 2015, it cost the United States' government over $9 billion to support 427,910 children who were in foster care.

Prevention
 * Providing access to sex education and to family planning resources, like contraception, and abortion can help prevent people who cannot take care of, or do not want want to raise, children from becoming pregnant in the first place.
 * Evidence has shown that, when bans on abortion are lifted, the number of abandoned, abused, and neglected children decreases in response. However, access is an issue. In the United States, 87% of all counties, and 97% of all rural counties, do not have any access to abortion services.
 * Governmental assistance can be provided in the form of parental counseling, post-natal services, mental health services, and other community support services for parents who are at a higher risk of abandoning their children because of age, support, physical ability, mental illness, and/or poverty.