Why Celebrities Should Consider Alternatives to Adoption

As moving as some recent celebrity adoptions have been, there are reasons why celebrities should consider alternatives to adoptions. For sure, a good deed, including the selfless deed of adopting a child and taking him or her into a much more advanced society, is always a good deed. There is no reason to fault a celebrity who chooses to make a difference by this kind of one on one approach. What is possible, however, is to suggest to those who have the kind of wealth or stature that allows them to access and complete one or more foreign adoptions to also consider briefly other options that are out there.

In some instances, such as post earthquake Haiti, children are offered for adoption not because their parents and all known relatives are deceased but because the parents have lost their livelihood and feel their child may have a better life somewhere else. Enter the celebrity. Is this perhaps a juncture where instead of simply stepping in and selecting such a child, one might consider other options. Consider how much money will go in to raising that one child. Then give equal consideration to how one might devote the same amount over time to supporting the family and allowing the family to stay together.

Another alternative to review rather than simply taking one child out of a horrible situation is to do a little research into the location where the child is living . Perhaps it is possible to allow that child to remain in his or her own country and grow up well fed and clothed by making ongoing donations to grassroots organizations that can effect the child's well being. There are plenty of opportunities to step up and support people who are working in small home industries. This kind of support can make a real difference in the lives of families and communities. Micro investing can be a real answer to one person's desire to give and another person's desire to become a modern day entrepreneur

Kiva is an example of this kind of person to person connection. It is an on line nexus for those wishing to invest and those seeking financial support. You don't need to be a celebrity to participate in Kiva. People can invest as little as $25 to help someone in a third world setting get started in their own home industry. But one can help but imagine how many such small scale industries could get off the ground through the help of celebrities with deep pockets. Enriching a community through new industries and increased incomes means improving the overall economy and lifestyle for all the children living in that community.

Another avenue to lifting up entire communities is to make a sizable and sustainable contribution to the building of local schools. You don't have to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to build a small local school because you are building in a place where materials are far less expensive than in the U. s. All you really have to do is evaluate the amount of difference you can really make in a third world community by giving them a school and the books and equipment that are needed to sustain it and determine not if but how many schools you might support.

Certainly these choices that celebrities can begin to consider as alternatives to adoption have drawbacks. People who adopt do get some immediate and usually lasting emotional payback. They have a chance to watch their adopted child grow and benefit from living in a rich country and comfortable home every single day. Donating to causes at a distance can't provide that kind of daily reward or as personal a connection.

But putting that aside, there is much to be said for the scale of what celebrities, who do a wonderful thing by adopting one child, might accomplish if they looked at ways to assist families, villages and schools to raise their standard of living and their hopes for a brighter future.

Source:

www.microplace.com

www.kiva.com