Hello, my name is Hannah Brinson. I am a high school junior and dual-enrollment student. The topic I am going to be discussing today is Oppression in our society. My group chose the powerlessness of children as our umbrella topic. I am mainly focusing on the lack of power adopted children have. This is way more common in today's society than many people think. In my podcast, I will be discussing different ways adopted kids have lack of power and feel powerless. When adopted kids feel they aren't being heard or cared for this often makes their lives feel miserable and like they have no purpose to be here. While doing my research I found many examples of kids feeling powerless , the majority of the kids being adopted, and found many ways they face oppression, and lack of speech each and every day. Most of my sources come from scholarly sites such as Galileo, and many other resourceful sources.. I will also discuss ways this topic could be resolved or fixed. There are many ways this situation could be resolved, a few are letting those kids be heard, make them feel like they have a purpose, and showing them you care. My podcast will go in depth of how powerless adopted kids can really feel.
Finding out if you are one of the many adults that have come across hearing or seeing a child feeling powerless is hard to see. In the article " 3 Common Adoptive Child Problems" by Nancy Rosenhaus, her main focus was to provide research to show that many kids have to deal with anxiety, depression, and a distrust in trying to find new families, and how they can fit in, knowing they are not biologically that families child.
In another article by Anna Gupta, and Brid Featherstone called "On Hope, Loss, Anger, and the Spaces in between: Reflections on Living with/in Adoption and the Role of the Social Worker." In this article, the authors talk about adoption itself. They go on to say that adoption rated have increased since 2010. In the research showing, it is stating that many kids are just being thrown into families with no say in it at all. In the article, many social workers have to be in these kids lives, more than " caring families" do. Social workers are there for helping the kids find the right home for them, and putting everything together for them.
If you have seen the grief of a child being put up for adoption, or want to know about how adoption works, the article by Justin Healey, called " Adoption Issues." Healey goes on to talk about the difficulties many children go through when being thrown into an adoption center. Being put up for adoption changes a child's life in many ways, some good, and bad, and that is why Justin wrote an article for many to get an understanding on how these children feel useless, and hurt.
In the journal by by Gary Diamond, and Eva Arbel, called " Adoption: The search for a new parenthood." In this book the authors wrote to give an understanding on the struggle that many of the families deal when adopting. The adoptive child feels useless, and alone; not knowing the new parents. Many parents struggle with getting close with their child as well. It really takes a toll on both the families, the adoptive child, and even the biological child as well.
Many articles I read did not explain how children feel oppressed, but explained how children did feel unwanted by many people. Children can feel depressed and sad by being put up for adoption, but their live could also change by being adopted. While my group was all focused on different ways children face oppression, I had adoption. Child abuse is the main way children face oppression, proven by many studies and articles. My goal of this project was to educate everyone on how serious the topic of oppression in our society really is. Thank you for listening.