Unmarried Adoption

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Does the Church formally ban those who are unmarried from adopting children? Please include your sources in your answer if you believe it is banned. Thank you!
 
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1 Timothy 5:10: and having a reputation for good works: if she has brought up children, has shown hospitality, has washed the feet of the saints, has cared for the afflicted, and has devoted herself to every good work. (speaking of widows)

That’s the only source I can think of. Certainly I have never heard of the church banning the unmarried from adoption. I was preparing to adopt as a single parent when I met my husband, and never heard anything of the kind.

There is no logical reason why a single person could not adopt. It would be better than leaving a child in the foster care system. While there are many good foster parents, the system isn’t good, kids get moved too often, and there are some bad apples. (I knew a foster mother who spent exactly $1 on each of her foster kids for Christmas, since “that’s what the state gave her for the holiday.”)

A single person might consider adopting an older child, meaning one over toddlerhood, since they stand less chance of being adopted. There are even teenagers about to age out of the system who would love their own family.
 
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Why do you want an explicit ban?

Adoption is meant to “give” a orphan/abandon child news parents and a new family.
A single person is not a family.

The Church has always support this system, and in many places where catholic institutions work on adoption, they give the custudy of children to families where there is a mother and a father only.

Adoption to to support children, not to give adults a child.
There is enough people who wish to adopt and fewer and fewer children.

Note: Not in every country, foster children are available to be adopted… because they already have a family.
 
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It is impossible to prove a negative.

Caring for orphans (back then there were no social services, no “foster care” so only an orphan child would be abandoned) is a command, not a suggestion.
 
There is enough people who wish to adopt and fewer and fewer children.
Perhaps in your country. In the US there are far, far more children needing homes than people willing to adopt.

There are 107,918 foster children eligible for and waiting to be adopted. In 2014, 50,644 foster kids were adopted — a number that has stayed roughly consistent for the past five years. The average age of a waiting child is 7.7 years old and 29% of them will spend at least three years in foster care.

 
it would be interesting to have the numbers of people seeking to adopt too. Perhaps he is very high, but people wishes children that are not available; toddlers etc?
 
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Adoption is meant to “give” a orphan/abandon child new parents and a new family.
A single person is not a family.
😱 I beg your pardon, but as a single mom, I can assure you that my son and I most definitely ARE a family! Even a single person can have extended family – parents, siblings, cousins, nieces and nephews. It’s utter nonsense to say that I as a single person cannot create a family for my son.

As a public school teacher I have seen the suffering of children in foster care. If they are taken from their families, then they have experienced horrible trauma. I can assure you that these children just want to be loved by someone that calls them family forever and can provide a stable and loving home. This can be provided by those who are married and those who are single, with or without extended family.

And in this country, the number of people lining up to adopt older children (school age) is tiny in comparison with the number of children needing homes.

Just my two cents.
 
I don’t understand why you take your exemple against my argument.
It stays valid; a single person is not a family. You are only on a family because of your son.

Are you saying that to create a nuclear family with only one parent on purpose is as good as with a father and a mother?
Why does adopted children deserve less than others children?

If the children are taken from their family by the State, they have a family, and chances that the parents willing to abandon their children are small. So a lot of them may not been available to be adopted.
 
is as good as with a father and a mother?
Maybe we have a breakdown in communication? Is English your first language? I don’t think you mean this the way it is read by native English speakers.

Charity does not compare if one family is “as good as” another.
So a lot of them may not been available to be adopted
These children still deserve loving foster homes. A loving foster home with a single parent is much “better than” languishing in an institution or bouncing between bad foster homes.
 
Does the Church formally ban those who are unmarried from adopting children? Please include your sources in your answer if you believe it is banned. Thank you!
No.

I know someone who worked for a Catholic Charities adoption/foster care agency. They could not/would not place children with same sex couples or cohabitating couples. But they would place children with single people on occasion.
 
You seem to be a kind person, I was certain that it was a language nuance difference. 💙
 
Adoption is meant to “give” a orphan/abandon child news parents and a new family.
In the US, there are quite a few children who are legally adopted by another member of their own family, such as a grandparent, an aunt or an uncle, because their parents have died or otherwise cannot care for them. In some cases where the parent is still alive, the state will prefer to do “legal guardianship” which is not quite the same as adoption as the parent retains some parental status, but the family member gets all the rights they need to care for the child, so it’s similar to adoption.

It’s not a case of finding them a new family or new parents, it’s a case of allowing them to stay with family members they know who can care for them and in many cases have already been caring for them for years, and giving those responsible caregivers the legal rights they need to care properly for the child.
 
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in France, as in the US intra familial adoption is favored versus adoption from strangers, when it is possible.
I support too this solution when it is possible, and the parents agree, if possible. and it’s far more better if the children are already “old” and with siblings. I am far mor reserved when a mother had already legally abandon her newborn anomymously and the grandparents, ask the custody of him in opposition to the wishes of his mother.

There are children who are hard to adopt . The diversity of families who are to adopt do not change the fact.

Where the two countries differ is the importance of biological link versus adoption. One exemple: both parents are convicted of 30 years of prison for the murder of one of their children. They have 5 children, including one on the way. They will never be free for their underage children. So, the children will be placed in two foster families (because of their large numbers), but will never be adopted because their parents would never abandon them.
I will be for something in between: respecting the parents’s vows, but offer a more stable upbringing for the children in needs.
 
In the US, the courts can sever the parental rights.

Thank God, there are families who will adopt sibling groups and keep them together (as the US courts prefer). There need to be more families who open their hearts to kids in the foster system 🙂
 
with a country as big as the USA, it may be easier to find families are are ready To adopt a large number of siblings (more than 3)?
 
It’s up to you to prove it does. I can’t prove a non-teaching since… it doesn’t exist.
Maybe I’m misreading the OP, but I don’t see where she is trying to prove anything. Looks to me like she’s simply asking a question…and asking for a source IF someone claimed that such a ban existed.
 
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