I received this comment via email: "David: Thanks for this most interesting message. I don't know if you saw the NYT's Opinion page last Wednesday but there were three letters right on point. Adoption came up with a figure - 400,000 children in foster homes in the U.S. waiting to be adopted." John
An honest question... How did people feel about having kids during the Cold War? As a young kid in the 80s I remember how much adults around me were talking about nuclear annihilation. And that was after a lot of detente between the US and USSR. Did people in the 60s and 70s hesitate to have children because of those worries? Could it be that if there is global progress towards addressing climate change, even if it's not enough, that it might make couples more comfortable about having children?
Good question, Eamon. The New Republic, a Progressive Magazine, reports that "There is no evidence that Cold War anxieties around nuclear war shaped Americans’ family planning," but points out that "although the idea of nuclear war was undeniably scary, it was only a possibility. Climate disaster, on the other hand, is a current reality with a grim trajectory."
Our foster care system cries out for families to help with fostering children who are in need of stable, loving foster parents. This may not lead to adoption, but it is a way of caring for children.
Coincidentally, after I pressed the Publish button on this story, I was listening to a radio interview about abortion. One intervieweee pointed out that adoption should not be called a WIn-Win. In most cases the parent or parents giving up the child consider it a loss! Forced upon them by circumstances, personalities, finances, and other negative factors - perhaps even pressures from climate change.
Rather than simply editing out my 'win-win' wording, I thought I'd acknowledge and emphasize my mistaken choice of words - and thinking.
I received this comment via email: "David: Thanks for this most interesting message. I don't know if you saw the NYT's Opinion page last Wednesday but there were three letters right on point. Adoption came up with a figure - 400,000 children in foster homes in the U.S. waiting to be adopted." John
An honest question... How did people feel about having kids during the Cold War? As a young kid in the 80s I remember how much adults around me were talking about nuclear annihilation. And that was after a lot of detente between the US and USSR. Did people in the 60s and 70s hesitate to have children because of those worries? Could it be that if there is global progress towards addressing climate change, even if it's not enough, that it might make couples more comfortable about having children?
Good question, Eamon. The New Republic, a Progressive Magazine, reports that "There is no evidence that Cold War anxieties around nuclear war shaped Americans’ family planning," but points out that "although the idea of nuclear war was undeniably scary, it was only a possibility. Climate disaster, on the other hand, is a current reality with a grim trajectory."
Our foster care system cries out for families to help with fostering children who are in need of stable, loving foster parents. This may not lead to adoption, but it is a way of caring for children.
Coincidentally, after I pressed the Publish button on this story, I was listening to a radio interview about abortion. One intervieweee pointed out that adoption should not be called a WIn-Win. In most cases the parent or parents giving up the child consider it a loss! Forced upon them by circumstances, personalities, finances, and other negative factors - perhaps even pressures from climate change.
Rather than simply editing out my 'win-win' wording, I thought I'd acknowledge and emphasize my mistaken choice of words - and thinking.