(09-06-2021, 07:49 PM)Lucky2Last Wrote: Couple stats that might adjust your thinking:

• 59% of international adoptions are of children who have a non-Hispanic Asian decent.
  
• In the area of foster care, 35% of the adoptions are of non-Hispanic black children, just two percentage points behind Caucasian children.
  
• The majority of children who are adopted are non-white, but 73% of these children are adopted by parents who are white.
  
• Some 84% of international adoptions are interracial.
  
• Among all non-Caucasian children who are adopted, 73% of them are adopted into Caucasian families.
  

So, I can agree that a certain percentage of families are looking for white babies only, but that's not a majority, and race, by and large, doesn't seem to play a role. Generally speaking, people who want to adopt don't make race a high priority. 

As it pertains to abortions, what I posted is not a myth. Here's a few more stats to consider:

• 1.14% are done to save the life or physical health of the mother.
  
• 1.28% to preserve the mental health of the mother.
  
• 0.39% in cases of rape or incest.
  
• 0.69% for fetal birth defects, or eugenics.
  

This makes a total of 3.5% for all of the "hard" cases when  you combine them. Even the research arm of Planned Parenthood only lists "hard" cases at 7%, so it's safe to say these numbers aren't far off. 96.5% of all abortions happen for social or economic reasons. Not for any other reason. I would much rather focus on eliminating those variables than eliminating the children.


The only other point I feel I should address is the daycare one. I don't really want free daycare. I want companies to be more flexible about allowing parents to take their children to work. I think it's bad to have our kids separated from us for so long. Making society more accepting of children is one of the ways we can combat the social pressures of having a child. It's more of an idea than any hard fact I'm making here.

---

Oh, the idea that there is a myth of utilitarianism is not as far off as you think. While I agree that it's not common, you definitely can find many examples of it in socialize medicine. I'm just saying we need to be humanitarians first. Having those as basic values that uphold our civilization is paramount. The sad part is that it's not commonly found in human history, so I don't think it's a stretch to think it could fade in the near future if not rigorously protected.

I'm not disputing those figures. Most actual adoptions are done by white families to non-white children. They are much easier to adopt, but in many cases the reason the list of potential adopters is so large, is because of their desire to have a baby that looks as much like them as possible. In some cases I know, part of the reason was done to put off telling the child they were adopted until they were much older, (which I completely disagree with.) That just seems like a cruel thing to spring on a child in their teenage years when they have so many other things to deal with. My cousin (the same one that I used as an example for daycare) was a foster parent. Her first foster was a baby who was half white/half Mexican. He was born to a drug addicted mother and an MS-13 gang member. He was taken away, because at less than 2 weeks old, he was beaten severely by the father and his orbital bone was broken. Luckily, he suffered no long lasting effects. Physically, he could pass as my cousin and her husband's birth child. He is now 8 years old and my cousin ended up finalizing his adoption right before Covid got really bad. He's a great kid. She went on to then foster a severely disabled black baby who was addicted to crack and born to a crack addicted prostitute. By this time, my cousin had 3 young boys under the age of 6. The system ended up sending this child to her maternal grandmother who didn't know her butt from a hole in the ground. I shudder to think what that child's life ended up being. Finally, the last foster she did was a white brother and sister who were both toddlers with severe mental disabilities that caused violent outburst. They were born to heroin addicted parents who played video games all day and were taken out of filthy, neglectful conditions. Luckily, they were eventually taken in by their paternal aunt, who although she didn't have much in the line of money, was a very nice lady who genuinely wanted the children. After that, my cousin had to say she could take no more children. With the Covid epidemic, having 3 young children of her own and her husband's work situation, she just couldn't do it anymore. Sadly, these are the faces of today's children in foster care. The drug epidemic, especially heroin, has created a influx of kids into the system with a myriad of different mental and physical issues that potential adopters don't want to deal with. 

Good luck getting companies to pay for daycare and as far as bringing kids to work, no way. Nothing would ever get done. In one of my former jobs, they allowed a "bring your kid to work day" once a year and it was basically play time. Nothing got done. The kids were bored and constantly pestering the other workers too. It was a disaster. It's a nice notion in theory, but in practicality, it's a terrible idea. Being accepting of children and trying to accomplish a task when they are constantly around is two completely different ideas. 

I agree that people should be humanitarians. But Americans have become very selfish, thanks to the freedoms we take for granted and take advantage of. The idea of putting others before yourself, has largely become a thing of the past. It's every man and woman for themselves now in most cases. I know many people view Capitalism as strictly working hard to get ahead and make a nice life for yourself, but it involves a certain level of selfishness and greed as well. They don't accept that some people are in bad situations beyond their control and just expect all people to pick themselves up by their own "boot straps", yet some people have no boot straps to hang onto. Too many people today lack empathy. I'm not saying this as knock against Capitalism, just pointing out a fact.

---