MOST Singaporeans are open to adoption as an option to create a family, a study on attitudes towards adoption here – the first of its kind – has found.

This could spell a solution to Singapore’s falling fertility rate, which hit a record low of 1.23 last year – far below the replacement rate of 2.1, which is needed for the population to renew itself.

Of the 1,200 adults interviewed face-to-face for the study between March and April, 1,094 said that they would consider adoption as an alternative way of creating a family.

Most respondents said that they would adopt if they were unable to have a child, and if infertility treatment failed.
Out of all the respondents, 947 felt that adopting a child was the same as having one’s own child.

The study was done by Dr Jayashree Mohanty, an assistant professor at the National University of Singapore’s department of social work, and Dr Srinivasan Chokkanathan, a lecturer in gerontological management studies at Temasek Polytechnic.

Dr Mohanty, the study’s principal investigator, said that, given Singapore’s decreasing marriage and low fertility rates, adoption may play a crucial role in family formation in the future.

But the proportion of people here who are open to adoption is still lower than that in other countries with populations of similar social backgrounds, such as the United States and Canada, she said.

The study also showed that Singaporeans consider adoption to be the second-best solution behind having biological children, and hold negative attitudes towards parents who give their children up for adoption.

Almost half of the respondents felt that mothers who give up their children are irresponsible, uncaring and selfish.

So, more public awareness about adoption may need to be created to improve attitudes towards adoption, and also to dispel myths about it, Dr Mohanty said.
For example, almost two thirds of the respondents believed that adopted children should be told of their status only at the average age of 16.

Dr Mohanty said that this was surprising, as studies in other countries have shown that telling a child at the age of three or four years that he is adopted is beneficial to his development and psychological well-being.

“Disclosing to children at an earlier age (that they are adopted) enables the child to come to terms with his or her adoption status,” she said.

The findings of the study will be presented at the Joint World Conference on Social Work and Social Development in Hong Kong this month, and the International Conference on Adoption Research in the Netherlands next month.

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