Bad Rap for Boys Looses them Adoptive Homes

The negative portrayals of boys in the media has a role in lessening the chances of getting adopted. Especially startling are the statistics from The British Association for Adoption and Fostering that at one of its "hard to place" agencies, boys accounted for 63 percent of the cases.

According to this story by the BBC, the BAAF is concerned that because of all the negative portrayals of boys in the media--violence, hyperactivity, behavioral and learning disorder rates, gangs...etc.--that some parents have been effectively put off from adopting them.

David Holmes, chief executive of BAAF, said: "We all need to remember that boys are children and young people first. The findings of this research concerns us as we are worried that some prospective adopters might be put off adopting boys because of negative perceptions.

"In reality there is little evidence to show that boys really are more difficult. We would urge people to remember that boys need adopting too."

Here are a few statistics out of the UK:

Of two national services run by the BAAF that attempt to find homes for hard-to-place children, in 2005 to 2006, one had 63% referrals who were boys and 37% who were girls; and the other had 56% referrals who were boys compared to 44% girls.

In polls, the majority of people agree that more often boys get negatively portrayed. This is unfortunate, but shouldn't be a shocker to all these media outlets who've worked their viewership over the years telling people that youth--and particularly boys--are "liars, cheaters, and thieves," as well as the pedophobic mindset where all youth are seen only as "potential criminals."

This kind of publicity doesn't help, and can be dangerous when it's taken to the extreme it has been. Particularly when a lot of the negative media boys get regards such frivolous charges of criminality, and many normal behaviors are being inflated to get as many parental customers as possible in the medicinal industrial complex.

What society sees as a problem have nothing to do with boys any more than any stereotype has to do with any group of people. Unfortunately, social norms that are keeping these boys out of caring homes don'y help any behavioral issues they may have either. If boys aren't in vougue these days, it's not they who have the problem.