encyclopedia of adoption

zero population growth

The concept, popularized by a group called Zero Population Growth (ZPG), that individuals should only reproduce themselves at the replacement rate; for example, a man and a woman should have no more than two children. The reason for this concern is the alleged overpopulation of our entire planet, which, zero population growth advocates believe, would be resolved if they and many others bore fewer children.

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Others allege that poverty and hunger are primarily the result of an inequitable distribution of available resources, not overpopulation.

Zero population growth advocates may be actively involved in the group that formally promotes their philosophy, or they may be informal believers in this concept.

If many people were zero population growth advocates, then the alleged worldwide overpopulation problem would probably be resolved; however, many people believe in bearing many children or do not believe in using any family planning method, with the end result being they bear many children whether they planned the births or not.

Some proponents of zero population growth, because they may enjoy raising children very much, have opted to adopt children rather than to bear more children themselves. They reason that there are already children in the world needing homes, which they can provide.

Few adoption agencies in the United States will accept an application for a healthy nonminority infant from a family that continues to be fertile, as are many zero population growth advocates, and so such people often adopt older children or minority or handicapped infants, or children from other countries, again, reasoning that the children need families to belong to and loving parents.

Social workers are (or should be) careful to ensure the adopting family realizes they are adopting a child, not a social cause.

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