MUST READ!

"Open adoption and open records are important byways. But they are not the most compelling route. Family preservation is."
Dr. Randolph Severson, The Soul of Family Preservation

“Regrettably, in many cases, the emphasis has changed from the desire to provide a needy child with a home, to that of providing a needy parent with a child. As a result, a whole industry has grown, generating millions of dollars of revenues each year . . .”
The Special Rapporteur, United Nations, Commission on Human Rights, 2003.

"Over the past 30 years, the number of families from wealthy countries wanting to adopt children from other countries has grown substantially. At the same time, lack of regulation and oversight, particularly in the countries of origin, coupled with the potential for financial gain, has spurred the growth of an industry around adoption, where profit, rather than the best interests of children, takes centre stage. Abuses include the sale and abduction of children, coercion of parents, and bribery."
UNICEF's position on Inter-country adoption.

"...overseas adoption is a kind of child abuse by the state. ....Overseas adoption is the forced expulsion of children from the society where they are supposed to live. In this sense, overseas adoption is a social violence against children. As humans, we exist as part of a gigantic ecosystem. The existence of the biological parents of adoptees can never be annihilated nor denied.
"Overseas adoption is a forced separation of children from their natural ecosystems, as well as a way of forcing them into compulsory unity with settings different from and unnatural to their genetic and original social systems. Through this forced separation and compulsory unity, not only the adoptees, but also their biological parents, adoptive parents and their family members suffer trauma." Pastor Kim Do-hyun, director of KoRoot

Sunday, May 17, 2009

Pieces of Alicia...

Facebook has many failings. Many a day I curse it with frustration or sheer confusion.

But on days like today, I bless its creator.

I used Facebook to set up a memorial page for my daughter, Alicia and through it, she sends angels to me who each provide a piece of the puzzle. Friend after friend writes how shocked they are to hear of her untimely death and the fact that it was self inflicted. They all knew the Alicia's public persona as a very happy-go-lucky, cheerful, friendly person.

Today is a red letter day! I was contacted by a young man who had dated Alicia shortly after college graduation for several months. He is, as Alicia called him, a "mensch" and is trying to help me find more of her college friends by tagging her photos, and he is also going to try contact her brothers!

Straws, I know...but I grasp then fondly.
Posted by at 5:41 PM

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