Thursday, December 31, 2009

Biggest, Best, Stupidest and Worst of 2009


Biggest (and quietest) adoption scandal of 2009:
ABC revealed at least thirty Indian children kidnapped for adoption!

Didn't even make Wikipedia's list of international adoption scandals for 2009 - which also omitted my second place nominee, Guatemala:
  • China - "Six government officials in southwest China have been punished over an orphanage scandal when three children were taken away from their families who could not afford fines for violating family planning regulations. The orphanage sent the children overseas for adoption from 2004 to 2006, a Guizhou-based newspaper reported today."[4]
  • Samoa - Four Sentenced in Scheme, prosecutors say adoption agency tricked Samoan parents into giving their own children up for adoption[5]
  • Ethiopia - Canadian Broadcasting Company reports Canadian families "claim that CAFAC has informed them their child is an orphan when the parents in fact exist... (and) that sometimes the children's ages are wildly off and the health of these kids varies greatly from what they have been told before travelling to Addis Ababa to pick them up."[6] Andrew Goeghegan reports that "At least 70 adoption agencies have set up business in Ethiopia. Almost half are unregistered, but there’s scant regulation anyway and fraud and deception are rife. Some agencies actively recruit children in a process known as harvesting.[7] This has prompted on Dutch agency to stop adoptions from Ethiopia "as a result recent reports about abuse of the system by the government in Ethiopia and local adoption agencies. Research done by the adoption agency, shows that the information about the children on file does not match with their actual back ground. In several cases the mothers of the children were still alive, while being listed as deceased."[8]
  • Vietnam - "A court in northern Vietnam has put 16 people on trial for allegedly selling more than 250 babies for foreign adoption. The head of two social welfare centres in Nam Dinh province as well as several doctors and nurses at village clinics went on trial yesterday, said Dang Viet Hung, the chief judge at the court hearing the case. The defendants are charged with "abuse of power and authority" and could face prison terms of five to 10 years." [9]

Best Book of 2009: Fugitive Visions by Jane Jeong Trenka

Best Blog for scooping and exposing - not just reporting - adoption news: PoundPup Legacy

Most Blogged about adoption issue: Anita Tedaldi's adoption termination

Most commented blog post on FamilyPreservation, 2009: Is Adoption Natural?

Biggest Deal Made Over Nothing: The movie, Orphan

Best conference?

Best conference presentation?

Best article?

Worst case of adoption abuse 2009?

Best adoption news 2009?  Ontario?


No comments:

RussiaToday Apr 29, 2010 on Russian Adoption Freeze

Russi Today: America television Interview 4/16/10 Regarding the Return of Artyem, 7, to Russia alone

RT: Russia-America TV Interview 3/10

Korean Birthmothers Protest to End Adoption

Motherhood, Adoption, Surrender, & Loss

Who Am I?

Bitter Winds

Adoption and Truth Video

Adoption Truth

Birthparents Never Forget