DEBUNKING ADOPTION MYTHS

Kate Middleton is among the latest to express an interest in adoption as an ac of altruistic humanitarianism. But is it?  Are there really thousands of "orphans" "languishing" in institutions in need of care or is it all propagandized hype produced by lobbyists for the mega billion dollar adoption industry?

Bookmark this page and send a link to it to any and all who have consumed the Kool-Aid and are under mesmerized by the glamour and mythology of adoption ignoring the reality.

First off, let us ask why is it that someone like Pastor Kim Do-hyun, director of KoRoo, an organization that helps supports Korean adoptees returning to their homeland, says:

"...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." 

Has his thinking been swayed too heavily by bitter, unhappy discontent adoptees when in fact what he says applies to ALL adoptions, including domestic which annihilate, delete, erases, redacts, eliminates, hides, and keeps secret, natural family connections?



There are those like Elizabeth Bartholet who bemoan decreasing numbers of International Adoptions (IA)and adoption agencies closing feigning concern for the children left unserved. Truth is that she represents attorneys and other partitioners who make their living redistributing children into and out of the US!

- FACT: 90% of children in orphanages worldwide are not orphans but have at least one living parent and/or extended family planning to reunite their family as was the case with the two children Madonna adopted. All over the world orphanages are used to provide temporary care and provide food, medical care and education parents cannot afford. Many such people have no concept of permanent adoption of their children.

- FACT: Many people all over the world are exploited for their ignorance, asked to sign papers they cannot read; told their children are going to the US Europe of an education.

- FACT: Children are kidnapped, stolen and trafficked all over the world - South & Central America, eastern Europe, Asia, Africa - to meet a demand for younger children while older and physically challenged children are ignored in orphanages as are the 120,000 US children in foster care who COULD be adopted! 

- FACT: Many caring people wanting to adopt for purely altruistic reasons chose reputable agencies, and have inadvertently adopted children who were stolen or kidnapped. Child traffickers label kidnapped children abandoned and it is virtually impossible to verify otherwise.

- FACT: In nations that have ceased IA because of corruption, the number of allegedly “abandoned” babies dropped to almost zero. When adoptions were resumed, the number of said “abandoned” babies rose back up again to meet the demand!

- FACT: The tens of thousands of dollars paid by westerners to adopt would be far better spent building schools, digging wells or buying medical supplies. Such high fees instead support traffickers and prevent local residents from adopting within many nations because they cannot compete financially with fees set based on demand.

When listening to the pros and cons of adoption arguments look at the SOURCES and follow the money! 

Listen to what non-profits who work on the ground with children and family in need have to say:

“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.

READ:

• Who are the 143 Million Orphans?

• Orphaned or Stolen

• Duped by Indian adoption agency, US family cautions couples.

• Read the blog of Julia Rollins who unwittingly adopted stolen children

• The Lie We Love by E.J.Graff

• The works of David Smolin on child trafficking

• Lies, damned lies, statistics…and baby selling?

Regarding adoption from China, specifically read:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/china/8939661/Chinese-police-rescue-178-children-after-mass-child-trafficking-ring-bust.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/nyregion/chinas-adoption-scandal-sends-chills-through-families-in-united-states.html?pagewanted=1&_r=2

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/adoption-stories/200909/la-times-chinese-babies-stolen-foreign-adoption

http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/view/5824/

http://ouradopt.com/adoption-blog/jan-2009/juliafuller/was-baby-you-adopted-china-stolen-or-purchased

Regarding Ethiopia: http://familypreservation.blogspot.com/2010/05/must-see-video-news-report-about-child.html

http://www.ethicanet.org/ethiopia-to-cut-foreign-adoptions-by-up-to-90-percent

Human trafficking for adoption: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rani-hong/human-trafficking-prevention-month_b_1199395.html