The Adoption Bloggers Interview Project

The Adoption Interview Project was started by Heather Schade at her blog, Production, Not Reproduction. The link to all interviews will be active today, Nov. 14. I encourage you to read my intreview responses to questions about ethics in adoption and being labelled negative, as well as all the interviews!

I was matched with Katja Michelle who blogs at TherapyisExpensive. Here are her responses to my questions:

1. What is your connection to adoption?

I am a birth mom 11 years into an open adoption. Yes, I know some people don’t like that term, but I do and I explain why here, http://therapyisexpensive.wordpress.com/2008/07/07/visit-highlights/ and here

http://therapyisexpensive.wordpress.com/2009/07/28/open-adoption-roundtable-4-these-are-the-moments/

I am also a social worker who provides comprehensive options counseling to those facing unplanned pregnancy, which occasionally leads to me advocating for my clients during the adoption planning process.

2. How do you feel about adoption?

I have a wide mix of emotions about adoption depending on the aspect as well as the moment in time. Personally I love it for providing my son with so much I couldn't and I hate it because he's not with me. On a wider scale I also have mixed emotions. Adoption is a flawed practice, but does have its role. So I suppose the shortest answer is I feel conflicted about adoption.

3. How much time do spend thinking about adoption?

I'm not sure I can quantify it. It's part of my personal life, it's part of my job, it's a topic I research. However, that doesn't mean that every thought of every day is adoption related. I do think about it probably daily prompted by various things.

4. How often do you write about it on your blog?

I would say most of my posts are adoption related, even when it may not seem they are. 

5. How many books on adoption have you read? What was the last? What is your favorite?

Again I can't come up with a number, but I can say a lot.  I'm currently reading The Third Choice, by Foge and Mosconi. Or rather I’m reading bits of it, specifically the chapter on grief and loss. I have a stack of adoption books waiting to be read or that I’ve read parts of and need to go back to to finish.

I have a few favorites. Gritter’s Lifegivers is one because it shifted my thinking and inspired some of my research questions The Girls Who Went Away is another and I recommend it often even though it was a difficult and emotional read. 

6. If there was something you could change about adoption what would it be?

There's a lot I think needs changing, I outline some of those things in this post:http://therapyisexpensive.wordpress.com/2012/04/26/i-dream-of-reform/ in short I think it needs to be child centered, regulated, and ethical

7. Do you think adoptees have a right to their original birth certifctates? Why or why not?

Of course. I think people should be able to access all documents that pertain to them. Birth certificates, adoption decrees, any paperwork the agency has should be given to any adoptee that requests it with absolutely no hoops to jump through.

8. Do you think mothers that relinquish have a right to anonymity? Why or wny not?

No, no one gets anonymity from their child(ren). It's an absurd concept. I often equate it to a preemptive restraining order. If I went to a judge and said there's this person out there who may or may not try to find me can you issue a restraining order and keep my identity from that person just in case I'd be laughed out of court. But these laws 1 assume we want that 2 assume adoptees and birth parents aren't reasonable people. As a reasonable person if someone from my past approaches me I can say either hey longtime no see how you been? Or I can say we parted ways for a reason and I'd rather you not contact me again. As a reasonable person the other party would respect my wishes. But in adoption we aren't given that chance. It's assumed we want to be "left alone" and it's assumed the other party won't do so if they do make contact. I’ve blogged about this here: http://therapyisexpensive.wordpress.com/2011/02/24/promises-promises/

9. What do you think of open adoption?

I think it can be great. I think I'm one of the lucky ones it’s working out for. I think it's not a panacea. It doesn't eliminate the grief or loss. I also think its better for the adoptees than a closed adoption. I think it's not well understood nor is it always well executed, 

10. What do you think of international adoption?

I really don't know enough about international adoption to speak about it.

11. The child adopted by Timothy and Jennifer Monahan was kidnapped from Guatemala, though they did not now and thought the adoption perfectly legal. Guatemala has revoked the adoption an dordered the child returned. What do you think should be done? What would YOU do if it was you and you found out the child you adopted was kidnapped?http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/24/adoption-wars_n_1028665.html

Yes I've read about this case. I think the child needs to be retuned to her family. I think it would be a traumatic experience for all involved but its still the right thing. I think professionals need to be consulted to ensure the best transition plan for the child as well as counseling provided upfront and after the transition home for all involved.

If I were in that situation I hope I would be the kind of person who'd do the right thing despite the inevitable heart break...and then I'd sue the hell out of the agency or whoever was responsible for this, because let's face it SOMEONE knew.  

Adoption Entitlement

You've seen, read and heard it. I've seen, read and heard it. And it can be vile and repugnant. It's the stank of entitlement to a child by those who have tried and failed to have one of "their own."

Amanda, an adult adoptee, commenting on a blog post says:

"I have come across some insensitive comments and entries on blogs in the past year or so. One complained that too many grandparents are stepping up to care for the babies in families instead of letting couples adopt them. One complained that too many teengagers are keeping their babies when they should do “the right thing” and surrender them. Some have just complained in-general that there aren’t enough babies to go around to couples who want them. Some downright pray and ask others to pray for the surrender of a baby.... 

"Heck, one of the first things someone said to me when I started my reunion journey was “just keep in mind, your parents couldn’t have kids” as if it is my responsibility to not only make up for children that they could not have, but put my desires, needs, and acknowledgement of having another family out there aside, for their bennefit.

"The attitude of children as a “supply” makes adoptees feel like a commodity. It’s not putting the children first. It’s not considering the adoptee or Original Family’s losses... "

The entitlement attitudes I read online are often VILE and repugnant. And the public seems to support the view that every infertile person is somehow "entitled" to a child - even those who simply waited too long to have a child otherwise. When an anticipated adoption fails to come to fruition the outcries and the support for the couple wanting the child are enormous, with underlying disdain for the "nerve" of the natural mother to "renege" on the "deal." Barely a voice is herd above the din rejoicing for a family that saw their way fit or was supported enough to remain intact. 

I find it all an ugly stain on the history of our society that we prey on and seek to exploit the vulnerable - here and abroad - to meet a "demand" and in doing so turn a blind on all forms of fraud, corruption and outright kidnapping, as exemplified by Timothy and Jennifer Monahan who were ordered by the Guatemalan government to return the child they adopted when it was PROVEN that she was the victim of kidnapping. And the US Sate Dept stands in violation of international treaties by sitting on its hands and doing NOTHING in stark contrast to when it is a US child in foreign hands, as was the case for David Goldman - the US State dept was fierce in regaining custody from his son's Brazilian family who kept him illegally. In that case the US and US legislators were fierce in their efforts to undo the wrongful custody and have the child returned to his natural father. These two cases illustrate clearly prejudice and ethnocentric attitudes in whose parental rights have any value and whose can be trampled and ignored....and the victor applauded as a rescuer!

How can we think of adoption as an act of altruism when it takes children, one (or two) at a time away from their heritage, culture, language, and leaves their family behind in poverty?  The tens of thousands of dollars people are willing to pay to take one child from his or her culture and heritage - leaving his family behind in the same poverty - could do so much better if used to build a school, but medial supplies or dig a well and help an entire village instead of exploiting poverty. 

Adoption exploits poverty. I have dubbed it Reverse Robinhoodism as it takes from the poor and gives to the wealthy.  And our government supports this new colonialism with tax breaks that are not limited to the adoption of special needs children or those in US foster care. 

Demand for children is at the root of corruption and adoption fees far too often support unscrupulous baby brokers and child traffickers who fraudulently pass off stolen and kidnapped children as "abandoned" and they get passed through legitimate, "reputable" American adoption agencies who claim to have no way of checking their true identity, as was the case with the Monahnas, as well as with the Smolins and the Rollings families and many, many others who unwittingly became the parents of kidnapped children.

Also VILE is the way those adopting are so intent in getting what they want they turn a blind eye to OBVIOUS flashing red lights, like bribes and do not report “irregularities" - such as two children with the same name or same photo -  for fear they will be black balled and not get a child.

This is seen in books like “Finding Fernanda” by Erin Siegal, my book “The Stork Market,” and in the film “Wo Ai Ni (I love you) Mommy” where the adoptive mother counts out the bribe cash in her hotel room and says that she knows some will think this wrong but it’s just how things are done!

People need to make a choice to be part of the problem of part of the solution! Far too few people stand up and STOP the process and seek an investigation as did Betsy in Finding Fernanda. I know of only one other brave adoptive mother who did: Jennifer Hemsley. Others do their part by speaking out after the fact. Some become activists, like David Smolin who writes extensively on child trafficking for adoption after becoming an unwitting parent to two girls who were stolen from their mother in India.

We need activists. Ethiopia is the latest country to be STRIP MINED for children to meet the demand for adoption! It is impoverished and not protected by the Hague.

We need more to stand up and say NO! We need all the help we can get to battle the moneyed forces of the multi BILLION dollar adoption industry and their powerful lobbyists who spread propaganda such as intentionally inflating the number of orphans in the world, knowing that 90% of the children in orphanages have family who seek reunification and use orphanages to provide temporary care, food, medical aid and education they cannot otherwise afford. 

Why do we need to turn the tide? Because, as Amanda so eloquently said:

"Focusing on those adopting also does not help prevent children from being put in orphanages. It does nothing to eliminate a family’s poverty. It does nothing to encourage counties to eliminate stigmas against single mothers or provide social welfare programs so that families do not have to be separated first by poverty and then by adoption. Adoption should always be child focused; period."

How do we stop the insanity? One way is for those adopting to say NO when faced with something that smells fishy. Be a hero and truly "Christian" or altruistic person by NOT adopting and not being part of the problem.  Send the money you would have spent to obtain ONE child to an NGO like Save the Children, UNICEF, or Christian Children's Fund. Consider becoming a foster parent or look into foster-to-adopt programs, or become a Big Brother or sister. These are truly altruistic ways to help children and put THEIR needs above your wants and desires.


Another way is to put more effort into educating young women about the prevention of many causes of infertility and that it is not so simply to "just adopt" - a phrase I also hear far too often. We also can stop encouraging adoption with tax breaks that were intended to help the children in foster care - more than 100,000 of whom COULD be adopted - but are used instead to support adoptions that ignore them and may be in fact supporting criminal acts or unethical coercion.

Stop the insanity! Stop the exploitation. Stop the pervasive entitlement attitudes. Educate yourselves and others to the realities that there are NOT millions of children needing to be adopted. there are far more people wanting to adopt than children "available" and this creates corruption.

The tide is slowly turning. Adoption agencies have closed as countries like Guatemala close their doors to adoption. And even as new countries to exploit come up, some will never reopen. Reproductive technologies keep making newer and newer breakthroughs, some of which very sadly mirror the anonymity that is as the heart of the evilness of adoption.  On the upside, more and more adoptees are speaking out not just about the right to access to their truth but also to their feelings about in general - all of which are not so grateful.  Adults adopted from overseas are articulating the good and bad of having been taken from their homelands and raised in the land of the "free."

And, finally, adoptive parents are beginning to get less than positive feedback and kudos for have "rescued" children. many complain now about being asked "insensitive" questions such as how much did they pay for their kid as the truth of adoption as a supply and demand business is being exposed more and more every day by zealous investigative reporters like E.J. Graff and Erin Siegal.

Charges in the Kidnap and Adoption of Anyeli Liseth Hernandez Rodriguez

As you may recall, Timothy and Jennifer Monahan, of Kansas, have been ordered by the Guatemalan government to return the child they adopted. They have been stalling, and the US has failed to force the issue.

 Anyelí Liseth Hernández Rodríguez, reported kidnapped in Guatemala in 2006, 

was tracked to an orphanage, then to the US where she had been adopted.

After months of hiding from the press, the couple, have come forward on the CBS Early Show.  

They are making claims of physical abuse, implying that her mother, Lyoda Rodriguez, is unfit to have her kidnapped child returned. An absurd claim since the child was in the hands of kidnappers for more than a year and likely was hurt by them.

The reason for this desperate act now?    The arrest of those involved in the kidnapping the Monahan's call "alleged":

(AP)  GUATEMALA CITY — A Guatemalan court sentenced two women to 16 and 21 years in prison on Monday for trafficking a stolen baby who was given for adoption to a U.S. family.

Special prosecutor Lorena Maldonado said the sentences handed down to a lawyer and the legal representative of an adoption agency will reinforce the birth mother's bid to get her daughter returned from the United States.

"Even though the criminal proceedings are separate from the adoption process, these sentences help, and confirm the argument of the mother, Loyda Rodriguez, that this girl is her daughter and was stolen from in front of her house, and that there is a criminal structure in Guatemala that steals children," said Maldonado.

The Eighth Penal Tribunal sentenced lawyer Beatriz Valle Flores to 21 years in prison for human trafficking, criminal association and using false documents. She signed papers in the adoption.

A 16-year sentence went to the legal representative of the adoption agency, Enriqueta Noriega Cano, where the girl spent a year before being adopted. The girl left the country on Dec. 9, 2008.

Both women were also ordered to pay 100,000 quetzales ($25,600) apiece to the mother for damages.

Rodriguez, the mother, obtained a Guatemalan court order in July for the return of the seven-year-old, but it is unclear if it can be enforced.

The girl, Anyeli Liseth Hernandez Rodriguez was born Oct. 1, 2004, the second child of Rodriguez, a housewife, and her bricklayer husband, Dayner Orlando Hernandez. The girl disappeared Nov. 3, 2006, as Rodriguez was distracted while opening the door to their house in a working class suburb, San Miguel Petapa. She turned to see a woman whisk the girl, then two, away in a taxi.

If U.S. authorities intervene to return the child as the Guatemalan court has asked, it would be a first for any international adoption case, experts say.

In August, a construction-paper sign taped to the door of the girl's U.S. address, a two-story suburban Kansas City home, read: "Please respect our families (sic) privacy during this difficult and confusing time. We ask that you not trespass on our property for the sake of our children. Thank you."

Guatemala's quick adoptions once made this Central American nation of 13 million people a top source of children for the U.S., leading or ranking second only to China with about 4,000 adoptions a year. But the Guatemalan government suspended adoptions in late 2007 after widespread cases of fraud, including falsified paperwork, fake birth certificates and charges of baby theft — though they still allowed many already in process.

The International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala, a U.N.-created agency prosecuting organized crime cases in Guatemala, has reviewed more than 3,000 adoptions completed or in process and found nearly 100 grave irregularities.

The U.S. still does not allow adoptions from Guatemala, though the State Department is currently assisting with 397 children whose adoptions were in process at the time of the ban.

The Road to Hell ...

UPDATE on the continuing saga of the  Predators Arrested in Haiti posted yesterday, and updated.

"From what I know until now, this is a kidnapping case," Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive told CNN regarding The Baptist Ten. "Who is doing it, I don't know. What are the real objectives or activities, I don't know. But that is kidnapping, and it is more serious because it's involving children."

He added, "The children certainly were not fully willing to go, because in some cases, from what I heard, they were asking for their parents, they wanted to return to their parents."

The U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince downplayed accusations of kidnapping and child trafficking, claiming the Holy Rollers had been detained for "alleged violations of Haitian laws related to immigration."

George Willeit of SOS Children's Villages believes that at least 10 of the 33 children they were removing are not orphans.

The missionaries plan, as outlined here, called for them to arrive Jan 22; take a bus to Prt au Prince the following day and "gather
100
 orphans 
from 
the 
streets 
and 
collapsed 
orphanages..." and bring them to their Dominican "refuge" on Jan 24th.

Their own words prove they had no intention of making any attpemt whatsoever to determine if the children they were snatching up were orphans or not!

So much for their claims of being well-intentioned! Is it well intentioned - or kidnapping - to walk into a supermarket in and grab any kid whose mother turns her head to select food?

And how do they justify plans to create Villas for adopting parents instead of spending that money to help the kids in Haiti!  This is KIDNAPPING with intent to BABY SELL, otherwise known as CHILD TRAFFICKING!  Wish I was on their jury!

Is this any different from Islamist militants accused of kidnapping thirteen Christian girls from a remote area of south-east Nigeria in May of 2008?  Did they have good intentions as well?  Two of the recovered  girls, Mary Chikwodi Okoye, 15, and Uche Edward, 14, were said to have been planned as brides for Muslim men to expand Islam.

The militant kidnappers also destroyed the Deeper Life Bible Church, St Mary's Catholic Church, All Souls Anglican Church, Church of Christ in Nigeria, Redeemed Christian Church of God, and the Redeemed Peoples Mission.  

Kidnapping of teenage Christian girls by Muslims, the pastor said, has become a recurring practice in Ningi. Muslims have kidnapped at least 13 Christian girls in the town, Christian sources said.
"These girls are usually kidnapped, forcefully converted to Islam, and then married out to other Muslim men against the will of both the girls and their parents," Joseph Abdu, pastor of Deeper Life Bible Church said.

Both incidents are kidnappings for the purpose of religious conversion. In both cases the victims were a commodity. Neither had the best interest of the victims in mind. One saved them from Christianity and the other for Christianity.


Will American Christians - Baptists - support or denounce them?

Norma Cruz: Person of the Year

By Alberto Ramírez E./Pensa Libre
December 15, 2009
Automatic translation from original Spanish article

Norma Cruz, president of Fundación Sobrevivientes, was nominated as a candidate for Prensa Libre's Person of the Year 2009, for her struggle for female victims of violence, the recovery of children abducted or illegally handed over for adoption, and because she is a tireless fighter against impunity.

She said that awards like the People of the Year nomination for her work strengthen her work on behalf of unprotected women.

Cruz is a woman of small stature, thin, physically she looks weak, but she has a look and an attitude that expresses determination and energy.

Cruz was known in Spain earlier this year upon the  introduction of the documentary "Un cambio en la mirada", which denounces the situation of impunity in Guatemala and a staggering one thousand 200 women and girls murdered in the previous two years .

In this work, Cruz highlights why she became an activist for the rights of females. In her own home she suffered the horror of knowing that her daughter had been sexually abused.

For that crusade for women's rights and the defense of victims of violence, Hillary Clinton, U.S. Secretary of State, awarded the International Prize for Women of Courage to Cruz, during a ceremony held in Washington last March.

On that occasion she was honored as an outstanding women in the Americas, along with seven other activists from other regions. 11 days ago the news paper El Pais in Spain, chose to Cruz as Latin American person of the year.

Cruz's strength grew this year, and Fundación Sobrevivientes asked the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) to investigate four criminal judges favor lawyers and doctors accused of stealing children and dealing in illegal adoptions, last March.

Fasting for justice

Cruz through the Fundación Sobrevivientes, achieved in March this year the Ministry of Government offered a reward of Q100 thousand for information about Angelina Hernandez Rodriguez, who was stolen in 2006, when he was 2 years old.

Two months later, the girl was located in the U.S. and found that she was given up for adoption to an American couple in an abnormal process involving lawyers and judges.

Given the slowness of the authorities in the case of Angelina and three others, Cruz, accompanied by the mothers of the little victims, held a hunger strike outside the Supreme Court.

After 10 days of fasting she was able to initiate court proceedings for annulment of such adoptions, which have not yet been resolved.

Last April, the foundation, which has become plaintiffs, secured a conviction and eight years' imprisonment for four women and a man, responsible for the theft of a girl in Area 2, given up for an illegal adoption.

Questions to lawyers

In April, the group around Cruz presented a list of lawyers who performed illegal adoptions, to make sure they were excluded for nomination of candidates for judges of the Supreme Court and Appeals.

She also accompanied the families of two young people involved in the case against Deputy Paul Gomez Cristiani, who is accused of corruption of minors.

Cruz and the families of the children reported being victims of pressure from lawyers of the legislature to desist from lawsuits.

She also advised Aura Suruy, mother of Wendy, 12 years, Diana, 8, and Heidi, 7, killed last May in San Lucas Sacatepequez.

Cruz and Suruy faced death threats from the three accused of the deed, but still prevented from leaving prison, since the accused claimed that they changed the offense. The case is still in process.

Cruz says her greatest satisfaction is that those responsible for stealing children or sexually abusing minors pay their misdeeds in prison.

Confirmed Arrest Report out of Guatemala

In October 2007 The PGN (Procuraduría General de la Nación) denounced lawyer Susana Luarca Saracho for allegedly trying to steal an 11 month old girl. The girl's parents said they were forced to give up their baby because they had received money from Luarca, who threatened them with violence when they did not want to give her their child.

It is now alleged confirmed (!) that Saracho has been arrested.

I am receiving lots of CHEERING emails from Guatemala. It's been on guatevision.

Norma Cruz and the Survivors Foundation are receiving good publicity. I am told a march is being planned but "Safety for the women who in a sense are the evidence against Luarca remains a concern."

The Survivors Foundations sends this message:

We appreciate that the prosecution of human trafficking prosecutors,acting upon the law to these facts, we ask people the solidarity and speak out in favor of eradicating impunity in Guatemala and to stop the marketing of children Guatemalans.
It asks the competent authorities of the judiciary to follow due process, implement the principles of speed, promptness,efficiency and above all justice.
Guatemala, 16 December 2009.

URGENTLY SEND YOUR STATEMENT
Alvaro Colom ENGINEER PRESIDENT OF GUATEMALA
PRESIDENTIAL HOUSE: 6 Avenida 4-18 Zona 1, GUATEMALA CITY,
GUATEMALA
Mr. Jose Roberto Alejos CAMBA, PRESIDENT OF CONGRESS
9 Avenida 9-44 ZONA1
GRADUATE Pellecer Cesar Barrientos, CHAIRMAN OF THE
JUDICIARY, SUPREME
COURT: 7 AVENUE AND 21 STREET AREA 1, CIVIC CENTER, CITY OF
GUATEMALA.
GUATEMALA
DELIA LICENSED BACK, PRESIDENT'S COMMISSION ON WOMEN OF THE
CONGRESS
OF THE REPUBLIC
9 Avenida 9-44 Zona 1

Biggest Adoption Scam in US History

CBS News will present, "The Lost Children," a "48 Hours" special, on Saturday, Dec. 12 at 10 p.m. ET/PT - the culmination of a two-year investigation by "48 Hours" into one of the largest foreign adoption scams in U.S. history.

Somoan families told their children were going to a foster progran and were coming home at age 18. Fifty seven American families refuse to give up children while Flcus on Children workers are jailed.

It;s being called a scam and fraud, but what it really is is felony kidnapping.

But, as usual...the American families are portrayed as the victims!

And it's not without controversy.

Guatemala pushes for DNA tests of kids adopted in U.S.

Sarah Grainger

GUATEMALA CITY

Tue Dec 8, 2009 12:57pm EST

Reuters

GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - For three years Olga Lopez desperately searched for her baby daughter who was snatched from her home in Guatemala, until her face appeared in government paperwork for an international adoption.

Lopez, along with two other mothers who also believe their children were stolen and put up for U.S. adoption, pushed Guatemala to ask the U.S. Department of Justice to track down the babies and give them DNA tests so they can be returned.

"I recognized my daughter from her photo in the adoption files but there's always the possibility that it's not her. I don't want to live in doubt. I want a DNA test," Lopez said.

So far there has been no response from U.S. authorities, Lopez says. U.S. officials would not confirm they had received a formal request from Guatemala.

Guatemala, a small Central American country of 13 million people, used to have the world's highest per capita adoption rate, with 5,000 children sent abroad each year. Private lawyers charged up to $50,000 to handle an adoption and sometimes forged papers or paid mothers to sell their children.
In December 2007, Guatemalan authorities introduced tough new rules to crack down on baby traffickers. A newly created adoption authority has not allowed a single international adoption since.
Some 3,000 cases that started under the previous adoption system are still in progress, with prosecutors promising to meticulously examine the files for fraud. So far, about half have been completed successfully, and the rest will likely be resolved by the end of January, said a spokesman for the new adoption authority.

But Loyda Rodriguez suspects the new system has cracks. Her 2-year-old daughter, Anyeli, was playing on the porch in the outskirts of Guatemala City when a woman grabbed her and sped off in a waiting taxi. Like other mothers whose babies were taken, she began scouring government adoption records to look for her daughter. She believes the baby was adopted by a couple in Missouri in December 2008.

Guatemala's Attorney General's office asked the United States in April of this year to test the three children, all adopted under the old system, after activist Norma Cruz went on a hunger strike to draw attention to the mothers' plight.
Cruz wants Guatemalan courts to nullify the adoptions.

STOLEN CHILD FOUND
The U.S. Embassy in Guatemala requires couples to have records of two matching DNA tests to issue a visa for an adopted child, but DNA results are sometimes faked by laboratories colluding with child traffickers, said Cruz's organization of mothers, called the Survivors Foundation.
The new government adoption agency prioritizes local adoptions over international ones. But Guatemala said last month it would start sending babies abroad again on a limited basis, since some children have not found local homes.

Cruz says that problems persist despite the new controls.

"The networks behind illegal adoptions haven't been disbanded and they're still operating because they've been making exorbitant amounts of money. This is a million dollar business," said Cruz.
Cruz began her campaign after Ana Escobar found her 8-month-old daughter, who had been kidnapped at gunpoint, in a government office in charge of handling adoptions about to be sent off to the United States.

Escobar recognized her daughter Esther by the crooked little fingers on both her hands and confirmed her identity with a DNA test in 2008 and got her baby back.

Fraud and Kidnapping Casts a Cloud on Guatemalan Adoptions

In the December issue of Adoption Today.

Full Text of article by Mirah Riben

You can also see another report by Reuters, "Guatemala pushes for DNA tests of kids adopted in U.S."

 that covers many of the same details ...

Fraud and Kidnapping Casts a Cloud on Guatemalan Adoptions

It's official!  This article, with photos, will be appearing in the December issue of Adoption Today which will be available in approximtely three weeks.

Guatemala:Getting Ready

I leave on Saturday as part of a delegation of the Guatemalan Human Rights Commission: Violence Against Women and the soico-political context of Femicide in Guatemala.

“This is a country where patriarchy dominates on an institutional and familial level.” – Dora Bagley of the Presidential Secretariat on Women

Some of the highlights of the trip with meetings with:

- women from STITCH, Organizers for Social Justice

- Gladys Monterroso, lawyer, University professor, and Secretary General of the Encuentro por Guatemala party, and wife of Human Rights Ombudsman Sergio Morales, was kidnapped in Guatemala City on Wednesday March 25 at 7am and released 13 hours later. She was interrogated and burned with cigarettes on different parts of her body; no ransom was demanded. Her story was covered internationally, including the Washington Post.

- Norma Cruz' Survivors Foundation

- Myrna MAC FOUNDATION, established in 1993 to focus on the elaboration of studies and proposals that promote the fight against impunity, the construction of rule of law in Guatemala and for the consolidation of peace and democracy.

- Rosa Franco, whose daughter Maria Isabel was killed in 2001, at age 16.

- Hilda Morales Trujillo, member of the 'National Womens Office' (ONAM) and the 'Network against Violence against Women' who has spent her life tirelessly defending the rights of women by challenging discriminatory laws and campaigning for change.

- Sandra Moran Reyes, a national leader of the women's movement, director of Women's Sector at Casa Artesana

- Carolina Alvarado and female sex workers

I have added two days to my itinerary to meet with children whose adoptions are in limbo.

I also hope to meet the mothers who children were kidnapped for adoption into the U.S. who await DNA testing.

You do not need to travel to Guatemala to help, PLEASE go to Three Days / Three Daughters to see how you can show your solidarity and raise consciousness and hopefully create some legal help.

I hope you will support them and spread the word to all in your address book as well as church groups, etc.

Three Mothers / Three Daughters

Three Mothers / Three Daughters

As I prepare to leave for Guatemala, three mothers are in the midst of a second hunger strike.

In the hopes of easing their pain with the knowledge that they are not alone, I have made each mother a Solidarity bracelet.


I have also made one for each mother with their name and the name of their child.

Olga Lopez

Mother of Arlene Escarleth. She has no been without her daughter for almost three years.

Raquel Par

Mother of Heidy. Raquel has been without

Heidy for almost 3 1/2 years.

Loyda Rodriguez

Mother of Anyeli Lisseth. Loyda has been without her daughter for three years this November.

Three Adoptive Families

Here in the U.S. three families are aware the children they adopted from Guatemala are possibly these three kidnapped girls and are steadfastly refusing to let the girls be DNA tested to clear up the mystery.

- One family has apparently moved,

- Another is simply ignoring requests,

- And one family said they will fight to their last breath and last dime.

And our government is allowing these possible felony crimes to go unsolved - not even attenpting to assist in uncovering the truth, though you could be they'd raise holy hell if the situation were reversed and an American mother believed her child had been kidnapped and trafficked overseas for adoption. Did not our government intervene just recently in a divorce custody dispute involving David Goldman's 9-year-old son, who's being raised in Brazil by the boy's stepfather.

"It's an anguish that's with us 24-7," Goldman said. "Awake, asleep, working, walking ... no matter what, it's with us."

Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., is suggesting legislation to require better tracking of international custody cases. The proposal also would spell out what the U.S. could do to countries that fail to cooperate in resolving custody disputes.

What about laws requiring the U.S.to cooperate? Goldman's son was taken to Brazil by his mother who later passed away. Heidy, Anyeli and Arlene were likely KIDNAPPED! On wht plant is a claim of kidnapped ignored by the jurisdiction in which he child is being held captive - when that jurisdiction is within the U.S.?

"Our current system is not doing justice for parents who are left behind or for the children who have been whisked away from their mom or dad," Smith said.

Amen to that, Rep. Smith!

I want to give a special Thank You to Mary Sullivan of DNALady.com who said she was moved reading my previous post on this situation. Mary offered three free DNA tests for the mothers and the children. Unfortunately, as you have already read, it will be impossible because of lack of cooperation of the adopters.

Three Days of Solidarity

Please show your support by signing up to participate in a 3-day fast on September 1, 2, and 3, 2009....and pass the link on to ALL who are concerned with human rights.

September Solidarity for Guatemalan Kidnap Victims in the US

Right now in Guatemala City there are several women on day 6 of a hunger strike, or what they refer to as a fasting and prayer vigil. They are weak and sick but their children are at stake.

They are striking for three baby girls who were kidnapped from their Guatemalan mothers and subsequently "legally" adopted by US citizens. The girls names are Heidy, Anyeli and Arlene, and they were all stolen in 2006 for the lucrative international adoption business. The mothers want their daughters back, but they have found no support, no justice, and are essentially powerless due to issues of impunity, lack of equal rights, and financial and social status.

I support their endeavor and the work of the strike organizer Norma Cruz and Fundacion Sobrevivientes in the search for justice. My own government in the US seems frozen to act morally or judicially, perhaps even covering up their role in the immigration of these girls —and maybe hundreds of others— through a corrupt DNA testing system employed as a method to prevent such fraud. Meanwhile, the Guatemalan mothers are starving themselves to be heard.

Imagine if the girls stolen were American (and white). Imagine the difference in response.

To continue the work of the strikers, there is another hunger strike being planned, this one based in the US but stretching around the world. The dates are September 1, 2, and 3.

One of the strikers is am=n American in solidarity with the women out of her belief she is they doing the true work of Christianity and Jesus. Whether you agree with their personal motivation or not, please read what her husband says and thinks about social justice:

"...While the U.S. Adoptions community debates the rights of the adoptive parents to privacy, the rest of the world lumps all Americans together, and believes we condone stealing babies from their mothers.
"I just left my wife, Shyrel, in the middle of Guatemala city, and drove away with more than a lump in my throat, past prostitutes and pimps, and drunks, and all sorts of night people. ...Three of them are mothers whose children were stolen. They have not eaten since Tuesday, and will not until the judges respond to their request for a review of the cases of their stolen children.... She is sleeping in a small tent in front of the Supreme Court of Guatemala. She and a small number of women have engaged in what the press is calling a hunger strike. The participants say it is fasting and praying. They are seeking justice. They are so vulnerable there in that tent tonight. The “Palace of Justice” towering above them is locked tight, with a high tech security system. They look so helpless during the day too. Among the hustle and bustle of the high court litigants and supplicants, they maintain a humble stance, and a broken hearted vigil. ..
"Shyrel’s determination to do this has moved our theological discussions from theory to reality. ...What would you do if someone stole your child? What would you do if you knew where your stolen child was? ...I would go to my police, the FBI, or Interpol if needed, and they would for sure hear my case, or my congressman and Senator would be all over them. I would have my child back. When something bad happens to us who are privileged, we have resources. We will get justice.
"Now, try to imagine you are a poor Kachikel woman in Guatemala. The last thing you remember is that you were offered a cool drink on a hot day by a woman who offered to help you walk from your bus stop to the bus stop that would take you to a relative’s house. ...But you know people who have adopted from Guatemala. And isn’t adoption a good thing? You heard for years that there were rumors of “corruption”. You relegated those rumors, if true, to be simply that of government officials accepting bribes. You didn’t ask why there would be a need for bribes if everything was above board. Let it lie, you say. Focus on the good. Ignore the bad...
"Now, with at least 3 cases proven of stolen children having been processed for adoption, these helpless, hopeless, vulnerable women make them feel very uncomfortable. This may be only the tip of a sordid ice berg. So they do not want justice. They want it all to go away."

Please pass this on to all concerned with social justice and human rights and stay tuned here for more news about the September Solidarity with Guatemala Social Action.

Also, be sure to see video at this link.

Is Adoption Indenture?

Recently, I posed a question in a blog post asking in what ways adoption was similar to or different from kidnapping: the definition of which is to take another's child, and is sometimes committed without any overt violence and not for monetary gain.

Some adoptions do involve out-and-out violent kidnapping, and others varying degrees of coercion, deceit and deception, such a smothers in parts of the world being told their children are coming to the US for an education and will be returned...or American expectant mothers being "matched" and enmeshed with perspective adopters who pay their expenses and are than made to feel emotionally, or even financially and legally INDEBTED to hand over their child.

Of course, in the and, the adoption are legal...but are the MEANS not a fine line from abductions?

Others, speaking out on behalf of the rights - or lack thereof - of adoptees, have form time to time made another shocking comparison. One that like the use of the word kidnapping, raises eyebrows and causes knees to automatically jerk in a most defensive manner...while mouths are heard to scream NO WAY! That is comparing adoption to slavery.

Slavery is the buying and selling of human beings to perform unpaid labor. Again, then end - the performing of labor - is non-existent in adoption...but the MEANS...the means of acquisition. Are not almost all adoptees (with the exception of those adopted from foster care) "bought" in some sense or another? To one degree or another? Are not the recipients paying for them?

And more importantly, do not the recipient adopters receive a certificate of OWNERSHIP: A falsified birth certificate erasing the truth and inserting them as the ONLY parents.

I was reading 73Adoptee's recent blog post about yet another denied a passport because her papers were not accurate and t In pondering the great injustice done in the name of adoption (with its overlay of altruism and gratitude) I thought about indentured servants and turned to the dictionary for a definition of this term that has always been linked to slavery.

Read the definition and you decide:

in⋅den⋅ture

1.	a deed or agreement executed in two or more copies with edges correspondingly indented as a means of identification.

2.	any deed, written contract, or sealed agreement.

3.	a contract by which a person, as an apprentice, is bound to service.

4.	any official or formal list, certificate, etc., authenticated for use as a voucher or the like.

5.	the formal agreement between a group of bondholders and the debtor as to the terms of the debt.

6.	indentation.

–verb (used with object)

7.	to bind by indenture, as an apprentice.

8.	Archaic. to make a depression in; indent; wrinkle; furrow.

---

Kidnapping or Adoption?

A "TV expert" attorney commenting on the custody possibilities for the Michael Jackson children, particularly whether Debbie Rowe would have a shot at custody....said that it does not matter if Jackson was nether their biological father or adoptive father of any of the children. He has raised them and that makes them his. HUH?? Does she as an attorney really equate children to possessions? Does the law? Even so, does the law now uphold the schoolyard rule of law: finder jeepers, losers weepers?

Applying the "possession is 9/10ths of the law" rule to children is not only gross and clearly makes property of them - as in slaves (even if their "job" is only to look cute) - it also suggests that the dame would apply for any kidnapper...thus bringing us full circle right back to the start of this post...

Online Legal Dictionary defines kidnapping as:

The crime of unlawfully seizing and carrying away a person by force or Fraud, or seizing and detaining a person against his or her will with an intent to carry that person away at a later time....

As for punishment it says:

A person who is convicted of kidnapping is usually sentenced to prison for a certain number of years. In some states, and at the federal level, the term of imprisonment may be the remainder of the offender's natural life. In jurisdictions that authorize the death penalty, a kidnapper is charged with a capital offense if the kidnapping results in death. Kidnapping is so severely punished because it is a dreaded offense. It usually occurs in connection with another criminal offense, or underlying crime.

I cannot help but think pedophiles such as Peckenpaugh, Mancusco and now social worker Frank Lombard - all of whim "adopted" children with the sole intent and purpose of using them as sex slaves. Why is this still called adoption and not what it is: kidnapping? Even Joel Steinberg who "adopted" two kids but never filed for their adoption and abused both, killing one...was never charged with kidnapping - or murder - and all throughout the case it was referred to as an "illegal adoption'" instead of a kidnapping.

And now of course we have as many as a thousand children in this country who were "adopted" from Guatemala, any number of whom very well may have been kidnapped with no one investigating. See also: DNA.

In Jackson's case, he allegedly never filed to adopt any of these children either and it now appears none are biologically related to him. Does that not clearly constitute kidnapping, or baby selling? Or did he cleverly get around that loophole - at least re the first two by marrying his surrogate?

Wikipedia says:

In modern usage, kidnapping or abduction of a child is often called child stealing, particularly when done not to collect a ransom but rather with the intention of keeping the child permanently (often in a case where the child's parents are divorced or legally separated, whereupon the parent who does not have legal custody will commit the act, also known as "childnapping").

One legal explanation/opinion about surrogacy and adoption appears at: Michael Jackson’s Kids and the “Parent Child Relationship” - An Intro to Legal Issues with Surrogacy, Third Party Reproduction, and Adoption

It all leaves this blogger wondering: Is there a difference between adoption and kidnaping anymore? Where is the line that separates what is considered a noble act of altruism from a felony that is just on step short of premeditated murder?

Behind the Jamie Kiefer Headlines

In 2007 a story made headlines of a mother "kidnapping" her child.

JACKSON, Miss. - Two women and an armed man stormed a home wearing masks and kidnapped an infant one of the women had given up for adoption, authorities alleged Sunday. The baby was found unharmed at a military base three states away.

Investigators found the 5-month-old girl early Sunday at Fort Bragg, N.C., and planned to file state kidnapping charges against her biological mother, Jamie Kiefer, and related charges against the child’s biological aunt, Rikki Swann, said Special Agent Jason Pack, an FBI spokesman in Jackson.

“Apparently it was related to the adoption of the baby,” Pack said. “Apparently Ms. Kiefer had changed her mind about the adoption.”

I was recently contact by the grandmother of the child at the center of this storm and has learned what did not make the headlines. In a telephone interview Charmaine Tryst told us that the kidnapping charges were dropped when it was confirmed that the baby was her own child and that there had been no adoption, nor was one filed for.

Jaimie Kiefer’s husband had wanted the child to be adopted and knew of a co-worker who wanted a child. Arrangements were made. Jaimie gave birth on February 1, 2007 and approximately Feb 12 she signed papers at the office of Mississippi attorney, Dan Davis, with whom she spent just minutes. She left with no copy of what she had signed.

That night, after signing she called the prospective adoptive mother and told her she changed her mind but she was dissuaded from revoking consent and re-convinced that it was best. She called and called and asked for the name of the attorney and was stonewalled.

Two weeks later she moved to Maryland with her husband but was so distraught with post partum depression she kept hearing her baby crying. They found an attorney who helped them locate a Mississippi attorney and they returned to Mississippi and began with a new attorney on May 11.

By July, still deep in post partum depression and grief over the loss of her baby a friend convinced her to take matters into her own hands in an act that landed her in prison for 6 years. Although kidnapping charges were dropped, she was charged with breaking and entering the home and one of the friends who helped allegedly had a toy gun. The father’s rights were terminated and even the child’s maternal grandmother, who applied to adopt her was refused when her name was added to the indictment as a conspirator for knowing about it after the fact.

Jaimie’s mom is distraught having lost her daughter and granddaughter and is working to get Jaimie released on house arrest so she can care for a subsequently born child who has multiple disabilities.

This is a horrible tale all stemming from a total lack of proper counseling and shoddy adoption practices. Unlike any other type of crisis – attempted suicide, grief over the death of a loved one – instead of insisting that the person make no rash decisions at a time of extreme duress…only when there is a baby that is wanted by another is a person’s emotional distress so exploited. Where a potential jumper would be talked down, a recent widow comforted, a mother who considers adoption is offered legal abandonment and lawyers who will whisk their child away.

If only every expectant mother who ever considers adoption could know and understand the ramifications and irrevocability of adoption. How horribly sad, though, that Jaimie Kiefer (as did Allison Quets) felt driven to do so out of utter helplessness and frustration with the legal system. Mothers who are working through the legal system to overturn adoptions are finding it taking YEARS and more money than one can possibly earn in that time.

I by no means condones taking the situation into one’s own hands and make no judgment whatsoever on the merits of either of these women as fit mothers. I do however deplore adoption practices that totally deny any and all rights of a mothers – and fathers – to options counseling, ample time to decide, separate legal representation and ample time to revoke a decision made under duress.

WAKE UP!! CHILDREN ARE BEING STOLEN & KIDNAPPED WORLDWIDE!!!

When does it end?


How many more will it take???





How long will we continue to turn a blind eye to the worldwide MARKETING and TRAFFIKING in human life?



How much longer will we IGNORE The exploitation of the poor and the commodification of their chidlren to meet a DEMAND!??

All the while singing the praises of adoption as a 'win-win" rescue of homeless chidlren...even encouraging adoption with tax benefits?!

How much longer will we play this pretense?!
How much longer will we allow those who PROFIT in the redistribution of children and the DESTRUCTION of FAMILIES to continue?!

This is NOT just a problem of third world countries!!!

Gladney Center of Fort Worth is PROUD of its MARKETING CAMPAIGN!

Gladney Center for Adoption Announces New Marketing Campaign and Updated Website

Last update: 11:51 a.m. EDT Aug. 21, 2008

FORT WORTH, Texas, Aug 21, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- FORT WORTH, Texas, Aug. 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Gladney Center for Adoption has recently unveiled a new marketing campaign as well re-launched Gladney's updated website.

The Birth Parent and Adoptive Parent Campaigns have a new look with the development of new marketing creative materials. Gladney's new Birth Parent campaign, "Encouraging Words," brings a message of hope to those experiencing unplanned pregnancies. Hope is hidden in the everyday environment and with Gladney; a birth mother can find hope.

The Adoptive Parent campaign is designed to create a message of hope, love and anticipation that adoptive parents feel as they enter into the adoption process. The materials with a toy chest image, creating a message of love, hope and anticipation that adoptive parents feel as they enter into the adoption process. The toy chest and toys are used as the key visual element and the toys represent each country and program. The use of the toys demonstrates Gladney's connection to each country with which we work and underscores Gladney's expertise in adoption.

The updated website includes Birth Mother video testimonies as well as Adoptive Parent and Adoptee testimonies. The Birth Mother website has a different look and feel than the adoptive parent site. More media stories are included as well as information about Gladney's vast humanitarian aid efforts. The site is designed to be easy to use.

The Gladney Center for Adoption is one of the oldest and largest maternity homes and adoption agencies in the United States, placing more than 27,000 children in permanent homes and assisting more than 36,000 birth mothers. In addition to placing children born in the United States, Gladney's international program is committed to finding permanent homes for children in other countries. Adoption opportunities are available in several countries around the world including Eastern European, Asian and Latin American countries. A genuine commitment to client and social service makes Gladney an exceptional adoption agency and a national leader in adoption.

For more information about Gladney's adoption programs and humanitarian aid efforts please log onto www.gladney.org.

Kids 'kidnapped for Aussie adoption'

August 22, 2008

POOR Indian children are being kidnapped and adopted out to Australian families through state government agencies, authorities say.

More than a dozen “pretty” children kidnapped in Indian slums have ended up being adopted in Australia, TIME Magazine reported.

According to the magazine, at least 120 children were kidnapped from slums in southern India and were sold to a Chennai-based adoption agency Malaysian Social Services (MSS) for as little as $280, before being sent overseas.

Police in India told the magazine that after MSS bought the children, new identities were created and the children sent overseas.

In an interview with the magazine, an Indian mother named Fatima said her two-year-old daughter Zabeen was plucked off the street, thrown into a motorised rickshaw then disappeared.

"I thought someone had taken her for her kidney,” Fatima said.

Seven years after Zabeen vanished, it was discovered that she had been processed by MSS and police in India now say she was adopted by a family in Queensland.

Indian police believe at least 13 kidnapped children were adopted by Australian families.

Indian authorities are now hoping to question officials from the Queensland Families Department.

Queensland Child Safety Minister Margaret Keech told the magazine that the allegations were “very concerning”.

“(Officials) will work very closely with federal and state agencies to investigate these claims,” Ms Keech said.

Police also hope to interview people who may have adopted kidnapped children.

And...we can all be PROUD to know that while we tsk tsk and go about our daily lives...debating whether its "worth it" (financially and/or emotionally) to support adoption activism programs...The National Council for Adoption is counting their donations and adding up the BUCKS their supporters have kicked in to keep up the status quo and the flow of babies:

We met our goal!! We’re in the black!!! On the last day of our fiscal year, the National Council For Adoption raised all the funds we needed to meet our budget. And it’s all because of you!! We sent out the call for help 7 days before our year end and you answered with overwhelming generosity and $37,000. Your commitment to champion the cause of adoption is the reason we are able to begin this new fiscal year on strong financial footing. Words cannot express our gratitude to you for reaching deep into your pockets and standing alongside us in this great cause. We have so much work to do but we are in a great position to continue that work so that all children can have a loving, permanent family of their own. Thank you!! Thomas C. Atwood President and CEO

You can contact NCFA by mail, phone, fax, and e-mail: National Council For Adoption 225 N. Washington Street Alexandria, VA 22314 703-299-6633 (Phone) 703-299-6004 (fax) ncfa@adoptioncouncil.org

*****

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." (Edmund Burke)

*****

When, if ever, will we who care about morality, ethics in adoption, child welfare....put our money where are mouths are and being a real campaign to turn this world right side up again?

Or will we simply give up and not even try? Not care what is done to other mothers and their children? Not make any attempt to spare one other human the pain and loss we have suffered?