international adoption

A good friend sent me this article called Foreign Policy: The Lie We Love which is about corruption and international adoption. It's a good article to read but be forewarned that it includes disturbing information.

We all know the story of international adoption: Millions of infants and toddlers have been abandoned or orphaned—placed on the side of a road or on the doorstep of a church, or left parentless due to AIDS, destitution, or war. These little ones find themselves forgotten, living in crowded orphanages or ending up on the streets, facing an uncertain future of misery and neglect. But, if they are lucky, adoring new moms and dads from faraway lands whisk them away for a chance at a better life.

Unfortunately, this story is largely fiction. Continue reading...

Understand that I am not against foreign adoption as I believe there is a real need for it. (We certainly live in a broken and fallen world). However, I also believe that we must be smart and enter into international adoption with eyes wide open. As adoptive parents it does neither us nor our children any good to hide from some of these truths. Corruption is alive and well in adoption, we all know that. Instead of turning a blind eye we need to work together for reform in the system and check our motives. Speaking as a prospective adoptive parent, motive checking is a really hard place to go. There is nothing more that I want in this world than to have a child and raise a family, but I can't knowingly be a part of an unethical process. And that is the hardest part of all of this. You really don't know. You can look for the red flags, you can do your best to ensure ethical procedures, but at the end of the day it is difficult to get a clear understanding of the whole truth.

This article is about foreign international adoption. D and I are in a different kind of international adoption process which looks more like a domestic adoption situation. In foreign adoption, children are generally adopted from orphanages and government or orphanage and agency staff match families with children. In our international adoption situation we will be chosen by an expectant mother to raise her child. This certainly does not mean that our chosen route of adoption is devoid of all corruption. There are very real ethical concerns with newborn adoption and the American system where adoption equals big business. And let's face it, there are corrupt people everywhere in this world.

I guess the bottom line is to always be on the watch...eyes and ears open to see and hear the truth, no matter how difficult that may be.