Kerry and Niels' blog

In February 2005, Toronto police made an unprecedented move to further the investigation of a child pornography case they had been working on for three years. Hoping to rescue a girl from the ongoing sexual abuse, they took the unusual step to release several of the two hundred images they had in their possession. The photos were altered in such a way that only the scenery was shown, hoping this would lead to new leads in their investigation.

The media was eager to pick up on the story and the photos made the front page of many news paper and televised news programs paid extensive attention to the case. Soon after the release of the photos, the location depicted, in a twist of irony, was identified as Disney World. The victim, not visible in any of the photos presented was immediately labeled "Disney World Girl".

The release of the photos gave the audience a unique glimpse into the forbidden world of child pornography, without actually being tainted by it. The voyeuristic element of the release of the photos in combination with graphic descriptions of what was removed from the photos, made the story of "Disney World Girl" a news media hit.

Most adoption agencies are registered as not-for-profit organizations and as a result are obliged to file executive compensations with the IRS. While the organization itself is not-for-profit, its executives can still make a startling amount of money for themselves. In that sense promoting an agency as not-for-profit can, and in many cases is misleading. In several situations the compensation of top executives at adoption agencies is essentially the profit made by the organization.

The table that follows lists compensations to adoption agency executives in the amount of $95,000 or more, including benefits and expenses.

Yesterday we learned an upcoming article of Elizabeth Bartholet is quoting a post made on Pound Pup Legacy, so we got curious about what she had to say. It turned out we had already read the article in an earlier draft, which at the time not yet contained a reference to our website.

On the one hand we am glad we are being noticed, on the other hand the article again pointed out to us the ivory tower from which Ms. Bartholet operates.

The article is called International adoption: The human rights position and is a 39 page long plea for the expansion of inter-country adoption. The most remarkable section of the article is called: Why the International Adoption Critics are Wrong, of which especially the subsection Adoption Abuses Don’t Justify Limiting International Adoption is especially mind boggling naive and devoid of any realization what inter-country adoption is like outside the legal frame work.

Let's walk through the section:

Adoption abuses exist, as in every area abuses of the legal system exist. But there is no persuasive evidence that adoption abuses are extensive. Nor is there reason to think that they would be extensive.

Over the years much has been written about the Religious Right, but mainstream media have often overlooked the adoption angle when describing the workings of this section of American society.

Ever since the late 1970's the so-called Religious Right has managed to gain an enormous influence in American politics and that influence can hardly be overstated. While consisting of many different organizations, the movement is very homogeneous in its goal and very little dissent exists among its members. That is mainly so, because the Religious Right is the works of a relative small group of highly influential and highly affluent individuals that make up the boards of these various organizations.

The agenda of the Religious Right can be summarized in three main goals:

• Eliminate the public sector and break down the separation between church and state
  
• Institute social laws based on biblical rule
• Facilitate free market economy

When last week Jaycee Dugard re-appeared after having been abducted for 18 years, her well-being and her future were one of the main considerations of the authorities involved. The New York Times ran an article For Longtime Captives, a Complex Road Home, in which several therapists shared their view about cases like these.

One of the experts mentioned is Dr. Judith A. Cohen medical director of the Center for Traumatic Stress in Children and Adolescents at Allegheny General Hospital in Pittsburgh. Allegheny County, the place where six years earlier Masha Allen was found living with a pedophile adopter, who raped her, abused her and sent her photographs all around the world. If ever there was a clear-cut case where top-notch intervention would be required, it was Masha's. Yet despite the availability of such an expert on child trauma in the area, all the help Masha got was fifteen hours of wrap-around service at the house of her foster mother Lynn Ginn by the Holy Family Institute and counseling once per week at the Bethany Baptist Church from an unlicensed counselor.

So why did Masha not receive the treatment she needed at the time? The reason is plain and simple, faith-based zeal dominated her placement with Lynn Ginn.

Lynn Ginn was a troubled young woman who grew up in Georgia under the name Kimberly Murphy, a name she later changed to Lynn Ginn, when she started a new life admitting herself to the Peniel Center in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a faith-based drug rehab center. Kimberly/Lynn supposedly suffered from anorexia at the time.

Through the Peniel Center, where she stayed twice, once in 1998 and once in 2001, Lynn Ginn met Cheryl Allen, a black evangelical judge, who had introduced praying in courtroom and who sought a seat in the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Judge Cheryl Allen took Lynn Ginn in her home and got her counseling through Theotherapy, a faith-based service for which Judge Cheryl Allen served as a board member.

In 2007 we instituted the annual

to raise a voice against adoption propaganda and the self congratulatory practices of the

On May 27, 2003, federal agents Denise Holtz and Tom Clinton visited the home of Matthew Mancuso, to investigate advertisement of child pornography on the internet. When they pulled into the driveway, they noticed Mancuso outside with his adopted daughter Masha. Immediately, after being separated from Mancuso, Masha asked the investigators if they had come because of her secret.

Masha's secret began five year earlier, when Matthew Mancuso purchased her through an adoption agency Reaching Out Thru International Adoption.  This agency was affiliated with an orphanage in Novoshakhtinsk, Russia. Mancuso had no intention to being a father to Masha, he wanted a sex-slave and he got what he wanted, and paid for.

Masha's story is unique in many ways, yet it is plagued with problems known to exist within the adoption industry. Masha's story is special not because she was sexually abused by her adopter, that sadly happens quite frequently. Masha's story is special not because she was sexually exploited for pornographic purposes, in that respect there are similar cases.  Masha's story is special not because she was adopted for the purpose of sexual abuse and exploitation, even in that sense Masha's case is not a singular exception. What makes Masha's case so special and unique?  There is so much knowledge and information gained from it.

Adoption is a secretive business; under the pretext of the protection of privacy, not much is officially known about the way in which children change hands.  It's fair to say those protective measures mostly serve the organizations involved. Masha's case is much the Rosetta Stone of adoption, because of her testimony before a Congressional Committee and the subsequent use of Congress' power to subpoena, all of which gave a unique insight into the workings of the agencies involved.

In this article we will explore the workings of organizations involved in adoption. Our working thesis is that adoption is a commercial activity in which organizations make an income through the sales of children. As a result of that, the safety and well-being of children takes a back seat to the machinations of the child placement industry.  [I want to pun the phrase "drive to adopt", but it could be overkill]

Whenever a child dies at the hands of its adoptive parents, the various news outlets that cover such crime,  often ask "experts" from organizations like the Evan B Donaldson adoption institute, the Joint Council on International Children's Services and even the National Council for Adoption for commentary. The response usually has the following pattern: "abuse in adoptive families is rare and without minimizing the tragedy we should look at how well adoptive families are being screened and consider that the vast majority of children adopted end up with loving parents that treat them well".

This well rehearsed response seems to satisfy both the journalists and the audience at large, but on closer examination, it has little validity.

There are several problems with this statement. First of all abuse rates in general are hard to establish. A literature review of 23 studies into the prevalence of sexual abuse of children found rates varying from 3% to 37% for males and 8% to 71% for females. So the highest estimate is about a factor 10 larger than the lowest estimate. Based on that it is fair to conclude that abuse prevalence studies are a bad predictor for abuse rates. At best, these studies can be used to compare various groups, but even then there are serious pitfalls.

Two weeks ago the Georgia Budget and Policy Institute published a report: Georgia’s Allocation of Federal TANF Funds in FY 2010. Before getting into the details of the report let's briefly outline what Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) stands for.

TANF is the

's

Three weeks ago we reported about the motion to withdraw as filed by Robert N. Hunn with the Federal District Court of New Jersey.

In the mean time several new facts have emerged that call for an update, but before going into details let me first give a brief introduction to the case for those unfamiliar with its details.

In 1998 Masha was adopted from Rusia by a single man from Pennsylvania, by the name of Matthew Mancuso. Mancuso had applied for adoption with the Families Thru International Adoption (FTIA) office in New Jersey in August 1997. This office was run by Jeannene Smith.

FTIA and Jeannene Smith discontinued their cooperation early 1998, after which Jeannene Smith founded Reaching Out Thru International Adoption (ROTIA). As a result of this break-up, Manuco moved his application for adoption to ROTIA, which at the time was not yet a licensed agency.