Child adoption and the Ethiopian Church

Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Child adoption and the Ethiopian Church
The church’s responsibilities to society are listed in two parts in the Book of James (1:7) as, first, to look after orphans and widows in their distress and, second, to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. Let us look at the first of the two for now.

Child adoption is a very sensitive and complex issue. It is sensitive because it says a lot about a nation’s social policy and safety net as well defines its image abroad. What are the social/psychological implications that currently Ethiopian adoptions are considered “cheap” and “easy”? Child adoption is also complex in that there are multiple actors with specific and often overlapping interests involved in its execution.

There are those who having realized their inability to impact the world in a big way choose to share in a small way their love and resources with a child. This is commendable. Others simply engage in making good money in the process of doing ‘good’. The part of moneymaking may be the one sore spot in the world of adoptions. “Trafficking” is rampant, which in effect means cheating birth mothers or stealing babies under the cover of providing humanitarian services. For governments child adoption provides a “safe” way to shirk their responsibility, generate revenue, and profit from the media hype.

There is also danger in assuming that merely meeting a child’s physical needs will somehow compensate for losing its spiritual/cultural bearings. In other words, Angelina Jollie’s glitter and wealth will never substitute the love of Zahara’s poor birth mother.

Adoptees could end up in homes of molesters or individuals with non-traditional family orientation. Ethiopian cultural values are in fundamental conflict with such an environment. Hence, adoption agencies need to seriously consider reinforcing local values instead of randomly imposing their own on Ethiopian-born children.

However, questions remain. Why does a nation handover the care of its defenseless citizens and, by corollary, its future to foreigners? What is the Ethiopian church doing to “look after orphans” and to see to it that adoptions are not turned into moneymaking cottage industry? We would like to hear from you.
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Posted by Ethiopianchurch Blog at 10:03 AM