No children for foreigners

As disturbing as it really is, I'm always glad to see media outlets reporting on the effects American adopters have had (and do have) on domestic care and domestic adoption programs:

A family wanted to adopt a three-month old baby living in an orphanage, but three families had refused the baby because of his terrible diagnoses, which included such diseases as hepatitis. The couple went ahead and adopted the baby anyway, only to discover that the child never had hepatitis, nor any other disease. The orphanage then confessed that they were preparing the baby for foreign adoption.

It's bad enough some will change birth-facts, (like a birthdate, making an older child much younger - and therefore more desirable to potential adopters) so an adoption plan (with all its paid service-fees) can be completed. But to think some will go as far as create a fake illness for a child, all so one can deter locals from a domestic adoption plan, and push for an ICA plan, instead?  Just how sick and demented (and self-serving) have certain workers within the adoption industry become? 

Clearly, this particular orphanage was preparing for the increase in profits an ICA plan makes and brings, putting the basic needs of the child nowhere on its list of Important Things To Do. 

The thing is, Americans defending ICA should not quickly claim, "this was an isolated incident", as I expect many will do.  The truth is, the vast majority of American adopters choosing the foreign adopion option DON'T WANT TO KNOW how often lies are told and used so others can make a profit through a shady adoption plan.  This convenient denial held by foreign adopters puts families-in-crisis at risk... the risk being, ANY financially struggling parent facing a family-crisis can quickly and easily lose rights to a child, and any child can be mislabeled to suit the wants and needs of those willing to make thousands of dollars through child-trade.  It's all about money.

With that fact of adopted life, given all the information one can find on the internet, it is no longer acceptable for anyone to deny there is a tremendous amount of false-labeling and fake claiming taking place, all so every first-family tie can be severed, and a money-making foreign adoption can be executed.  This pattern and method found in child trafficking markets is WRONG, (it always has been), and I think foreign adopters need to learn how to own their part in this crime against other parents and children.

Back to the case that created an orphan's false health-history for ICA's interests.  In order to put this not-so-isolated-event into context, readers ought to ask how many American-based adoption agencies  were connected to, and doing business with, this orphanage.  In other words, how many Americans was this particular orphanage serving?  What other countries were using the orphanage for it's "child welfare services", as well?  What was the going rate(s) and price-difference between foreign buyer and domestic adopter at the time?  And last but not least, does anyone really think this incident is limited to this one particular case, at this one particular orphanage, in this one particular country?

I sure hope more people are beginning to see the light  that's being cast upon the dark-side of adoption; I hope more are starting to understand why so many foreign adoptees hustled or trafficked into poorly monitored adoptive homes are so angry towards adopters and the adoption system itself.  The actions done against children found  in most care-systems are criminal, but instead of putting an immediate end to ICA, ICA advocates and their ICA facilitators are praised and thanked for their trans-global humanitarian efforts. 

<gag, vomit>

After many years collecting data for PPL, it's become very clear to me that  many social services around the world are not making quality child-care a real priority within their own child welfare programs.  Ironically, it seems the pattern of poor care and a disinterest in domestic adoption is seen in some of the world's wealthiest nations.  There is an added insult that goes with all the traumatic losses and  injuries children put in-care are forced to accept and endure.  Given all the ways corruption exists in Adoptionland, in spite of all it's glorious promises, ICA programs will (and do) make already woeful child welfare programs much much worse, putting the already grossly disadvantaged children at a higher risk for receiving the worst and most undesirable labels a person could have in that social circle.

Just ask a few adoptive parents how lies (to protect the guilty) are received when they learn the child they adopted was either kidnapped or was abused in-care, but was never told about the abuse.... or both.  Ask adopters how many thought the thousands of dollars they were paying in the name of "orphanage fees" was going towards care of the child chosen for them, as opposed to going towards salaries that have been self-created.

In recent years, the government has significantly increased funding for orphanages. The expenditure per child ranges from 350,000 – 600,000 rubles ($11,000 - $18,000) - depending on the region. This money is not spent so much on the children, however, as on school maintenance, staff salaries and utility costs. In addition, orphanage staff members receive substantial bonuses for working with sick children, which leads staff members to add diagnoses in some cases.

As many modern-day adopters know, lying about a child's health history is just one example of what members of the pro ICA camp will do to ensure an ICA plan takes place. 

As a foreign-born adoptee, I find it both offensive and maddening to see just how far some will go to limit, (or even reduce), the number of domestic adoptions made in a  particular region/country.  While Pro-ICA advocates will pontificate the ills of institutional living and all the harm 'not having a family' may cause, they are forgetting the harm and dangers child trafficking and trade can cause, especially to a naturally healthy child. 

High on the harmful and damaging list is the way in which children are neglected and abused whilst in-care.  The implications are huge, especially when one considers the way malnutrition and trauma affect a child's growth and development.

Unfortunately, neglect in-care happens to be a huge selling point and feature for foreigners wanting to help poor, disadvantaged "orphaned" children.  As long as domestic child welfare programs remain inadequate in troubled/corrupt countries, there will always be a good excuse to adopt a child as a way to end a child's suffering.  And for some strange reason, for ages it seems, the pro-adoption camp has been selling the idea that only through foster/adoptive homes and families can a disadvantaged child be kept away from the path of self-destruction. 

Just to see how far government disinterest and neglect can go in a care-system, look at America's Foster-care/adoption program.  In states like Florida, conditions are so dismal -- care is so poor, state-oversight is so bad, and drug-use has become so rampant,  ICA has to be the rescue for some -- but even that  hasn't worked as planned, because the US care-system is so bad.  Aren't Americans ashamed of this?  (They should be...which is why they should not be looking for foreign orphans to "save".)

But by all means, let the fact that ICA is used as a "last resort" and in turn it is creating more harm than good remain in the place so many American adopters like and prefer -- the state of denial.

My hope is, Russia will close it's ICA doors to every receiving country, and focus on improving domestic-care, instead.  I would love to see Russia take good care of it's own children, and I'd love to learn Russia's foster-care/adoption system doesn't look anything like America's poor excuse of a social service for its young and most vulnerable.  After all, how many countries can afford the mess we see in America's school system and prison population?

Finally, as more articles from and about Russia's adoption programs come out, I hope a reality check for American adopters will kick-in.  I look forward to the day when Americans become more humbled and less arrogant about what it means to be "proud" and "American".  I welcome the day when more American parents become less fixated on their neighbors - and what the Joneses are doing or buying - and more focused on the simple things, like the happiness, health and well-being of their own children/family members.  For the sake and best-interest of American children put in America's care-system, I hope someday soon, all of the American religious orphan crusaders hell-bent on a humanitarian mission will step away from their global map and  take a good long look at America's great cities and tragic heartland... and maybe hear God's call and reminder that generosity and altruism begins at home, and from there, the power of love and kindness grows.