I was born in India but I do not know my actual birth date. I always felt strongly and have fleeting memories that I was well loved and cared for in the early part of my life. Around the age of 3 or 4 years old while I was sleeping, a woman stole me from my bed and my family in the night. The details are too much to go into but this link will tell the story of my early years http://www.missingindiankids.com/searching/vanessa/

The latest fatality of an adoptee from Russia was all over the news the past few days. The Russian media are heavily focused on this case, while the American press mostly reprinted the same Associated Press article in all major news papers and news sites.

The case of Max Shatto (Maxim Kuzmin) raises many questions, the most prominent of which: why has the US Department of State not reacted to this case before Russian authorities did?

In March, 2011, standing alone in a Galveston court room, a young father received his punishment for performing a sexual act on his 3 month old son before crushing his crying infant's skull.  Travis Mullis, 24 year old adult abused adoptee, was ordered to death.

At the time of court ruling, his still-living "forever" adoptive mom was living in sunny warm Florida.  She wanted nothing to do with him and the case.

Submitted Sept. 4, 2012 at 6:40 pm. http://religionscell.com/blog/?p=194

Abuse in adoptive families is an under-investigated topic. The assumption is often made that screening of prospective adopters weeds out inappropriate candidates. Despite screening, every year dozens of abuse cases make the news, while an unknown number of cases remain unreported. In some cases the abuse is so severe, the adopted children actually die.

In my never-ending quest for self-improvement and enlightenment, I found a report titled "Somatic-Experiential Sex Therapy:  A Body-Centered Gestalt Approach to Sexual Concerns", and as I was reading the pages, I found myself -- parts of my own story  -- being explained to readers.

Not literally, of course.

I've decided to go public with some personal information about myself because the topic I've been discussing in private has touched many aspects of my life, including PPL.

I'm going through some difficult times in a few personal relationships.  This is not new for me; maintaining a close (loving?) relationship has always been difficult for me.  But long breaks, caused by normal every day events, like work or school, have made me keenly awareness of an odd inability in me, a characteristic I'd like to change.

On September 28, 1854. the New York Times ran an article with the title: Murder of an Adopted Child in New-Orleans, describing the abuse and subsequent death of Christian Rohnor, a two-year-old boy, adopted by a couple from New Orleans. Christian Rohnor was locked up in the attic, starved to the point of being completely emaciated, and eventually beaten to death by his adoptive father.

The story of Christian Rohnor is almost entirely forgotten and we may like to think those barbaric times are long gone. We may be compelled to think that in the 156 years that have passed since the death of Christian Rohnor, adoption standards have been raised to the point that such horrific abuse of an adopted child no longer takes place.

Christian Rohnor may have been the first documented case of lethal abuse in an adoptive family, his death was certainly not the last. To this day adoptees are abused and killed by members found in their new "forever family". Every year there are several cases of adopted children being tortured to death, shaken to death or disciplined to death. 156 years after the cruelties performed on Christian Rohnor, there are still adopters who choose not to love,  care for and protect their young additions, but instead, choose to lock up the children in their care, starve them, sexually abuse them and beat them, sometimes to death.

In memory of Christian Rohnor, we honor the children who met their death due to abuse in adoptive families since Adoption Awareness Month 2010.

Rohnor's Angels 2011:

Hana Grace-Rose Williams: Died of hypothermia ,  May 12, 2011, Sedro Woolley, Washington
Mollie Sliker: Beaten to death, March 23, 2011, Watertown, New York
Nubia Barahona: Beaten to death, February 14, 2011, West Palm Beach, Florida

May these chosen adopted angels finally rest in peace, and may the many survivors of post-adoption abuse find healing in the years to come.

Today marks my 43rd year, and as birthdays go for the adoptee, it's a bitter-sweet day.

I'm not one who likes to celebrate the day my mother agreed to send me away.  And yet, I am able to acknowledge my life has meaning and has brought much happiness and comfort to many others.  [Therefore I do recognize my life is not a waste; it does have worth.]

Today we added the 500th case to our abuse case archive. This dubious honor goes to a case of sexual abuse of a ten-year-old girl adopted by Jon Paul Reid. Among the 500 cases we have archived over the past three years, this case, unfortunately, doesn't stand out as particularly exceptional. There have been many children like the Reid girl before, and since little is done to prevent these situations, we will likely have to document several similar cases in the future.

I was watching a movie with my twins today.  Readers need to understand, when it comes to spending time with my older kids, I struggle.  Parenting/mommy-ing was much easier when my annoying, demanding heathens were newborns, or at the very least, much much younger, when their very simple basic needs, were very simple, basic, and easy. 

<longing for for the long-gone 'easy' days... because the looks on their faces told me I was/am a good decent parent> coupled with <tired, frustrated, annoyed and really stressed-out sigh>

I've decided it's time I start a series titled, "WHAT are these AP's thinking?!?"  because the ignorance and "look at me and all I can do" AP orientation really rocks and astounds me, the angry adoptee who wants to help stop the insanity that perpetuates in Adoptionland.

However, I want this series to be open to all who find items in websites and blogospheres that raise the back-hairs and push the pulse over the 130 mark.

In a previous post, Ignorance and Attachment/Adoption Issues, I listed many concerns I have related to Holding Therapy, and how it is being used to change or modify a child's behavior.  Based on what I have read in cases where adoptees were abused by parents following the teachings and suggestions made by those associated with "attachment therapists", my concerns about the use of HT with a child include:

Recently, the adoption blogosphere has become abuzz with the case featuring a Christian family wanting to adopt, a Russian boy with Down Syndrome, and the Russian government.

Greg and Tesney Davis, a couple from Tuscaloosa, Alabama, seem to believe their desire to adopt this "special" boy is being blocked by the Russian court, and their story has made small-time news. The news-media version of the story begins with the following three lines: