exposing the dark side of adoption
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This week we started the First Annual Demons of Adoption Awards and among our nominees are some of the organizations that most flagrantly promote the separation of mother's and children. It is good we raise attention to those organizations and expose their methods and power. Yet the adoption industy is much larger than just the NCFA and Adoption.com.

On the other end of the spectrum we can find agencies like Spence-Chapin, founders of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute and agencies like Holt International which fund some of the research the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute has carried out. While the Adoption Institute raises quite a different voice from the NCFA, it doesn't make these more progressive adoption agencies any less dangerous.

Ethical adoption sells just as much as Chistian adoption, it's just for a different constituency. In the end both Spence-Chapin and Holt International have to pay their staff and while some of their income comes from charitable donations or by doing projects paid by organizations like Unicef (Holt Romania), most of their income is from the adoption fees they receive.

Every agency looks for its own unique selling point. Gladney is for the very rich, NCFA affiliated agencies sell their goods to the Christian community. Spence has found it's niche among the bleeding heart liberal comnunity of NYC and Holt tries to look like an international charity that does good work for all poor children around the globe. However sheepish the clothes of these organizations look, at the end of the month they have bills to pay and income to generate, money made by selling babies.

Babies being key here. Many agencies promote the work they do for older children in the foster care system. Big photo opportunities and self appraising publications go out, but in the end the markets wants babies, healty babies. Not many prospective adoptive parents are willing to pay big bugs for an older special needs children, but a baby that can be raised as their own, that's worth a lot.

The rules of the marker apply in child placement and all agencies conform to the market, whatever their marketing strategy is. No agency would exist if they didn't listen to the market.

I only see one way out of this.

Stop the market!!!

by Niels on Friday, 21 September 2007