Letter to the Editor "The Path to Legal Adoption"

Newsday (Melville, NY)

LETTERS

Author: Elise Gotimer;

Regarding the article "Prison for Baby Smugglers" [April 18]: As an adoptive parent of three beautiful children from Mexico, I take offense at many of the positions stated by the defense attorneys for Arlene Lieberman and Arlene Reingold.

A reasonable legal process to place a Mexican child with an American couple exists should a birth mother make that loving and difficult choice. Having made three separate trips to Mexico, ranging from five to seven weeks in duration each, I can attest to the thoroughness of the process and the concern and care that Mexico and its legal system exhibit toward its children. The defense statement that these children are the "unwanted children of prostitutes," who would have a terrible life if not brought to the United States, continues the defendants' pattern of placing their well-being ahead of the well-being of the children they profess to be helping.

Equally outrageous is the defense position that producing false documents for a profit can be equated with the operation of the Underground Railroad. Such a comparison denigrates those moral stances taken at great personal risk and expense. Exploiting unwitting, but vulnerable, couples for personal profit is not a moral crusade but simply criminal.

There are resources for prospective adoptive parents to research the most appropriate, legal and compassionate means to effectuate an international adoption. Adoptive couples owe it to themselves, their children and the birth mothers to guard against future "Arlenes." But no one should allow cases such as this to dissuade them from experiencing the sheer joy of adoption.

Elise Gotimer

Rockville Centre