Media love adoptive parents

The voice of adopters prevail

Prospective adopters pleading for quick and fast adoptions. Also in the Dutch media (prospective) adopters are presented. Until now, adoptee expert(s) are 'banned' from the stage. Only those who are willing to tell their own personal story seem to be welcome to connect adoption with actual news.

It seems , that only adopters are the experts and adult adoptee experts in the field do not exist. 9 o f 10 television programs show meanings of adopters instead to listen to adoptees and their experiences.

Objective news is hard to get as it seems while many (prospective) adopters and their families and relatives also working at media and editor boards and can select the information in the way they want.

Warnings from History repeat itself

Prospective adopters focussing on Haiti say that the orphanages should be emptied as soon as possible so new groups of children can be hosted and of course adopted. The adopters create a new chain of adoption without asking themselves what will happen once these children grow older.

Studies from and about adult adoptees show multiple trauma's especially due to these kind of adoptions. The present adopters play down these facts as not relevant. They use their adoptees, most times not aware to be produced as mascots to create more adoptions, to proof their righteousness.

High penetration rate in media and decision making levels

The biggest issue is, that many decision makers, lawyers, scientists, churches and relevant civil servants many times are part of the adoption chain and work for the adoption industry. This is one of the reasons why the myth of adoption and concepts of adoption is build and continued.

Operation Babylift or Babyabduction?

Operation Babylift or Babyabduction?

Implications of the Hague Convention on the humanitarian evacuation and ‘rescue’ of children

Kathleen Ja Sook Bergquist

School of Social Work, University of Nevada Las Vegas, Box 455032, 4505 Maryland Parkway, Las Vegas, NV 89154-5032, USA, kathleen.bergquist@unlv.edu

English

The Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption does not fully protect children from the purportedly well-intended, but illegal, humanitarian impulses to evacuate children in times of crisis, as evidenced by Operation Babylift and the attempt to airlift children from Chad.

French

La Convention de la Haye sur la Protection des Enfants et la Coopération relative à l’adoption internationale ne protègent pas entièrement les enfants des impulsions humanitaires soi-disant bien intentionnées, mais illégales, d’évacuer des enfants par temps de crise comme en a fait la preuve l’affaire de l’Arche de Zoé et la tentative d’enlever par pont aérien des enfants du Tchad.

Spanish

La Convención de La Haya para la Protección de Niños y Cooperación en Respeto de la Adopción entre Países no protege demasiado a los niños de la acción bienintencionada de impulso humanitario, pero ilegal, para evacuar a los niños en tiempos de crisis como fue evidenciado por la Operación Recogida de Niños y el intento de sacar niños de Chad.

Key Words: Chad • evacuation • intercountry adoption • Operation Babylift • Zoe’s Ark

International Social Work, Vol. 52, No. 5, 621-633 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0020872809337677

Gods Littlest Angels Mediator in Haiti writes

Haitian Mediator of Intercountry Adoption for the Netherlands, Gods Littlest Angels, writes at her Blog:

16 January 2010 8:30 PM

Today has brought less phone calls which I have been very thankful for! Thankfully, all of the stress we are under makes me not hungry! A good side effect of stress, I guess! Of course, what do they say? A person under a lot of stress cuts 10 years off their life span! Well, with all of this stress, it will probably cut 20 off mine!!! LOL

I have very good news! We sent 5 children to their "forever" families tonight! The children are going to Brussels, Belgium and will meet their Dutch parents there. All but one of the children had their passports and visa approvals. The one that did not had the Dutch ministry approval to come. Her parents were here and had arrived on the day of the earthquake. They did not want to leave their daughter and the Dutch Government allowed them to leave with her with a judge's approval and all of her completed paperwork! Our other families that left on the same plane had to leave their children behind. They said that it was so difficult knowing what was going on and the shortages that we were having. They knew they would have to leave them and were okay with that under "normal" circumstances! But today...with the earth shaking every few minutes and the destructions just a few miles down the road...was almost impossible for them!

Our families in the USA, Canada, France, Luxembourg and The Netherlands have all worked hard to get their governments to allow all children reliniquished by their parents and proposed to adoptive families to be united with these families under humanitarian reasons. This MUST happen. I fear for the children if it does not!

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International Adoption Community Calls for massive 'Babylift' Operations from Haiti.

The history shows, in times of crisis, especially during situations like now in Haiti, that calls for Intercountry Adoption creates huge mazes to steal, trade and exchange children for abuses and also childtrafficking for Intercountry adoption.

It seems that the public closes its eyes for the reality of the intentions of adoption agencies and NGO's. Adoption is used as a replacement for safety features which should be placed first before children leave devastated countries for adoption.

Adoption is not a measure of rescuing children never the less the media and the adoption lobby wants us to believe. But every time when something happens in none western countries, the western cultures show no hesitation to fly out the most healthy and young children for intercountry adoption.

Even when children are located and in process of adoption, the measures to fly these located children for adoption out of the country should raise discussion based on the practise and history of such adoptions. At least, adoptive parents (most times board members of adoption agencies and in many cases owners of adoption agencies) should not be in charge of such operations.

Their interest is not to safe the children because of their lives but to safe the children to 'own' them. And that is not a reality which should be answered by hasty and unregulated operations like the new Airlifts for adoptions from Haiti.

Even the Joint Council (Umbrella of American agencies) is of the opinion that adoption is not the first thing to do:

Tom DiFilipo, president of the Joint Council on International Children's Services, said his group has set up a Web-based registry through which families can try to get information about the Haitian children they hope to adopt.

But the immediate focus is on the safety of the children and providing emergency relief, he said. Adoption is "part of the plan, but it's not the priority today," DiFilipo said. "The devastation is just phenomenal. We have a lot of work to do before we can move forward with the adoptions."

Also Ethica communicated this message on their Website:

Ethica understands that many well-intentioned families want to help children in Haiti who may have become orphaned as a result of this disaster. Although we understand the compassion underlying this sentiment, we want to strongly emphasize that starting new adoptions, or participating in “babylifts”, are inappropriate tools to employ at this time. With the conditions on the ground in Haiti, it is nearly impossible to determine if a child has living parents or relatives, and it is a widely-accepted best practice of child welfare to attempt to reunite children with living relatives before seeking out-of-family placements. It will take time to sort this out in a way that serves the best interests of the children and mitigates the very real risks of fraud and coercion. Families should be on alert for groups posing as adoption agencies or providing orphan relief; the USDOS website on Haitian adoptions details the legal adoption process to date. Those who wish to best assist the children and families of Haiti are urged to make a donation to one of the many organizations working on the ground.

But the issue is, that the power of the Adoption Lobby sells its success during situations like these while they should know better. Any professional perspective is lacking and long term consequences are lost in the act of emotion. And this is a danger.

Lets be honest. When natural disasters struck western countries, these countries would not allow Airlifts from Asia or Africa to get white children out as first for intercountry adoption in these countries. Even when the paper process was already started. The first thing you learn in First Aid situation is, stabilize first before any further action. One should think before act. But it seems that the international community lost its mind.

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Additional News (blogs)

• Adoption d’un orphelin après une catastrophe: les leçons du tsunami

• The Dutch Airlifting Haiti's children

• De Wereld is van Iedereen (Dutch Blog from an Adoptive Father)

• Family Preservation about the situation in Haiti