In 2009, Dutch adoption agency Wereldkinderen contracted Against Child Trafficking to conduct research into the correctness of adoption files of children adopted from Ethiopia. In October 2009, a report was finished, which summarized investigations into 25 randomly selected adoption files of children adopted from Ethiopia between 2004 and 2009. 19 of these 25 cases contained at least some irregularities, which are analyzed in the report.
The executive summary reads as follows:
The findings of the research:
Overall, the current adoption system actively creates an unwarrantedly high number of children available for adoption. Intercountry adoption is in reality privileged to any other in-country suitable manner of care.
Local child protection policies, while existing, are not implemented, while the intercountry adoption market is more and more taking control of the local child protection, as well as the social and health sector.
The adoption process is riddled by fraud and other criminal activities. Parents are stated dead, whereas they are not, dates of birth are falsified, false information is provided to the Courts.
But most important: The demand-driven intercountry adoption process is breaking up families, who could be helped in building up their lives with a fraction of the money involved in intercountry adoption.
Especially the statement "parents are stated dead" is important, because the report lists three such cases.
Recently, I revisited the story of the Dead Baby Scam.... it's part of adoption history that few may know about... a practice that has made many a doctor/lawyer more wealthy and it was a practice used to assist infertile couples wishing their suffering for a child would end. Yes, Virginia, there is a very merry happy ending in many an infant adoption story. (I'll reserve my praise to God, my thanks to Mary, my appreciation for Joseph and all an adoptive father can do to and for his adopted child(ren), for a later time.)
I sit at my computer on the day many of us in America celebrate Christmas... the increasingly commercial ritual-tradition that celebrates the birth of baby Jesus, and family. We're to believe Mary got pregnant through immaculate conception. Even as a child, 'immaculate conception' was a difficult story to believe. I wanted to believe what the priests in my church were telling me. I wanted to trust what it was the nuns/lay people in my school were teaching me, but I have to admit, I always was a very stubborn girl who just so happened to have been adopted into a large, traditional Catholic family. You see, in my mind, it was God who came, gave Mary His child, then went --leaving mom-to-be and unborn baby on their own, (thank you).
As luck/fate would have it, this father-leaving sequence is a common theme seen through-out the history of child placement. Why, just the other day I read a piece about Australian/adoption... a modern-day piece that tells an old story about young, scared, (unwed) pregnant women, and the struggles (and suffering) they went through before, during, and after birth. I encourage people, regardless of religious beliefs and convictions, to read the story, 'Your son is gone. He's with his adoptive parents'. It was written by Marissa Calligeros and posted in the Brisbane Times. It begins:
"The room was blacked out. There were no windows and just one door.
"They tied my hands and feet to the bed. I was in agony. I was screaming out in pain.
"Then there was silence.
"No one would have known a baby had been born. But I did."
The story of a baby's birth adoption continues, painting a picture for all to visualize as they read. "The young women were drugged, tethered to beds, and never allowed to see their babies". The author used the phrase 'baby farm' to describe the way women and babies were treated by various God-fearing religious folk, doing charity work for the good of society, and of course, the poor. [For more on the historical treatment of poor, unmarried, pregnant women, please read Bastardy and Baby Farms]
True, some mothers of that era did finally meet the child they had lost. Maybe the child was raised in the same town, the same country. Hell, let's try to assume that baby was kept on the same continent. If that child was lucky, that child was loved, cared for, and not harmed by enemies or strangers. Unfortunately, in many cases, those out-sourced babies were eventually called "orphans" and used as slaves, and re-named child migrants. Imagine being the mother who wanted so much more for herself and her baby... imagine going to your grave never knowing what happened to the live-baby you know you birthed... the baby God had once given... the baby that was taken away, and sent or sold to complete strangers because you were deemed 'unworthy', 'not good enough', and 'unfit'. God forbid the unworthy "sinner" be given assistance.
I'd like to revisit an original story of Christmas, family, and adoption, as it was written by Elizabeth Foss . She wrote:
A strong man heard the call of a God to take into his heart and home a baby that was not his biological child. Against the raised eyebrows of those around him, but because he dearly loved his wife and the God they served
As I always understood the leading events to the Christmas story, Joseph had to be convinced - by an angel- to marry the already knocked-up Mary. See, Mary was used by God knows who, soiling her good reputation and rendering her unfit virgin-bride material. So, in essence, an angel had to make Joseph believe God wanted him to make Mary his legal wife, because it was the right God-pleasing thing to do. After all, how in the world would Mary, and her bastard baby, Jesus, have been received by local society? [And surely, there would be a future-reward after X amount of years of devoted service....] Nevertheless, in Foss' story of adoption, she continues to explain how a woman's pain can inspire others into action. She writes:
Adoptive moms assure me that adoption is rarely ever a man's idea. And it is almost always an idea born of a woman's pain. The sorrowful heart of a mother meets the sorrowful heart of a child and together they begin a new life. But how do they get to "together?" They become a family through the courageous actions of a man who sees the pain of his wife and listens to her as she tells him about the pain of the child. Rarely, do these women beg and plead. Rather, like Mary, they trust God. They pour out their hearts in prayer and God convicts their husbands. The program director for a Catholic adoption agency assures me that this is not the case of weak, badgered men who cave to whining women. Rather, they are tender, brave men who recognize a mutual need and hear a distinct call.
Tender brave men, catering to the needs of women and children. That's how an adoption director describes Adoptive Fathers. Sure, ok. I too would like to believe an adoptive parent would never hurt a child put in his/her care. Here's the bad news for an adoption agency: Had the father of Mary's baby stayed, or had Mary's own family helped her somehow, maybe an AP like tender, brave Joseph would not have been called and summoned to help raise and teach and financially support Jesus for 12 years.
So let's look at the role of sorrowful mother-wanna-bes in Adoptionland. Over and over again, I read pieces written by, and for, the infertile. In fact, just today, this little piece came in: Grieving the loss of two babies, Midway couple find joy in adoption. Yes, just like the perfect Christmas miracle, a prayerful couple got the call the call they were waiting for...(feel free to go read the details). Of course, if there isn't a small local news article, or an updated blog post for the faithful (but-still-unable to conceive) to read, those who still need reason to hope for a baby can always turn to the ad-filled, pages at Adopion.con. [As the side-bar menu on each page indicates, the religious-faith separation is done for you.] I supposed stories of infant adoption are supposed to encourage others to seek places like Gladney or Bethany, two agencies with great success-numbers and nice six-figure non-profit salaries, to boot. [BTW, Bethany has yet to claim it's 2009 Demons in Adoption Award....]
Sure, gone are the days of barbaric treatment in highly successful Maternity Homes. The tethers and drugs have been replaced with temporary housing, shopping sprees, and promises of a much better future. Hell, at some modern-day maternity homes, an in-ground pool is even available to help relax the confined and unmarried-in-waiting. Let us not forget the simple fact that remains the same and unchanged: maternity homes and affiliated adoption agencies work hard to ease the pain felt by a woman's need.
As more and more people, are being encouraged to consider the adoption-option, as more and more singles or couples are very anxiously waiting for the gift of life they paid-for, (and are still expecting to receive), as more and more people choose to go into the private adoption agency business, and as rules related to sexual activity/history are becoming more lenient, one ought to question if infant adoption, as it has always has and continues to be practiced, is indeed,God's Plan. (I for one am hoping God is getting really royally pissed how modern-day 'widows' and 'orphans' are being created and treated by those profiting within the adoption industry.)
Personally, I believe in most cases, infant adoption is little more than a practice that puts selfish desires first. Infant adoption, as a niche, allows far too many greedy self-serving individuals to play God, lie and cheat, and then claim it's all good, because it's done with God's help and in Jesus' name. Yes, I speak, write and think as an adoptee, relinquished at birth... then sold to foreigners who should not have turned to an adoption agency because the still-suffering wife had a hysterectomy.
With that, in the spirit of an angry adoptee, I'd like readers to see the latest abused adoptee case-story that made PPL pages. Published Dec 22, 2010.... Four girls adopted by Henrique Cruz, were sexually abused for more than six years, (before they were all 14), by their home-studied adoptive father.
The Cruz couple adopted the four girls, who were blood sisters, and their little brother, but it was unknown if the children were adopted from the foster care system.
Paul Zimmerman, regional spokesman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, said the process to adopt a child from foster care in Texas comes with extensive background checks.
“It’s a pretty extensive process when it comes to screening,” he said.
Zimmerman noted the process included mandatory classes by adoptive parents as well as a home study, which in total could take as long as six months.
The state also requires a six-month check after the adoption has taken place just to “double check” that the situation is working out. However, the state doesn’t have any legal bounds for monitoring a family after the first six-month period has passed.
The loving, 'chosen' Adoptive father did not have a prior criminal history in the county the divorced man is currently living. He had only six months to prove to an adoption agency/family service he would make a good, loving, protective dad.
God knows what this sexual predator did, or where he went, before he got married and agreed to adopt "his" five children... 4 girls, one boy. A point worth noting: the child abuse did not start within the first six months post adoption. It took years for "daddy" to act and make his unmonitored move.
While many posts, blogs and news articles are celebrating the story of adoption this Christmas-season, I like to remind readers, for these abused and "orphaned" children, unmonitored adoption is no gift or blessing.
This is an interestng perspective from a Dutch Authority, more on the rising adoptions of American children to the Netherlands. Frankly, from the sounds of it, many of these kids would be better in a European home/lifestyle than a wacked American one. Many of these Dutch families so want a child and there is just no children available in the Netherlands. Very hard especially the infertile couples who try and try . Dutch has very little predjudices like America and is very accepting.
Hans van Hooff Legal Advisor, Fiom and Coordinator, International Social Service (ISS) Netherlands
Summary: Social and political changes are resulting in an increase in the number of American children adopted in the Netherlands.
Recently, the adoption of American children in the Netherlands has received a great deal of public attention. There are several reasons why this trend has caused both concern and heated debate.
The US has traditionally adopted the highest number of foreign-born children. This, of course, begs the question of how is it possible that children, especially infants, from the US are available for international adoption when there is an obvious demand for children to adopt within the country. A second concern is that many American children are still infants when theyare adopted internationally. The result is that the biological mother has little time to consider her decision. This is in direct conflict with the spirit of the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, to which the Netherlands is a signatory. In response, the minister of justice decided to minimize the number of adoptions from the US by limiting adoption to children with special needs and children over five. A brief overview of the history of adoption in the Netherlands will provide the context for this important change in child welfare policy.
National Adoption in the Netherlands In 1956, the Netherlands enacted the Adoption Act. National adoption under this act is defined as a complete adoption: severing all (legal) relations with the biological parents. Although adoption is viewed as a child protection measure, it also incorporates an element of family formation. Domestic adoption in the Netherlands has been steadily decreasing since the 1970s. The following statistics illustrate this trend:
Number of Domestic Adoptions:
19701,209
1980259
199090
200050
200925
The decrease in domestic adoptions is the result of several factors: a changed view of single motherhood, the introduction of the Social Assistance Act, increased access to contraception and the emergence and legalization of abortion clinics. In addition, increasing prosperity has resulted in women having children at a later age. However, this has led to an increase in fertility problems. Often, (international) adoption is the only remaining option.
Intercountry Adoption in the Netherlands
Because there are so few children available for domestic adoption in the Netherlands, individuals and couples looking to adopt a child are searching outside the country. However, the Dutch authorities, in the spirit of the Hague Convention, attached numerous conditions to international adoption in the act of December 8, 1998. Despite this, the number of applications for foreign adoptions has increased considerably. In fact, more than 3,000 couples who have met all the formal requirements for international adoption are waiting for the arrival of a foreign child.
Until 2004, the number of foreign-born adopted children increased in the Netherlands. After 2004 the number of foreign-born children adopted in the Netherland began to decrease. This was due to a decrease in the supply of children available to Dutch families willing to adopt from overseas. Specifically, the decrease in the number of children from China who were available for adoption had a huge impact on the number of international adoptions. Nearly half of all foreign adoptions until 2004 were children from China. However, a review of the current trends in international adoptions reveals that there is a notable increase in the number of children adopted from the US.
Number of children adopted from abroad:
1990800
20001192
20041307including 18 from the US
20051185including 32 from the US
2006816including 38 from the US
2007782including 39 from the US
2008767including 56 from the US
Children Adopted from the United States Since 2001 Dutch adoption legislation has permitted international adoption by same-sex couples. However, until very recently, only the US allowed adoption by same-sex couples. The result is that many US-born children are adopted by same-sex couples. In the Netherlands, most adoptions from the US are achieved by applying, a “do-it-yourself” method. This means that adoptive parents personally developed contacts abroad rather than hiring a state-licensed agency to assist. However, this option is only available in countries that are not signatories to the Hague Convention. Because the US has ratified the convention, the ability of prospective parents to utilize the “do-it-yourself” method has been eliminated. There are two reasons for this.
First, all international adoptions that occur between Hague signatory countries are administered by the central authority in each country. Second, the principle of subsidiarity of the Hague Convention states that international adoption is not an alternative unless all domestic options are fully explored. This includes the children’s extended family, foster care and domestic adoption opportunities. It is only when a domestic solution is not available that international adoption can be considered.
These changes in Dutch domestic child welfare law and the fact that the US has ratified the Hague Convention means that prospective parents in the Netherlands may have a very long wait to adopt. However, there are thousands of potential parents who are willing and able to provide a safe, permanent and loving home to American-born children.
Woman gets 9 years in prison for treatment of adopted son
Michael Guilmette Story Created: Dec 29, 2007 at 5:35 PM EDT Story Updated: Dec 29, 2007 at 5:35 PM EDT
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — A woman who pleaded guilty to neglect for failing to get medical attention for her 7-year-old adopted son's burns was sentenced to nine years in prison.
Marion Superior Court Judge Grant Hawkins imposed a 15-year sentence, with six years suspended, and ordered Bessie Saffold, 62, to spend three years on probation after her release.
He also barred Saffold on Friday from adopting any more children, calling her "old-school" parenting style criminal.
"It was not just mere neglect," Hawkins said.
Saffold, who adopted five children, has admitted to locking an adopted child in a room as punishment and excessively spanking others.
In January, her 7-year-old adopted son suffered scalding wounds that went untreated for three weeks, aside from Saffold's attempts to treat the burns herself.
Prosecutors said Saffold submerged the boy in bath water to punish him for wetting himself.
She pleaded guilty to neglect, admitting only that she failed to seek medical help. She also pleaded guilty to criminal confinement and two counts of battery.
Hawkins said he might move Saffold from prison after three years if her record is clean.
In October, Hawkins sentenced Saffold's husband, Mechelle Saffold, 60, to four years in prison for failing to seek medical help for the boy.
At Friday's sentencing, Bessie Saffold apologized to the children, who have been taken from the home. Two boys and two girls had asked the judge for a stiff sentence.
Several witnesses, including Saffold's 17-year-old granddaughter, said Saffold was caring and involved but raised her children with a firm hand.
"She was not the wicked witch of the west," the Rev. Damon Roach said. "She did make ... some mistakes in judgment."
Fruits of Ethiopia - A study on intercountry adoption in Ethiopia Wiht courtesy of Pound Pup Legacy - Sat, 2011-02-12 21:49 - Niels 
