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.Also Ethica communicated this message on their Website: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."
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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