Read this adoption story, linked below, from USA Today. It discusses what we have seen anecdotally via blogs about international adoption lately and what my friends and I have been talking about -- people jockeying to find "greener grass" in a different country or turning to adoption in the U.S. (speaking about Americans here, that is). I think there is good and bad to this.
You have to do some serious soul searching when you change your international adoption plans, to say the least. It's a powerful thing when our adoption horizons expand for all the right reasons. We consider new possibilities that allow us not only to learn more about our wondrous capacity to love but that create new opportunities for those who are waiting for us to find them, and then who in turn continue to lead us to new discoveries about ourselves.
Excerpts:
"Other couples say they, too, have been dissuaded from adopting abroad."
"Vietnam has emerged as a major source. The number of children adopted there by Americans quadrupled from 163 in 2006 to 626 last year. Yet there may be problems ahead.
"We are very concerned about Vietnam," says Michele Bond, deputy assistant secretary of State, citing apparent abuses there similar to those in Guatemala. If the United States and Vietnam do not renew an adoption accord that expires in September, adoptions from Vietnam could fall."
"Sarah Gerstenzang and her husband, who are white, took in Lily, who is black, when she was 5 weeks old. They didn't intend to adopt her, just to care for her until the birth mother was ready to be a parent.
But they fell in love with Lily. "She was adorable, this tiny bundle looking at me," recalls Gerstenzang, assistant project director of AdoptUsKids, a federal program to promote adoption from foster care. They adopted Lily, now 8, as a toddler. "It's been so rewarding, I can't even tell you," she says."
4 comments:
Great post. I have mixed feelings, too. We feel a commitment to the country we are working with right now, and it would take some serious soul-searching before we made any decision to change. I met a couple with their hands in 3 countries right now- whichever comes through first. I was a bit bold in my reaction but it seemed so wrong. Not sure how they manage or which agencies are allowing that- my guess it's not exactly kosher.
Great post, Jen. It'll be interesting to see how things evolve, to say the least. (Cute picture of Little Jen, too!)
I hate to see countries referred to as "sources" and children as commodities. Even though we are adopting, I think it is great that less children are available in the system....that means more parents are raising their children.
Nice new picture -- a real cutie!!
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