'anabaptist' Attitude Toward Adoption

[Josh]

In China, adoptive parents and adopted children have been horrified to later go back and try to find their birth parents - and find out they were stolen as a baby by either corrupt government officials or “baby brokers” and then sold to an adoption agency.

[Ken]

In China, adoptive parents and adopted children have been horrified to later go back and try to find their birth parents - and find out they were stolen as a baby by either corrupt government officials or “baby brokers” and then sold to an adoption agency.

In most of these places from China to Guatemala, it isn't the American and European adoptive parents or North American adoption agencies that are engaged in the corruption and illegal activity. They merely provide the demand. It is almost entirely local criminals of various sorts who use illegal means to meet that demand and profit. Much like the drug trade. It is the demand that fuels the illegal activity.

People who engage in international adoptions should be aware that they are fueling this demand. And even if their particular circumstances are entirely on the up-and-up, they are creating the conditions and demand that lead to what Josh is describing. Which also notoriously happened in Guatemala and other countries.

[JayP]

I do dispute many of these points.

I would like to add my experience of adopting within the US and foreign adoption.

US adoption is a mess. All 50 states have different laws. Theory is rife. For example, my favorite, the official organization of black social workers says white families adopting a black child are engaged in ethnic genocide. Where do you begin a conversation with such people.

On foreign adoption in contrast….we’re people making money? Absolutely. Is that bad? Do not be so quick to be sure.
For example, while we WISH everyone was a Christian, they are not. We had to have someone care for our child for four months while paperwork and processes occurred. We paid them. And they knew that if the baby did not get all the medical care, that if he were unhealthy, etc. the adoption was not going through and they would not be paid.

The reality is Adam Smith was correct. Capitalism is not kind, not at all, but it is efficient.
Please read what I wrote. I am not supporting abuses or anything else.
Look at US health institutions. Full of “caring” people except……

I am not advocating anything. I am saying it is all ,ore complicated then people want it too be. Most things are.

In our case, our adopted son from Central America turned out to have a serious medical condition that could not be identified there. Had he not been adopted by an American or European family he would be dead now. Instead he is a grown man, fully functional and living a good life. God trumps all plans. He is thankful he was born and adopted before it became illegal in his country.

All I have consistently tried to share in this thread is stop being SURE that YOU have all the answers.
So, so tired of you experts. If you are someone needing real advice on adoption or adoption issues, please seek help somewhere other than a board of anonymous posters.

[Ken]

I do dispute many of these points.

I would like to add my experience of adopting within the US and foreign adoption.

US adoption is a mess. All 50 states have different laws. Theory is rife. For example, my favorite, the official organization of black social workers says white families adopting a black child are engaged in ethnic genocide. Where do you begin a conversation with such people.

On foreign adoption in contrast….we’re people making money? Absolutely. Is that bad? Do not be so quick to be sure.
For example, while we WISH everyone was a Christian, they are not. We had to have someone care for our child for four months while paperwork and processes occurred. We paid them. And they knew that if the baby did not get all the medical care, that if he were unhealthy, etc. the adoption was not going through and they would not be paid.

The reality is Adam Smith was correct. Capitalism is not kind, not at all, but it is efficient.
Please read what I wrote. I am not supporting abuses or anything else.
Look at US health institutions. Full of “caring” people except……

I am not advocating anything. I am saying it is all ,ore complicated then people want it too be. Most things are.

In our case, our adopted son from Central America turned out to have a serious medical condition that could not be identified there. Had he not been adopted by an American or European family he would be dead now. Instead he is a grown man, fully functional and living a good life. God trumps all plans. He is thankful he was born and adopted before it became illegal in his country.

All I have consistently tried to share in this thread is stop being SURE that YOU have all the answers.
So, so tired of you experts. If you are someone needing real advice on adoption or adoption issues, please seek help somewhere other than a board of anonymous posters.

I actually have an adopted daughter and I also worked for over 3 years in Guatemala in the 1980s during the height of the foreign adoption boom there. I knew people working both for and with orphanages that were part of the adoption pipeline to the US and Europe. And I also paid attention to the scandals that subsequently erupted such as the wives of high ranking Army officers who were profiting off of fraudulent adoptions (babies stolen from poor rural women during a time of war and military repression).

The fact of the matter is that Guatemala is a more Christian nation than the United States or Western Europe. People there are certainly more poor, but they are not less Christian. In fact they are more so. And Christianity has never been about material wealth or comfort. To the contrary. So while adopted children from Central America certainly come into more wealth and the opportunity that wealth brings when they are taken to the US or western Europe. They do not necessarily become more Christian.

If we are actually worried about the economic conditions in Central America then the answer is to support policies that foster economic and social development in those countries rather than doing the opposite. And also to open our doors to ALL Central Americans, not just babies.