There are four myths that rule intercountry adoption:
Thu, 2007-12-13 07:53 - Lulu
Gita Ramaswamy, India - 2003
(with permission from the author)
Myth No1: That thousands of children are abandoned by their natural parents. These are the children who need loving homes, hence adoption.
Fact : Most children who come in for adoption are `relinquished' – they are not abandoned. Adoption agencies go in search of vulnerable poor parents and unwed mothers who can be induced into giving up their children. This number is also not sufficient to provide babies for the numbers of waiting parents. Andhra Pradesh, for example, banned relinquishment of babies to private agencies. Between April 2001- July 2003, a total of 285 babies were abandoned all over the state, that is about 10 babies a month. This in a state which had previously sent over 300 children (more than twice the number of abandoned babies in two years) yearly in inter-country adoption. Maharashtra similarly sends over 500 babies in inter-country adoption (ICA) of which over 60% are relinquished babies.
Myth No. 2 : Foreigners want to save our children
Fact : Foreigners want healthy infants below the age of 2 years only. From the months of August 2003 – October 2003, of the 306 children who went abroad, only 16 were special needs children, 25 were older children. The rest were all healthy toddlers.[1] Of 80 intercountry cases studied by the committee of NGOs appointed by the Govt. of AP in January 2002, all 80 foreign parents wanted healthy infants.[2] While a few foreigner want to `save' children of the Thirld World, most want infants to build a family, because there are not enough adoptable children of suitable colour in their own countries.
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Watching-over it's own-kind
According to the Evan B.Donaldson Adoption Institute Survey of Americans who adopted internationally, 13% were not satisfied with services, 14% said their adoption cost more than they were told, and 75% of parents said they were asked by their agencies to carry cash overseas, with most carrying $3,000 or more.
Surveys checking customer satisfaction mean little in terms of "standards of care" as much as they do for future profits and gimmics that bring the adopting families back for more fees and services. Thus we are entering the crime and shame that the adoption industry has done for safe child-placement.
At this point, maybe sex-ed and biology needs to be tossed and replaced with parenting classes that teach self-care and cooking in school. Maybe this can be started at the elementary level. God knows there are a lot of houses and families that could use the "home-work".