' [Birth Mother] First Mother Forum: Vote for your favorite Demon in Adoption!

Friday, October 7, 2011

Vote for your favorite Demon in Adoption!

Lorraine's Desk
It's that time of year again. Time to consider all the really bad agencies and people who promote adoption in way that we, Dear Reader, find despicable, immoral and unethical. It's time to vote for the annual Demons In Adoption Awards to raise a voice against adoption propaganda and the self congratulatory practices of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute's annual Angels in Adoption Awards.

This is the brainchild of the Pound Pup Legacy blog, as its creators noticed that many of the recipients of the Angels in Adoption Awards have nothing to do
with adoption from foster care (of which we heartily approve), and their main achievement is making a sound business--and worthy of not only approval but adulation--out of the commerce in children.

We have written about some of the inglorious bastards who are among the nominees at Pound Pup: A (sic) Act of Love agency in Utah (for grabbing a kid from a Virginia father who wants to raise his son); Adoption By Gentle Care, and Ohio-based agency (also for trying to keep a father from raising his son but they finally lost); the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (for relentlessly promoting their pro-adoption policy to single parents, and also see above at A (sic) Act of Love); the whole state of Utah (also see above, it's basically a church-state having a love affair with adoption); Adoption.Com  (for censoring all who do not agree with the pro-adoption philosophy of the Mormons who run the site; Elizabeth Bartholet (for encouraging the wholesale distribution of children from poor countries to rich ones under the guise of doing good in the world. Having debated the women on national television myself, I know how firmly she believes she is doing, ah, some misguided good work. 

Lorraine
I'm sure that the other candidates are equally worthy for their inclusion as nominees (though I don't think Adam Pertman deserves to be there), and while you must go to vote at the Pound Pup Legacy website, herewith are the nominees in full. This year the Pound Pup administrators, Kerry and Niels, are giving three awards in three categories. You have until Oct. 31 to vote. The winner will be announced during National Adoption Month --Oh, we can't wait!--November. 

In their categories, Jane and I are both voting for the Church of the Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS or the Mormon faith) and the whole State of Utah, where Mormonism predominates, for their utter and relentless promotion of adoption the encourages single mothers to relinquish their children to married couples, and the total disregard for the rights of fathers who wish to raise their own children. However, we differ on the third category, The Mouthpieces. She is voting for Jane Aronson, for her promotion of adoption while ignoring unethical practices in the industry; I'm voting for Adoption.Com for keeping all critical comments of adoption off their site. I was "banned" after about two days, which I suppose is analogous to being "shunned" by a cult. I took it as a badge of honor. 
Following are the nominees, read on and cast you ballot at: 
Demons of Adoption Awards. 
And do vote!   It's too much fun not to.--lorraine



The Adoption Industry
A Act of Love Adoption Agency for purposefully finding ways to circumvent father's consent,
Adoption by Gentle Care for keeping a young boy (Thad Wyrembek aka Grayson Vaughn) from his biological father
Lifetime Adoption for predating on vulnerable pregnant women
Adoptions by Shepherd Care for coercive domestic adoptions out of Florida
Celebrate Children International for their association with Guatemalan kidnapping cases
Susana Luarca for her involvement in Guatemalan kidnapping cases
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for running one of the largest baby peddling rings in the world 



The Regulators 

Adoption regulators should in principle provide the legislation to keep the adoption industry honest. Unfortunately more often than not, legislators see lax adoption regulation as a means to pander to their constituents. The Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute is a prime example of the incestuous relationship between the adoption industry and legislators.
Without proper oversight, adoption has become a government sanctioned form of baby brokering, where children are sold to the highest bidder, without considering the suitability of the adopting family.
This year's most notably negligent regulators are:
U.S. Department of State for its prolonged silence in the on-going Guatemalan adoption-kidnapping cases
Senator Mary Landrieu for ignoring all ethics concerns regarding adoption and promoting the business interest of the adoption industry in congress
The State of Utah for their draconian adoption laws, especially with regards to father's rights
Florida Department of Children & Families for their lack of monitoring in the Nubia and Victor Barahona case, and for allowing some of the most unethical agencies to set up shop in the State of Florida 

The mouth-pieces
What and where would the multi-billion dollar international adoption industry be without dedicated advocates and promoters? The mouth-pieces of the adoption industry play a very important role, as these are the names, faces, and voices that reach the public, thanks to the internet and much help from local and national media. Unfortunately, the powerful adoption lobby and its acolytes can be found almost on a daily basis in various media formats, covering-up (and down-playing) the many ethical concerns that exist in recent and current day adoption practices.
The end result is a dis-service to many as these reports and focus-points are often limited portrayals of the adoption experience, as they really exist for so many touched - and harmed - by adoption. Nominees for the most myopic and misleading mouth-pieces in Adoptionland include:
Both Ends Burning for their reckless approach to expand the business of adoption
Adam Pertman for claiming to be a critic of the adoption system, while at the same time promoting the interest of the adoption industry
adoption.com for censoring all valid criticism towards the adoption industry
Dr. Jane Aronson for fiercely promoting adoption while being entirely blind towards unethical practices
Elizabeth Bartholet for recklessly promoting inter-country adoption even in the face of child trafficking and adoption fraud.







6 comments :

  1. Aww, I'm disappointed Larry Jenkins didn't make it on to the list. Act of Love is involved in both the baby Emma case (Virginia) and a case involving a father from Florida.

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  2. Having lost seven children to adoption because of false allegations and an abusive marriage, I'm really disappointed that you so heartily approve of state-sponsored kidnapping. Do I not fit into the first mother community because I actually fought to keep my children instead of choosing to give them up? If not, I'll excuse myself from this forum.

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  3. Sarah:

    What are you talking about?

    Of course we don't approve of "state-sponsored kidnapping," and think that mothers ought to be able to keep their children in almost all circumstances.

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  4. <>

    In my experience, foster care is little more than an alternative method for acquiring children for the adoption industry, ie state -sanctioned kidnapping. That's not to say there aren't children who need it, but IMO most of them need to be home with their parents.

    If you heartily approve of adoption from foster care, then I am in the wrong place. If I misread that, I apologize and will stick around.

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  5. In contrast to taking children from all over the world for adoption here or there, we would rather encourage that people adopt children from foster care WHO REALLY NEED HOMES, WHO HAVE NO ONE IS IS GOING TO COME FOR THEM, ever. This would only be a last resort for such children, after all other sources, particularly their natural parents, were exhausted and unsuitabke due ot drugs, beatings, abuse. See our pervious blog about how one city is tracking down relatives for children and foster care, and their rate of finding permanent homes for them is much greater than the rest. And no matter the case, we are against sealing their original birth records or making it difficult for either party to locate the other, except if that is dangerous for either one.

    see Homes for foster children: Find the real family first

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  6. I saw this and had to post, albeit late as it is mid-November. I would like to add surprise, surprise.....Volunteers of America, specifically Shreveport, LA. They regularly coerced women to relinquish their children by shaming them using the Bible, by concealing their legal rights, by refusing to allow me to see my child when I cried, begged and screamed while still in hospital, by continuing to refuse to allow me to see my child telling me that I could after I signed. Then when I asked a few hours later, I was told "too late, she is gone". This was a lie. One of the other girls called me a month later and told me that she saw my daughter 2 days after I left. I'm writing it all down and sending copies to everyone involved. No more silence.

    ReplyDelete

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