Adoptionland: Brutal essays by adult adoptees expose the truth of intercountry adoption

The Vance Twins--Jenette on left and Janine 

With news that Vietnam is once again going to allow their children to be adopted out of country, reading a collection of essays by people who were uprooted and transplanted into new cultures is ice water on all those squishy ideals of what intercountry (or international adoption) does. The writers whose essays come together in Adoptionland: From Orphans to Activists portray the dislocation as wrenching and brutal, an experience that leaves a scar neither time nor distance can temper.

Though I am no fan of adoption in general I recognize that sometimes adoption is the best solution to a bad situation. But I have read enough about intercountry adoption to see it as

Images from Bastard Fest in Louisville

The pictures say all. From the adoptee rights demonstration yesterday in Louisville at the national conference of state legislatures, taken by Laura Barnes-Marsden. Approximately 70 people took part.
  Not-just-a-birth-mother Claudia above, who writes a great blog, Musings of the Lame, and organizer adoptee and activist Jeff Hancock below. Bravo!





 
Laura Barnes-Marsden, who took the photos (except the one of her, that was shot by Liz Watson Fort)...these are cribbed from her Facebook page and I hope she doesn't mind because I can't reach her as she is driving home today. If you missed yesterday's  post about the inevitable curiosity about one's true heritage, here's the link:

What's in a Name? A Great Deal to an Adoptee 

--lorraine