Another Crappy Adoption Article for You to Ponder...

ABC News has an article on Guatemalan adoptions. You can read it by following this link.

http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=4787761&page=1

There are, unfortunately, numerous articles like this out there. This one, however, really struck a nerve, so much that I wrote back a comment AND e-mailed ABC News, too. I fear that someday, someone is going to meet Caleb and make some comment that he was "bought" or was a "black market baby." THIS IS NOT TRUE! Here is what I said to ABC News:

I am only going to comment on this article (there was a lot of debate in the comments section about what was better - international or domestic adoption. I personally feel that every child, no matter what race or from what country, deserves a home). I find it full of blanket statements and sensationalized nonsense that does not paint a fair picture of Guatemalan adoptions. Here are some inaccuracies that I can site without even doing any research.

1. My child - no child - should be compared to a piece of fruit. To say that children adopted from Guatemala internationally are "the country's second-most lucrative export after bananas" is absolutely insulting. My child was not exported. Shame on you for making such a comparison.

2. You quote Norma Cruz. We did not pay anywhere near $50,000 to adopt from Guatemala (and our adoption was completed in 2008). The fees that we payed to our attorney included foster care for 14 months, diapers, formula, clothes, toys, medical care and immunizations, etc. Additionally, our attorney had to file multiple amparos and even a constitutional appeal for our case, and we did not pay any extra fees for an unbelievable amount of court action that was required to get our adoption case completed. Additionally, we were never asked for extra money, not from the mother, bureaucracy, and as I mentioned already, our attorney, even for the extra legal action that was required for our adoption. Finally, we were never guaranteed a healthy baby. We had to sign documents, understanding that there was a risk that our child was not healthy - that there were no guarantees.

I feel terribly for the women mentioned in this article, and pray that they find their missing children. However, I think that ABC news would be doing more of a service if they could publish pictures of these missing children, to help locate them, instead of casting doubt on ALL Guatemalan adoptions, as I feel you have.

Of course, I can only speak for our child's adoption, and not all Guatemalan adoptions. However, I find it hard to believe that our adoption was the minority, and am appalled that stories like ours aren't even mentioned in articles like this.

I KNOW THAT A LOT OF ADOPTIVE FAMILIES READ THIS BLOG - PLEASE FEEL FREE TO GIVE ABC NEWS A PIECE OF YOUR MIND IF YOU FEEL SO INCLINED!

Okay, I'm going to BREATHE now!
Kris