Ethiopian Adoptions

http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/content/2009/s2686908.htm

Many of us thought China was the next “big” sending country via intercountry adoptions.  However, Chinese adoptions have slowed almost to a halt.  Across the country, agencies that began to thrive off of Chinese adoptions are shuttering to make room for agencies that have programs in Ethiopia.  The waits are shorter, the price?  It’s cheaper, and sexier for that matter.  Can we please stop talking about Madonna and Angelina now, please?!?!

Intercountry adoption needs more regulations, more international oversight.  Who is holding these governments accountable for profiting off of children?  Apparently the Ethiopian government makes somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 million dollars for their intercountry adoptions.  And of course, when there is money to be made, there is corruption to be found.  This report is unfortunately not a surprise to me.  We’ve seen this before in many countries whether it’s in Korea, Samoa, Guatemala or Ethiopia.

Apparently there are around 70 adoption agencies in Ethiopia…70!!!  Over half are unregistered.  That’s freaking unbelievable!  Christian World Adoption is just one example of how gruesome adoption practices can become unchecked by the Hague.  And that’s not saying the Hague can completely control the illegal recruiting, selling and harvesting that takes place around the globe either.  Watching the scene where a CWA worker is harvesting children from these families makes me feel ill.  I’m sorry, to think there is a DVD catalogue where you can CHOOSE your child makes me want to throw up.  Children should not be treated like products!  Agencies like CWA can sugar-coat their euphemisms as much as they want, but at the end of the day how can you ever think that this sort of practice is humane or ethical?

“The father has died, and this is their mom…”  the social worker says with a big smile as she hugs the mother and children[violin music plays in the background]…How, on earth, can you say that with a smile?  How can you sit there and effectively make a sales pitch for a child’s life on a dvd catalogue?  They celebrate the tragedy of one family as the potential for another family’s gain.

Let’s back up a bit and discuss what is at the root of this issue.  If there really are poverty issues, and hunger issues in this country, and I think we can all honestly agree that there are-why are we not working on reinforcing social infrastructure?  If adoption agencies are truly invested in their missions which tends  to be something like “Looking out for the well-being of children,” why is the placement of children more important than helping to create systems that can assist poor families raise their children?

There is no blame being hoisted upon any one party.  This is part of much bigger and more complex industry that has developed over the past several decades.  Intercountry adoption has some incredibly large gaping holes that are still not yet visible to the general public.  Human trafficking seems to not apply when they are children or their “families are absent.”

It’s tough watching this piece at certain times, but it is something that you should watch.  -GS

My Father

Lately I’ve been having incredibly vivid dreams.  I can’t remember ever having such vivid dreams that I remember during the day.  Most times, you have dreams that disappear during the day.  Every day for the past week I’ve been having dreams that I remember.  Most of them have been unremarkable, reliving particles of my previous day.  I was Anthony Bourdain’s producer on No Reservations, I was on a ghost adventures investigation show…But last night was different…

For the first time, I had a dream about my birth father.  It started on the streets of Seoul, memory remnants from my first trip to Korea over three years ago.  Taking in the sights and sounds from the only place I knew, from the back of a taxi cab-a tourist’s view-Briskly moving through store fronts as not to hover for too long attracting conversation from shop-owners.  In my dream I walk through a CD store, part is owned by Koreans, part owned by Asian Americans.  I stop between both, then immediately stay on the side of the store owned by Asian Americans.  A friend comes in and leads me out.

At one point I am told by a figure that is not clear that my father wants to see me.  I call a phone number that appears on my phone and hear a voice on the other end in fluent English.  I say I want to meet him, and he says that he is in Korea.  I hang up.  My view cuts away to a dentist’s office where my father is lying down getting a procedure done on him.  And for a brief second, I am him as I look up I see the dentist talking to me in English, or at least I am able to understand what he is saying.

Then, I appear in the room, I switch back to myself and stare down at my father whose face is covered by a white mask as his teeth are being worked on.  We talk, in English.  No this is not my imagination, or me understanding Korean.  After his procedure ends he stands and removes his mask, he is white, middle-aged, and has a stubby graying beard.  I look, and almost laugh.  “You’re not my father, this is a joke right?”  He looks back at me and smiles, for a moment, he becomes my adoptive father then changes back to himself.  Suddenly things start to spin.  I back away, trying to regain my composure.  Thoughts begin spinning.  Who is this man, who am I, who is my family?  My dreams ends, and I wake up.

-GS