Guest Blogger David Kruchkow on Kony 2012 and Adoption

Today, guest blogger David Kruchkow, shares his observations about the Kony 2012 movement and its relation to adoption. Rally’s note: One of the people interviewed in this Youtube segment is Senator Inhofe, who is part of the Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute.

The Kony 2012 movement has lit up the internet like a California wild fire lights up the night sky. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc

I know what I know about Kony from the video. There is a bigger picture at stake here. Is this movement a precursor to a new kind of social movement fed by social media and instant electronic communication? Can this type of movement also be used for evil to create international lynch mobs and scapegoats? We must look at both sides of the double-edged sword.

How does this relate to adoption? When Guatemala closed and China slowed down to international adoption, I predicted that Africa would be the next biggest and most corrupt source of children for international adoption. That prediction has come true thanks to first world adoption money impacting severe and dire third world poverty and fueled by a Christian, evangelical, mission-based
pro-adoption movement. I won’t bore anyone here with the research and background. The problem is that the Kony movement points to a real need for adoption being on the menu of options for these impacted and orphaned children. However, the money and demand for healthy babies gets in the way of the adoption option being available to the older, traumatized children. I have been at the forefront of the fight to remove the profiteering and corruption from adoption that results in harvesting, laundering and trafficking of children for adoption at the expense of true orphans in need for the past 14 years.

This video points to why reforms are necessary. Once Kony is taken out and his army of children freed, what will become of them? Will services be in place to help them? We must make sure that they are.

David K, Board Member of Parents for Ethical Adoption Reform
www.pear-now.org

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