FacePalm Friday
Welcome to this week’s edition of FacePalm Friday.
This is where your hosts will list their top picks for this week’s FacePalm moment—something they learned or read about this week that caused the FacePalm to happen (you know, the expression of embarrassment, frustration, disbelief, shock, disgust or mixed humor as depicted in our Rally FacePalm smiley).
We invite you to add your FacePalm of the week to our comments. Go ahead and add a link, tell a personal story, or share something that triggered the FacePalm on the subject of child welfare or adoption.
Your Host’s Selections:
(1)The Book Review and Book Title are both Facepalms
See this blog for the review of “The Best for You.” The author is a birthmother and the reviewer is an AP blogger.
The first lines of the book “This is a story about love. This is a story about a gift from God that became an even greater gift to a family.”
The review says “What follows is a simple, but powerful story of a woman who finds herself pregnant and chooses “the best” for her unborn child – adoption….Even if all of the facts don’t apply to your child’s birthmother, the idea remains the same – she wanted what was best for her child, and in this case, that was adoption.” [Let’s beat that drum all together now..EVEN IF the facts don’t apply, adoption was best
]
While the reviewer only mentions that the book would be good for infant, private adoptions, the last line still made me cringe, “It imparts an important message that they need to hear: You were not given up. You were wanted. You are loved. “Adoption means I wanted the best for you.”’
(2)Christian Science Monitor Series on Adoption
See this article here.The title is a facepalm: “China adoption diary: Join the odyssey to adopt Madeleine” Well, I guess they have the theme of mythology right, but I prefer 
(or maybe just that actor that plays Thor..).
This post also has a facepalmtastic quote from Adam Pertman: “‘But, he says, that even as global adoption standards aim to “get things right…. We should not be sacrificing kids on the altar of purity – getting things perfect. While we’re trying to get things right, are we going to have kids wither away in orphanages? That’s not the right answer.” Now adoption reformers are doing this?Exaggerate much there ,Adam? Hmmm…I think there may be other options out there, Adam, like family preservation, deinsitutionalizing to smaller group homes.
(3)More Adoption Menopause
“You’re never too old to adopt or love a child, say adoptive parents who were midlifers when they welcomed new family additions.” NEVER? 
Apparently not! “When Sandy Liaw of Los Angeles adopted from China, she was fulfilling her lifelong dream of becoming a mom, just shy of her 50th birthday. When she brought home a beautiful little 13-month-old girl, her husband was 60. ” Wow, the DOS says that for China “Both parents must be between the ages of 30 and 50. Those couples who apply to adopt a special needs child must be between the ages of 30 and 55.” Must have been one of those waivers again!Did they have those 11 years ago?
‘Too Old To Adopt’? Not The Case For These Parents [Huffington Post 7/3/12 by Ann Brenoff]
(4)Chuck and Ambassador Jacobs on 6/15/12 before the Guatemala trip
Awww, isn’t that special……
(5) Protecting Adoption and Promoting Responsible Fatherhood Act of 2012
The name and whole thing is a facepalm. It is all about protecting adoption but not about fatherhood AT ALL. I blogged about that 
here
(6) We facepalmed Orphanology a while back. Now the author gives a facepalm interview
Q & A: ‘Orphanology’ author says adoption shouldn’t be ‘Plan B’ [Baptist Press 7/9/12 by Michael Foust] Remember that Baptist Press is the publication that gave Laura Silsby 
a column.
Someone else needs a dose of Smolin STAT!
(7) Using False Statistics for Uganda
We can’t have a week go by without someone misusing the orphan statistics
“Recently, after coming to grips with how horrendously millions of orphans live in third-world countries, Nathan decided they should start the adoption process.
“To have the opportunity to bless some young children with some of the same blessings that we have been provided, not just as Americans, but our family specifically, why wouldn’t you?” Nathan said.
The couple hopes to adopt the two kids from Uganda, where there are two and a half million orphans [not legally free children that need IA though]. But money, at least for the moment, stands in their way.
It would cost about $40,000.” Family raising money to adopt in Uganda [Fox Tampa 7/11/12 by Ken Suarez] 
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