FacePalm Friday

National Review Writer Describes Racist Attacks on His Multiracial Family

“And so, in the summer of 2010, we journeyed to Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, to pick up our youngest child, Naomi Konjit French. As with every adoption story, hers begins with profound loss. Her unwed mother surrendered Naomi to her grandmother and grandfather and then disappeared from her life. Her grandparents were subsistence farmers, barely able to eke out a living. Then her grandfather died, and Naomi and her grandmother began to starve. By the time Naomi was 2 years old, she weighed barely more than 14 pounds. That was her condition when she was abandoned again—this time lovingly turned over to an adoption agency. [Really?The adoption agency was just there???]Her grandmother simply couldn’t keep her alive.”[So you paid her grandmother to keep her alive? Oh no. You adopted her. And where is the grandmother?I guess she starved to death?]

“But then came a backlash. Claims of cultural imperialism, wounded national pride, and rare, sad horror stories of exploitation or abuse soured foreign nations against American families.” [Um… Yes…. And?]

“My family was caught in the dragnet. So at the same time we were integrating a new child into our home, we were also combing through adoption receipts trying to prove to the IRS that we had indeed adopted, that we had indeed spent the incredible sum we reported, and that we hadn’t defrauded the government. “[Aw boo hoo!]

“Next, in 2013, Kathryn Joyce, a writer and journalist who studies and reports on American evangelical Christianity, published a book called The Child Catchers: Rescue, Trafficking, and the New Gospel of Adoption. It was a blistering attack on the evangelical adoption movement, claiming that the adoption industry was rife with corruption and that Evangelicals were in the grips of an ominous “orphan fever” motivated primarily by a desire to evangelize orphan children.”[Well, the adoption industry is rife with corruption and the Evangelicals were in the grips of orphan fever.I will never forget when Haiti had the big earthquake in 2010 and the evangelical church in my neighborhood created quite the frenzy for “adoptive parents”. There were 200 people signed up to be “adoptive parents”! They were definitely in “Orphan Fever”]

FacePalm of the Century

In this article “State Department Continues Its Cruel War On Adoption Agencies”,it says “Two years ago, the State Department’s Office of Children’s Issues proposed onerous new regulations governing overseas adoption. ”

Some of those “onerous” new regulations include “Unworkable Education Requirements”, according to this article (written by the same author). The “unworkable” requirements  include “rather than simply beefing up hours or requiring certain topics to be covered, DOS will now require families to complete foster parent training in their state of residence.”[ Not!!!!!!!!! So basically the unworkable requirement is more training hours and medical clearances and providing supporting financial, emotional, and mental health documentation about your ability to parent the child.Yawn!]; and “Micromanaging fees”, which means “DOS has granted itself the authority to cap prices for adoption services, according to what it deems “reasonable.””[oh…the horror!]

The State department now has told  COA”that its regulations did not permit any lapse in accreditation. “[Oh no!Sounds pretty reasonable to me]

““The Office of Children’s Issues is just making up and re-interpreting the rules and regulations as they go along,” says Ron Stoddart of Save Adoptions. “[So “the regulations that did not permit any lapse in accreditation” is making up the rules?Hmm..]

“[T]he State Department will be held accountable for its anti-adoption culture and record, restoring its legal mandate to facilitate and promote adoption.”

[I thought the State Department says “We believe it should be an option for children in need of permanent homes when it is in the best interest of the child and domestic solutions have been given due consideration.” not as a legal mandate to facilitate the adoption!]