International Adoptions
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a controversial law prohibiting American families from adopting Russian children. The new law directly affects hundreds of families across the U.S., including 46 families in the final stages of the adoption process. Kojo explores the challenges for governments and families in navigating international adoption.
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International Adoption Stories
Dozens of Washingtonians shared their personal successes and frustrations with the international adoption process with us through the Public Insight Network. Listen to excerpts from two of those conversations, and share your own experiences in the comments section below.
Gretchen Vidergar
Gretchen describes visiting two very different orphanages in Russia when she and her husband decided to expand their family in 2005. Weeks after submitting a petition to adopt, a judge determined that Americans would no longer be allowed to adopt from that particular region -- and he started with her case. "I can relate to all these families that are stuck in limbo, waiting to see if they will be able to proceed or not," Gretchen said about the families affected by Russia's recent ban on U.S. adoption. "The anxiety and stress and the feelings around that are so intense."
Sydney Jacobs
Sydney adopted a daughter in 1991 and a son in 1995, both from Bolivia but through very different processes. When adopting her daughter, Sydney and her husband went through the court process directly and practically unaided, using conversational Spanish, an attorney and the help of an American family living in Bolivia. For the second adoption, Sydney describes going through a U.S. adoption agency in Connecticut, per the requirements of the newly-passed Hague Convention. She talks about how an in-country guide mitigated several cultural barriers. For individuals also interested in adopting from a Latin American country, Sydney recommends the local chapter of the support group, Latin America Parents Association.
Comments
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I'm deeply disappointed that the show does not only include the valuable voices of adult adoptees. Yes, adoptive parents and adoption professionals provide an important perspective. But the glaring omission of the voices, experience, and realities of adopted persons is absurd and unconscionable in this discussion.
Sigh. Delete the word "only" from the first sentence in my comment. Leave in the disappointment and outrage.
I would like to echo Mmccauley's sentiments. Excluding the experiences of adoptees and the knowledge of adoptee professionals from this conversation fundamentally undermines the journalistic quality your audience expects from this fine show. The decision made by Russia indeed impacts families interested in adopting from that country. However, the individuals who are impacted the most are the children, whose experiences mirror many adult adoptees living in the US. Here's another way to look at this: would you have a panel discussion about policies that impact African Americans and exclude African Americans from the discussion? No you wouldn't.
I'm incredibly disappointed -- Kevin Vollmers, Land of Gazillion Adoptees
I hope you have more adult adoptees planned to appear to speak about this issue. If you want to know what adoption is like, ask someone who lives it every single day.
Susan Branco Alvarado is an esteemed member of the adoptee community. I am hoping we can hear more from her! She is an incredible source of information.
Mr. Nnamdi, you asked, "how do you balance the desires of the adoptive parents with the best interests of the child?" That's a question that gets asked a lot in adoption. The answer is simple, and the answer is not a "terminology" change, as Mr. Difilipo suggested. It's an attitude and practice change:
There should be no compromise to children's rights based on the desires of others. Prospective adoptive parents and adoption facilitators alike should always exclusively seek the best interests of the child. This is what parents do--they put children first. Always. Do the statistics and policies we have reflect this? *This* is what needs to be determined.
One of the guests was, in fact, an adult adoptee - Tatiana McFadden.
This was an excellent show with two highly respected members of the international adoption community. There are many excellent organizations that support adopted children, adult adoptees, and the families who love them. One of those organizations, Families for Russian and Ukrainian Adoption (FRUA), has spent the past two decades supporting families and their Eastern European adopted children. This ban is a tragedy for the many thousands of children who languish in Russian orphanages with little or no hope of finding families to love them. As an adoptive parent myself, it breaks my heart to think that children who could find forever families now will not and families who desperately want to love a child now cannot.
Mr. Nnamdi,
Thank you for allowing me a brief opportunity to talk on today's show. One thing, among many things, I did not have a chance to mention was the President of Russia's Executive Order On Measures Concerning the Implementation of Government Policy on Orphaned Children and those without Parental Care that was issued on 12/28/12. This order aims to provide for more in country care of its children which, at minimum, appears to be moving in the right direction. Often adult adopted persons who have differing views than the dominant adoptive parent or agency majority are labeled as "angry" or "ungrateful". There are many professional and thoughtful adult adopted people who simply are asking to be included and considered as a valid part of national and local conversations about adoption policy. Thank you, Susan Branco Alvarado
Thank you, Ms. Amanda!
To clarify, there were two adult adoptees on the show that I was aware of.
Adding one or two adoptees into a discussion that is typically dominated by those who are not adopted (a discussion that *should* be primarily lead by adoptees), in an effort to appear inclusive of adoptees, borders on tokenism.
This show did end up being more inclusive than expected, and I appreciate that.
I am sure with the valuable adoptee contributions today in addition to listener feedback, this quality radio program will continue featuring the voices of adopted persons and their expertise. Thank you.
As a Korean adopted adult, I thank you, Mr. Nnamdi, for taking time to look at an issue that is very important to me. It seems to me that so far people have framed the Russian leaders' motives as political only or emotional only. Yet what if they are both? If emotions do come into play, then we should consider why this is the case, and some possible reasons come to mind. First, I think that countries that have placed children abroad are reacting to events that have brought about long-term consequences. I was born in a country that underwent a succession of upheavals (e.g., Japanese colonization, civil war, drastic political and economic reforms). These events are inevitably associated with long-term poverty, which is inevitably associated with children without families. Second, I think that these countries feel a lot of shame. Korean citizens have told adopted persons that they find it difficult to talk about international adoption. Third, I think that these countries are human, struggling to find the right solution. Initially they deny that a problem exists because they are just too overwhelmed, then they start paying attention to it, and then they go through a lot of trial and error. Fourth, I think that these countries struggle because the right solution is complex. The adoption community tends to focus narrowly on international or domestic adoption, but what about other measures, such as the eradication of poverty, promotion of family planning, and strengthening of women's rights, particularly economic independence? Finally, I think that these countries are aware of illegal adoption practices that we don't know the exact prevalence of and that are often not addressed in the public discourse. I've heard multiple anecdotal stories about adoptive parents and adopted persons who have discovered that adoption records are falsified, or who have reunited with birth families whose stories about the placement differ from what the adoption agencies said.
On another note, I commend Susan Branco Alvarado, who is highly respected among not only adopted adults but also adoptive parents and adoption professionals. She brings a much needed and seldom heard perspective from adopted persons. Here are just a few additional resources that may be helpful:
1. The documentaries "Third Person Plural" and "In the Matter of Cha Jung Hee" by Deann Borshay Liem
2. The documentary "Resilience" by Kevin Hsieh
3. The book "Dreaming a World," edited by Sangsoon Han
4. The website "Fraud & Corruption in International Adoptions" by The Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism at Brandeis University
5. The book "Outsiders Within," edited by Jane Jeong Trenka, Julia Chinyere Oparah, and Sun Young Shin
it is true, as a commenter says above, that Tatyana McFadden is a Russian adoptee. Susan Branco Alvarado is also an adult adoptee. They were, however, added after the show began; they had not been invited as panelists nor listed in the lineup.
NPR added their names after the show was over.
I hope that future shows on adoption will include the perspectives of adopted persons, and will explore the issues in adoption with greater depth and discernment.