I have always thought of adoption as beautiful and really admire those who have. I do sometimes wonder why more people
don’t have that tugging on their heart.
If every healthy family adopted an abandoned or orphaned child; how many
children could be alleviated world-wide from the heartaches and injustice of not
having a Mom and a Dad? I think it's common for potential adoptive parents to think of it as a privilege, as the opportunity to 'save' a child, like that of a ministry. After moving to Peru, and having more experience
in an orphanage, I started to see the challenges first-hand.
Adoptions are not easy.
They are a long process, cost a lot of money, and are filled with mounds
of paperwork (...although always worth the
trouble, according to all our good friends who have been through the process).
From first appearances, it seems that the Peruvian system
does not favor International adoptions, nor make it easy to adopt, and at
times outright unjust towards international placement / adoption cases, like only allowing special-needs children to
be adopted out-of-country (I have heard this, but learned that it’s
not always the case). Or, not allowing potential adoptive parents to visit an orphanage,
get to know the kids, and choose a child they have already bonded with (also not always the case). Cases are determined based on the will of the Judge, who can turn down an application for no apparent reason.
However, one thing to keep in mind is that the majority of children
in Peruvian orphanages are not orphans, but abandoned children, or those who
have been removed by authorities from their biological families because of
abuse or neglect, which can make cases of abandonment more complicated.
After some time here, I have learned that the apparent predominant unease
over prospective non-Peruvian adoptions is because of the belief in an illegal
organ harvest trade which I've been told took place in the 80’s and 90’s.
Whether some of it is legend or an actual fact, not long ago a judge made a
comment to that end in relation to one of the homes I am involved with. It made me cringe. They get uneasy when too many gringos are
involved, trying to designate their children to the homes of other gringo
families. Honestly, I have a hard time
believing that this concern of theirs is legit, but I am also aware that the
big wide world out there isn't fit for naivety and closed-eyes.
So I started to do a little research. And what I found was actually quite
disturbing.
Child abductions have certainly taken place in Peru in the past , however I did find it really hard to come up with concrete evidence of
illegal adoptions related to black market for organs, although this 1992 ChicagoTribune article clearly cites why the Peruvian government first started making International adoptions more of a challenge:, cases involving reports of improper treatment of the adopted child, illegal
adoptions and issues of bribing judges to manipulate foreign adoptions.
Pound Pup Legacy, an organization so-called created to promote the safety and well being of
children in care, documents cases of malpractice and corruption and offers support to the victims of the "dark
side of child placement" and provide a few articles on their .org website in regards to child trafficking and illegal adoptions in Peru. They dispel the legend of a black market for body parts, but do cite some of the biggest issues around adoption cases included in the following:
"The arrest of a U.S. citizen here on charges of trafficking in babies last week has sparked a heated debate over adoption ethics, procedures, and how best to protect the interests of the children within a system highly vulnerable to abuse.
Most Peruvian adoptions appear to be carried out properly, but the local press has focused on several reported instances of what amounts to baby-selling. A few mothers have complained that their children were kidnapped or that they were duped into giving up their babies. Judges have been implicated in schemes to extort bribes in exchange for moving adoption paperwork along.
More bizarre are the fantastic and wholly unsubstantiated rumors that periodically arise about Peruvian infants being taken to the United States or Europe to be killed as a source of body parts for transplants. That grisly idea assumed such currency last year [1992] that U.S. officials arranged a teleconference to try to dispel it.
Despite my lack of finding substantial evidence toward a
black market in the harvesting of organs in Peru related to corrupt adoptions,
it is a world-wide truth that does take place still today, and is usually fueled by poverty and false promises.
This CNN article entitled “International Adoptions: Saving Orphans or Child Trafficking?” is an informative article on corrupt international adoption problems in places
including Cambodia, Haiti and Vietnam.
This led to my information about international adoption scandals, lists of which can actually be found detailed on Wikipedia (I don't know why, but found that surprising to find on Wikipedia). And then
I randomly came across this Reuter’s investigation website which fully details investigated cases of “failed adoptions”, mostly a result
of the lowered expectations of adoptive parents after receiving a child that
they end up basically “not happy with”.
It’s
outrageous to me that this happens, that children who have been adopted into
families across the U.S. have later been rejected again and left in the hands
of another caregiver, often child predators and pedophiles lurking on
false internet sites for these so-named failed adoptions. It makes me sick.
And when did adoption become a business? “Adoption is a business, there is no question, sadly”. -Susan Soonkeum Cox, Holt International. “…[W]hen a large
amount of cash comes to developing countries with weak governments, "it
reproduces systematic problems over and over again." – Smolin, Stanford
University (http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/16/world/international-adoption-saving-orphans-child-trafficking/). Things like child trafficking
grow out of impoverished places and corrupt people wanting to capitalize on currency available in
the adoption “market”.
So, how has my view of adoption changed?
I would still like to adopt one day, though I am a lot more
informed, and thus more ready for the challenges that may come, should we as a couple ever be led together
in that privilege of enlarging our family.
It used to drive me crazy that Peru’s laws make international adoptions
so difficult: now I know that they have a right to protect their children, and
should, just like every other country. I
used to think that adoptions should be quicker so as to place the child in a stable home
and to avoid so much time in institutions. I now believe that the system of adoption in
other countries, especially third-world ones, should be more formal and have
better screening procedures. I sympathize and grieve along with friends
waiting months turned to years for a child to finally be welcomed into their family, and
know that it would also be agonizing if I were in their shoes, but I now think
that the long wait times on finalized adoptions are okay because it’s more
likely to mean that proper and preventative procedures are being followed.
I also think that
adoptive parents should be able to choose their child, spend some time with
them before in bonding and knowing if that child would fit well into their
family. More bonding time and at-face
contact could also prevent child trafficking, like Lemma’s story told in this CNN article.
Potential adoptive parents should be more informed of the corruption
out there, so as to carefully choose recognized and legitimate agencies and be
aware of protective measures such as the Hague convention, which may make the process longer, but
ensures that procedures are done correctly and for the best interests of the
child. (Peru has been part of the Hague
Convention since November 2009). And, there should be more formal follow-up to adoptions, with the offer of counseling and support to both the family and child, to ensure that they are growing together in a healthy situation.
Another thing that makes me sad is in relation to the many older children removed from foreign countries and placed with families in a country where they don't know the language, customs and culture, cannot communicate for months effectively with their new families, and receive no required follow-up, counseling or interviews. I still think it's a blessed thing to offer an older child a stable and loving home, with statistics of older children being adopted very low, but there should be more pre and post support for the child. I also think that preference to adopting a child over 8 should be considered first within one's own country or culture.
On the other side of things, I also think that more efforts should be made by
governments, NGO’s and churches to meet the first need: the problems with
family values, poverty and education that contribute to children being
abandoned or orphaned in the first place: strengthening families to keep children with
their birth families or natural communities as a priority.
...but that is a potential topic perhaps for another time...
Thank you for reading!
You can find more information on adopting from Peru and other countries here: Info on adopting from Peru:
My absolute favorite read so far this year: Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal, so worth the read!
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O Lord, you hear the desire of the afflicted;you will strengthen their heart; you will incline your earto do justice to the fatherless and the oppressed,
so that man who is of the earth may strike terror no more.
~Psalm 10:17 & 18
