Many Westerners Are Adopting Children Bought or Stolen from Their Parents

Many Westerners Are Adopting Children Bought or Stolen from Their Parents

Source

So, where had some of these adopted babies come from? Consider the case of Ana Escobar, a young Guatemalan woman who in March 2007 reported to police that armed men had locked her in a closet in her family’s shoe store and stolen her infant. After a 14-month search, Escobar found her daughter in pre-adoption foster care, just weeks before the girl was to be adopted by a couple from Indiana. DNA testing showed the toddler to be Escobar’s child.

(visit the link for the full news article)





[edit on 2/5/2009 by semperfortis]

The article clip is not the full story by any means. It appears a well researched article with numerous issues. We should recognize that behind the face of international adoption there is an industry that is often highly lucrative and sometimes corrupt

It’s just impossible to summarize this without reading some of the article parts like this

Snip
“
Most of the Westerners involved with foreign adoption agencies -- like business people importing foreign sneakers -- can plausibly deny knowledge of unethical or unseemly practices overseas. They don’t have to know. Willful ignorance allowed Lauryn Galindo, a former hula dancer from the United States, to collect more than $9 million in adoption fees over several years for Cambodian infants and toddlers.
“
An eye opener indeed.

a reader comment:-
"dirty profiteering purposes. The adoption business is just DISGUSTING given that a great deal of profits come from these kinds of outrageous thefts ! "

WHAT DO YOU THINK


Source
(visit the link for the full news article)

[edit on 2/5/2009 by semperfortis]

Why does there need to be international adoption here in America. We have an over abundance of children right here in this country that need to be adopted that people shouldn't adopting kids in Uganda, or China, or some other country. I don't understand the fascination with adopting a kid from a third world nation. Is it a fad thing where it is fashionable. If you want to adopt a kid look locally and save a kid here.

reply to post by bigvig316


But the thing is it is so hard and expensive to adopt an American kid, many parents feel forced to go overseas.

It can take YEARS to adopt from here.

That and there are so many regulations--many of them specifically aimed at excluding types of adoptive parents who are not PC.

Plus most parents seem to want an infant, not a toddler or an older child--there is, I think, a stigma gaisnt adopting a "tainted" child.

I have read (a while ago so don't quote it as fact) it takes a minimum of 8 years in America to adopt a healthy white baby. The birth parents used to have 6 months to change their mind - - it has been increased to a year."pe

And those couples - yes must be a man & wife - have to fit extreme requirements.

I know someone who adopted a baby girl from Russia. She was already 40 - had been unable to conceive. There is no way she could have qualified for adoption in America - - on her age alone.

reply to post by asmeone2


perhaps it is time to have an overhaul of the system and see what the flaws and good points are and revamp it to make it more friendly towards people who have the qualities and background necessary to be able to adopt. I only being 28 have never thought of adoption but would like to know what are some of the criteria need to adopt a child in this country.

reply to post by majestictwo

First of all, most adoptions are legal. Yes, there have been cases like this, and even one such case is one too many. However, over 75 countries, including Guatemala in 2008, have now adopted the Hague Convention. This convention has been put in place to assure that such adoptions do not occur again.

adoption.state.gov...

Keys to the Hague Process · The Hague Adoption Convention process provides additional protections to prospective adoptive parents, children, and birth parents. The primary principles of the Hague Adoption Convention include: (1) ensuring that each adoption is in the best interests of the child, and (2) preventing the abduction, the sale of, or traffic of children related to intercountry adoption. The United States strongly supports these principles. Our process for adoptions from Convention countries is aimed at meeting these principles and is governed by the the Intercountry Adoption Act of 2000 and its implementing regulations. · Adoption service providers must be accredited, temporarily accredited, or approved on a national level in order to provide adoption services in Convention countries. When adopting from a Convention country, prospective adoptive parents will know that their agency or attorney has been evaluated based on comprehensive standards contained in federal regulations. These standards are designed to ensure that adoption agencies and persons operate using sound professional and ethical adoption practices. · Convention procedures “front-load” the immigrant visa petition and visa application processes. The goal of this is to protect children and families by identifying potential problems that could pose a legal bar to the child from entering the United States before the child is adopted by his or her American prospective adoptive parents. This helps ensure that every child who is adopted overseas (or brought to the United States for the purpose of adoption) by U.S. citizen adoptive parents will be able to enter and reside permanently in the United States.

The US is also now a signatory of the Hague convention. I have been involved in international adoptions for 40 years now, as many of our children are adopted, and we are now at the point where we have grandchildren from international adoptions. Every one of our adoptions were thoroughly handled by authorities in both countries, and precautions were taken, to ensure that the children were not "stolen", kidnapped, or that the natural parents were paid, coerced or in any way pressured to relinquish their child.

By the way, there are adoptions in the US that have been done "under the table" and quite illegal, so this has not been limited to international adoptions. As to the member that wondered why people resort to international adoptions, part of that answer is the foster care system in the US, which is a travesty, in which it is more financially beneficial for agencies to keep children in foster care homes, rather than put them up for adoption. That is the horrible truth, and those children frequently suffer from that travesty. In addition, there are many restrictions on who can adopt in most states, and that is another reason that people go international.

Also, almost all legal adoptions have a very rigid system of screening, home studies, financial studies, etc. to assure that the adopted child is placed in a loving home, and will be properly cared for.
In some ways, it is a shame that people aren't screened before they have children. I have seen parents treat children so poorly, that I wish that they could have been screened. However, I don't wish to get into a debate about this. That is just an observation of mine.

I think its more wide spead than we care to imagine

Snip

The tiny Pacific nation of Samoa has been embroiled in an adoption scandal, with families in the United States paying thousands of dollars to adopt children who were not orphans.

Samoa adoption scandel

reply to post by majestictwo

I think its more wide spead than we care to imagine

That is the reason that the Hague Convention on adoptions was created. Once a nation joins the convention (and the US just did in 2008), then very strict rules are in place regarding adoptions

The Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Cooperation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption is a set of internationally agreed-upon ethical standards for countries involved in international adoption. These standards are designed to protect children, birth parents, and adoptive parents and to prevent child trafficking and other abuses. Any adoption that involves two Hague Convention countries must adhere to the rigorous Hague Convention standards. This also means that any adoption agency or person wishing to facilitate an adoption through two countries that have signed the Hague Convention Treaty must be accredited under Hague Convention standards. This treaty goes into effect in the United States on April 1, 2008.

www.partnersforadoption.org...

We are adoptive parents of a child from Bolivia.

The orphanage in Bolivia advertises in the local news paper for a whole month - with a picture of the child and information about the child - before allowing adoption. Abandoned children are brought to the orphanages. No one at the orphanages receives any money from the adoptions.

Adoption agency - Villa Hope - Birmingham Alabama.

I can't believe people gave your post stars.

Originally posted by bigvig316
We have an over abundance of children right here in this country that need to be adopted that people shouldn't adopting kids in Uganda, or China, or some other country.

that's not true. And the waiting lists, when we adopted, were 8 YEARS LONG. That's right. 8 years. I did not want to wait at least 8 years for a baby.

I don't understand the fascination with adopting a kid from a third world nation. Is it a fad thing where it is fashionable.

For everyone I know personally who have adopted overseas it's NOT a 'fad' or 'fashionable'. You must be thinking of baby collectors like Angelina Jolie.

- It is faster to adopt from overseas. Waiting lists here are many times years and years long.

- It is a matter of not having to worry about birth parents changing their mind ... or ignorant judges giving birth children back to birth parents when they are 3 years old. (yes it does happen)

If you want to adopt a kid look locally and save a kid here.

It's not that easy. When we adopted we exhaused all local avenues first.
Most places in the states have a very, very long waiting list AND severe age restrictions for the parents. By the time you know you can't have biological children, or by the time you know you want to adopt, you are too old by the restrictions.

reply to post by FlyersFan


I am sorry you feel that stars are important here. The truth is as OP I only highlighted the news article I didn’t invent it. The other point is just about all the replies are from the USA (presuming) but you know ATS is global and other people sometimes see things differently.

Your comments are well noted by the way. As you are the first that has adopted, your experience far exceeds the rest of us so far.

I am please you have a successful adoption

MJ2

Originally posted by FlyersFan
We are adoptive parents of a child from Bolivia.

The orphanage in Bolivia advertises in the local news paper for a whole month - with a picture of the child and information about the child - before allowing adoption. Abandoned children are brought to the orphanages. No one at the orphanages receives any money from the adoptions.

Adoption agency - Villa Hope - Birmingham Alabama.

I don't agree with you on much - but I agree with you on this one.

Children in America still have hope. There are government programs available for those willing to work for it.

Unlike other countries with caste systems - major prejudices against mixed race (far exceeding that of the USA), superstition, no public education, no programs available when children become too old for the orphanage, poor nutrition, lack of personal stimulation - etc.

Too many people still want to look at America as some kind of Utopia - - but are unaware of such things as the increase of sex slaves/human slavery in our own country.

And that isn't even touching on the ridiculousness of our adoption process.

reply to post by majestictwo

Your comments are well noted by the way. As you are the first that has adopted, your experience far exceeds the rest of us so far.

Actually, since I post on just about every thread regarding adoptions, I thought I had mentioned on this thread that all but one of our children are adopted from Colombia, and one of our adopted Colombian daughters has adopted two children from Guatemala, so we are into our second generation of adoptions. Like FlyersFan, all of our adoptions and our daughters went through well-respected agencies, and in fact, our daughter's last adoption was under the Hague convention. We started adopting children in the early 1970's and continued through the early 1980's.
I likewise echo FlyerFan's comments. Everything he said about US adoptions is true. Furthermore, I also am quite insulted by bigvig's remarks. First of all, it is NONE of his business where people adopt from. No one has to answer to him or anyone else. If he is so concerned about adopting in the US, why doesn't he adopt here?
The first time we went to Bogota to adopt, we saw first hand, the "gangs" of children, homeless and without family, who roam the streets in packs, some as young as 5 years old, foraging for food, and living in alleys, and cardboard boxes on the outskirts of the city. These children need homes badly.

Originally posted by bigvig316
Why does there need to be international adoption here in America. We have an over abundance of children right here in this country that need to be adopted that people shouldn't adopting kids in Uganda, or China, or some other country. I don't understand the fascination with adopting a kid from a third world nation. Is it a fad thing where it is fashionable. If you want to adopt a kid look locally and save a kid here.

I can understand why you feel that way. I used to feel that way too.
And I will ditto what asmeone2 said about the hassle of adopting American kids here. It is a HUGE hassle and the restrictions are absolutely ridiculous.

However, kids who need to be adopted here do have it much better then most of the kids in other countries.

I was in Russia for a month and visited a few children's hospitals and orphanages there. We were at these orphanges to just go and be with the kids and hold the babies. I will never forget the images in my head. Those kids have no chance of anything in life - if they are not adopted by other countries. All those babies that are laying in cribs who, if lucky, might be held once in awhile. Then they grow up with severe mental issues because they never even connected with anyone else. There are too many babies/kids and not enough care givers. The attention they get is very very little.

At least we have a foster care system. Grant it, its not great and it too needs an overhaul, but I have seen both worlds, and I can promise you, children in need of adoption here have it much better.

I believe everything in this country needs an overhaul and that includes the entire adoption process. It is ridiculous as it stands now.


[edit on 2/8/2009 by greeneyedleo]

Originally posted by majestictwo
I am sorry you feel that stars are important here. The truth is as OP I only highlighted the news article I didn’t invent it.

I was addressing Bigvig and his post. Not yours majestic. Yours was fine.
Anyone who agreed with bigvig doesn't understand the average international adoption.

Originally posted by ProfEmeritus
Everything he said about US adoptions is true.

I'm a girl.

reply to post by FlyersFan

I'm a girl.

Forgive me. Chalk it up to senioritis on my part.