We witness a miracle each time a child enters a life. But those who must make their journey home across time and miles, growing in the hearts of those waiting to love them, are carried on the wings of destiny. And placed among us by God's own hands.

Monday, December 20, 2010

Ethiopian Baby Business?

Recent news article on the subject:

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/Under-Pressure-Ethiopia-Plans-Crackdown-on-Baby-Business-111848424.html

I have posted before about the ethics of adoptions in Ethiopia and it appears the subject just keeps coming up. As adoptions from Ethiopia continue to rise so have the number of adoptive families who have come forward with information about their adoptive children's stories that just did not add up. The good thing is that there are organizations who are keeping a eye on things and Ethiopia is aware that there are problems and they are actively working to fix them. This is why many countries have very strict international adoption laws, so that things do not get out of hand. Unfortunately, this sometimes happens at the expense of the orphans who have to wait a very long time, if ever, for their forever families. But it is definitely not good either to have loose regulations where orphanages, adoption agencies and baby facilitators run rampant to meet the supply and demand for healthy infants. There has to be a happy medium to ensure that the children placed are really orphans while also maintaining a smooth and ethical process. In the meantime, there are just to many concerns regarding the ethics of Ethiopian adoption to be ignored.

Check out PEAR's statements and survey results at:

http://pear-now.org/docs/PEAR-Ethiopia-Survey-Results.pdf

http://www.brandeis.edu/investigate/gender/adoption/expertsrespond_PEAR.html

US State Deparment Notice concerning fraud in Ethiopian Adoption (dated 12/6/10):

http://adoption.state.gov/news/ethiopia.html

1 comment:

  1. There is a lot coming out right now. We chose to adopt from somewhere else because I felt that we could not ignore the warnings. I need to be able to look into the eyes of my daughter and tell her I did everything I could to insure that her adoption was needed and ethical. Ethiopia is full of agencies and families using those agencies that are using children as commodities. It is so sad :(

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