An interesting article passed on to me. It was written by a few adoption experts [including Roberta from CAFAC] and published in the Halifax Newspaper last week:
The unkind have suggested celebrities like Madonna are now adopting African children to serve as a kind of living, breathing fashion accessory.
Canadian adoption experts also weighed yesterday, describing the latest high-profile adoption by a superstar as a double-edged sword - it heightens awareness about the millions of Third World orphans, but also suggests preferential treatment for the wealthy and raises concerns about the emotional well-being of the children whose lives change dramatically once they move into the posh estates of their famous new families.
"Imagine yourself and how comfortable you'd be being permanently removed to another country and leaving everything behind: the sights, the smells, the sounds, the language, the food, everyone you know," Roberta Galbraith, executive director of the adoption agency Canadian Advocates for the Adoption of Children, or CAFAC, said yesterday from Minnedosa, Man.
"It's already disruptive enough to transition a child without all the hype, and my concern is these kids don't necessarily get to live a life that is normal."
The headline-grabbing news that Madonna has adopted a motherless year-old boy from Malawi is titillating not just to celebrity- watchers - people on adoption message boards are also talking about the Material Girl's newest acquisition.
"Some adult adopted children are joking: 'Why couldn't I have been adopted by Madonna?"' said Leceta Chisholm Guibault, a board member of the Adoption Council of Canada and the mother of two adopted children.
"Others are saying she got preferential treatment because of who she is. In my own opinion, I wonder if I'd have been approved to adopt a child if I'd published a sexually explicit book 10 years ago and said some of the outrageous things she's had to say over the years. I'm pretty sure that would have disqualified me. It just goes to show you the power that can come with being a celebrity."
JoAnne Conlin, an adoption licensee in Ottawa, said she has no fears that international adoptions by people like Angelina Jolie and Madonna will cause a run on Africa by would-be parents, simply because it's too expensive - it can cost as much as $50,000 to travel overseas and adopt a child, compared to about $12,000 to arrange a private adoption in Canada.
"This is largely something only the wealthy can afford to do," Conlin said. "Maybe it's a trendy thing for the rich and famous, but I hope not. Being a lifelong parent to a child of a different race is not easy, and hopefully they're getting lots of education and information on what's ahead for them. It's a lifelong journey, not a fashion trend."
Conlin points out another troubling fact: many people longing to be parents decide against adopting, for free, a ward of the Children's Aid Society once they learn of the child's background.
"So they choose to go the international route and they get absolutely no background, and in many cases it can be a much worse than the type of background you'd get here," she points out.
Chisholm Guibault wonders why Madonna didn't choose to put her immense wealth into providing for the family of the boy she's adopted, suggesting staying with his father and other family members in improved circumstances might have been better for him than removing him permanently from Malawi.
"Why not help the father support and raise his child and pour some money into improving the situation in Malawi - what a great gift that would have been," Chisholm Guibault said. "And then she could have adopted a true orphan, some child with absolutely no one and no prospects for a better life."
But Galbraith says high-profile international adoptions by celebrities like Madonna do perform an important service: "It raises the awareness of the plight of orphans around the world and it makes people aware that this is an option. There are millions of orphans in Ethiopia alone - five million, and only 1,400 were adopted last year. There are millions of children in need."
Adopting a tough stance
Lee-Anne Goodman. Daily News. Halifax, N.S.: Oct 13, 2006. pg. 21
The unkind have suggested celebrities like Madonna are now adopting African children to serve as a kind of living, breathing fashion accessory.
Canadian adoption experts also weighed yesterday, describing the latest high-profile adoption by a superstar as a double-edged sword - it heightens awareness about the millions of Third World orphans, but also suggests preferential treatment for the wealthy and raises concerns about the emotional well-being of the children whose lives change dramatically once they move into the posh estates of their famous new families.
"Imagine yourself and how comfortable you'd be being permanently removed to another country and leaving everything behind: the sights, the smells, the sounds, the language, the food, everyone you know," Roberta Galbraith, executive director of the adoption agency Canadian Advocates for the Adoption of Children, or CAFAC, said yesterday from Minnedosa, Man.
"It's already disruptive enough to transition a child without all the hype, and my concern is these kids don't necessarily get to live a life that is normal."
The headline-grabbing news that Madonna has adopted a motherless year-old boy from Malawi is titillating not just to celebrity- watchers - people on adoption message boards are also talking about the Material Girl's newest acquisition.
"Some adult adopted children are joking: 'Why couldn't I have been adopted by Madonna?"' said Leceta Chisholm Guibault, a board member of the Adoption Council of Canada and the mother of two adopted children.
"Others are saying she got preferential treatment because of who she is. In my own opinion, I wonder if I'd have been approved to adopt a child if I'd published a sexually explicit book 10 years ago and said some of the outrageous things she's had to say over the years. I'm pretty sure that would have disqualified me. It just goes to show you the power that can come with being a celebrity."
JoAnne Conlin, an adoption licensee in Ottawa, said she has no fears that international adoptions by people like Angelina Jolie and Madonna will cause a run on Africa by would-be parents, simply because it's too expensive - it can cost as much as $50,000 to travel overseas and adopt a child, compared to about $12,000 to arrange a private adoption in Canada.
"This is largely something only the wealthy can afford to do," Conlin said. "Maybe it's a trendy thing for the rich and famous, but I hope not. Being a lifelong parent to a child of a different race is not easy, and hopefully they're getting lots of education and information on what's ahead for them. It's a lifelong journey, not a fashion trend."
Conlin points out another troubling fact: many people longing to be parents decide against adopting, for free, a ward of the Children's Aid Society once they learn of the child's background.
"So they choose to go the international route and they get absolutely no background, and in many cases it can be a much worse than the type of background you'd get here," she points out.
Chisholm Guibault wonders why Madonna didn't choose to put her immense wealth into providing for the family of the boy she's adopted, suggesting staying with his father and other family members in improved circumstances might have been better for him than removing him permanently from Malawi.
"Why not help the father support and raise his child and pour some money into improving the situation in Malawi - what a great gift that would have been," Chisholm Guibault said. "And then she could have adopted a true orphan, some child with absolutely no one and no prospects for a better life."
But Galbraith says high-profile international adoptions by celebrities like Madonna do perform an important service: "It raises the awareness of the plight of orphans around the world and it makes people aware that this is an option. There are millions of orphans in Ethiopia alone - five million, and only 1,400 were adopted last year. There are millions of children in need."
1 comment:
I can certainly understand your frustration, it makes me think of Sarah in the bible, who was promised a child and all around her were having them. She questioned and blamed God and then tried to work things out herself. Even so, God's plan was still in effect. I know that you are trusting God and waiting on Him and I encourage you to continue in that place, and I see that you are and that truly blesses me. It is good that you share your feelings with others, that we may pray for you and Lyle in this place and believe with you for your referrel to come. You are such an encouragement to others who are going through the same deep waters. When you rise to the top and take in all the fresh blessings that will be poured out what glory will shine from your faces!!
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