(May 3, 2012, E.J. Graff, The American Prospect)--When large amounts of money are exchanged between a wealthy country and a poor country, here's what happens. Miriam Jordan at The Wall Street Journal has published an investigative article about adoption from Ethiopia, which has for several years been riddled with allegations
of fraud and unethical practices.
This article tells the deceptively simple story of Melesech Roth, whose Ethiopian birthmother died of malaria, and whose birthfather (who lives in stone-age poverty) gave her up for adoption when someone came through his village, offering to take children to America who would later help support their families.
The writing is so straightforward that you may not realize how extraordinary it is unless you've tried to write a similar piece. Persuading an adoptive family to talk with you on the record, and also finding the biological family and getting them to talk on the record, is a significant feat.
The accompanying ten-minute video is even more powerful than the written story. You can see for yourself that Melesech, by any material measure, is far better off than her siblings, who are pounding grain and building fires in the dirt-floor, mud-walled hut where they live alongside their chickens. But you also see her biological father's face and hearing his voice as he explains that of course he did not give away his child forever; she will support him and come back again. In fact, he says, at around 7:15 into the video, he's thinking of giving up more children because he's still poor:
This article tells the deceptively simple story of Melesech Roth, whose Ethiopian birthmother died of malaria, and whose birthfather (who lives in stone-age poverty) gave her up for adoption when someone came through his village, offering to take children to America who would later help support their families.
The writing is so straightforward that you may not realize how extraordinary it is unless you've tried to write a similar piece. Persuading an adoptive family to talk with you on the record, and also finding the biological family and getting them to talk on the record, is a significant feat.
The accompanying ten-minute video is even more powerful than the written story. You can see for yourself that Melesech, by any material measure, is far better off than her siblings, who are pounding grain and building fires in the dirt-floor, mud-walled hut where they live alongside their chickens. But you also see her biological father's face and hearing his voice as he explains that of course he did not give away his child forever; she will support him and come back again. In fact, he says, at around 7:15 into the video, he's thinking of giving up more children because he's still poor:
I will be giving up the children but not to become someone else's child. It's to help me. Not to become someone else's child. What good would that be to me if I give them away?
Here is the dilemma of international
adoption in a nutshell. Melesech has a life that, to American eyes,
looks far better than the life she had at home. The Roths clearly love
her, and adopted her for the right reasons: they wanted to help needy
orphans who had no family and no home.
They chose one of the most
upstanding and reputable adoption agencies, one of the three biggest
players in the field: Children's Home Society & Family Services,
based in St. Paul, Minnesota, which says that it doesn't pay its
orphanages per child, but rather supports them unconditionally, no
matter how many children are actually adoptable. Read more from The American Prospect »
Related topics:
Inside Ethiopia's Adoption Boom
Inside Ethiopia's Adoption Boom
Meet Kathryn Joyce: Adoption Boom and Fraud in Ethiopia
Adoption Inc: How Ethiopia's Industry Dupes Families and Bullies Activists
Adoption Inc: How Ethiopia's Industry Dupes Families and Bullies Activists
No comments:
Post a Comment