Comments on: So much for believing CNN http://chinaadopttalk.com/2007/01/06/so-much-for-believing-cnn/ Join the Rumor Queen as she looks for the latest rumors and then analyzes them, trying to figure out what the CCAA will do next. Sat, 19 May 2012 02:54:56 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: kitty http://chinaadopttalk.com/2007/01/06/so-much-for-believing-cnn/comment-page-1/#comment-30014 kitty Tue, 09 Jan 2007 01:01:05 +0000 http://chinaadopttalk.com/2007/01/06/so-much-for-believing-cnn/#comment-30014 soulangelnj- I must say that your letter reads more like an advertisement for a specific agency rather than dedbunking any myths about adoption. soulangelnj- I must say that your letter reads more like an advertisement for a specific agency rather than dedbunking any myths about adoption.

]]> By: pbarker65 http://chinaadopttalk.com/2007/01/06/so-much-for-believing-cnn/comment-page-1/#comment-29935 pbarker65 Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:43:19 +0000 http://chinaadopttalk.com/2007/01/06/so-much-for-believing-cnn/#comment-29935 It willbe interesting to see if anythign is mentioned on Paula Zahn's show tonight..with all the email flying at CNN the responsible thing to do would be to do would be to acknowledge they goofed...but who thinks they will do that. I am goign to email the advertisers today (Thanks RQ and all who helped for gathering that data). I already flooded the inboxes of CNN over the weekend. It willbe interesting to see if anythign is mentioned on Paula Zahn’s show tonight..with all the email flying at CNN the responsible thing to do would be to do would be to acknowledge they goofed…but who thinks they will do that. I am goign to email the advertisers today (Thanks RQ and all who helped for gathering that data). I already flooded the inboxes of CNN over the weekend.

]]> By: wanting1more http://chinaadopttalk.com/2007/01/06/so-much-for-believing-cnn/comment-page-1/#comment-29933 wanting1more Mon, 08 Jan 2007 16:21:04 +0000 http://chinaadopttalk.com/2007/01/06/so-much-for-believing-cnn/#comment-29933 Solangel, While I appreciate your attempt to explain your research, I feel that there is an element that is sadly lacking. How many actual families that have adopted both domestically and internationally have you actually spoken with? Adoption agencies will give you information as to what is happening with their programs, but they cannot truthfully tell you what is in the minds of the people actually adopting. Certainly not what is in my mind as my husband and I faced our adoption decision. I can truthfully tell you that what motivated us the most was personal experience. I am a Neonatal Intensive Care nurse at a large hospital. I have witnessed the foster care system in my state as they over and over again have returned infants to families that cannot and will not care adequately for them. To have worked so hard to bring a beautiful little child to good health and then hear later that they were returned their biological parents and are now dead is devastating. And I can't count on both hands how many times it has happened in my 14 years there. It's a little hard to consider going that route when my personal experience with it has been disastrous. I have also watched friends and co-workers experience failed domestic adoptions, and those did involve both Caucasian, Hispanic and African American children. My African American co-worker waited almost 18 months for her first adopted child! When we briefly investigated domestic adoption we were told point blank that we would not qualify to adopt an infant since we had biological children and that we needed to look at a 3-5+ year old. We were also discouraged from trying to adopt an African American child as this particular agency preferred to place those children only with African American parents or with bi-racial couples. I have since learned that this agency has a program with Canada in place! Why were we then not good enough? Were agencies giving you this kind of information? Maybe we should have "knocked on more doors" however our personal experience up to that point was not positive, so why should be continue? There are many factors that go into deciding what country you will adopt from. I can see that *some* of the reasons that you have listed may come into play for some families. However, I think your research, in not including actual families, missed the boat and left a lot to be desired. No adoption agency can tell anyone else my motives. Only I can. Never once did our family believe that our daughters would be smarter or healthier because of their race. Since I speak to hundreds of adoptive families either by email or through the adoption support groups that I facilitate, I can promise you, belief that their children will be smarter than those of other races, has never entered into their minds either. In fact, in many cases, topics of discussion include how to help our children that have learning disabilities since in many cases, school systems or individual teachers have the mindset that they should be smarter because of their race and are therefore actually less helpful and more demanding of our children. I am disappointed that if you "respect" adoptive families, that you would choose to speak about them in such a manner. Maybe the forum did not allow you to speak as you would have preferred, however you will not be remembered by adoptive families for the amount of research on adoption you have conducted, but instead for your participation in a discussion that was demeaning and incredibly ignorant. Susan M. Mother to 4, nurse, and adoption advocate and support group facilitator. Solangel,
While I appreciate your attempt to explain your research, I feel that there is an element that is sadly lacking. How many actual families that have adopted both domestically and internationally have you actually spoken with? Adoption agencies will give you information as to what is happening with their programs, but they cannot truthfully tell you what is in the minds of the people actually adopting. Certainly not what is in my mind as my husband and I faced our adoption decision. I can truthfully tell you that what motivated us the most was personal experience. I am a Neonatal Intensive Care nurse at a large hospital. I have witnessed the foster care system in my state as they over and over again have returned infants to families that cannot and will not care adequately for them. To have worked so hard to bring a beautiful little child to good health and then hear later that they were returned their biological parents and are now dead is devastating. And I can’t count on both hands how many times it has happened in my 14 years there. It’s a little hard to consider going that route when my personal experience with it has been disastrous. I have also watched friends and co-workers experience failed domestic adoptions, and those did involve both Caucasian, Hispanic and African American children. My African American co-worker waited almost 18 months for her first adopted child! When we briefly investigated domestic adoption we were told point blank that we would not qualify to adopt an infant since we had biological children and that we needed to look at a 3-5+ year old. We were also discouraged from trying to adopt an African American child as this particular agency preferred to place those children only with African American parents or with bi-racial couples. I have since learned that this agency has a program with Canada in place! Why were we then not good enough? Were agencies giving you this kind of information? Maybe we should have “knocked on more doors” however our personal experience up to that point was not positive, so why should be continue?

There are many factors that go into deciding what country you will adopt from. I can see that *some* of the reasons that you have listed may come into play for some families. However, I think your research, in not including actual families, missed the boat and left a lot to be desired. No adoption agency can tell anyone else my motives. Only I can. Never once did our family believe that our daughters would be smarter or healthier because of their race. Since I speak to hundreds of adoptive families either by email or through the adoption support groups that I facilitate, I can promise you, belief that their children will be smarter than those of other races, has never entered into their minds either. In fact, in many cases, topics of discussion include how to help our children that have learning disabilities since in many cases, school systems or individual teachers have the mindset that they should be smarter because of their race and are therefore actually less helpful and more demanding of our children.

I am disappointed that if you “respect” adoptive families, that you would choose to speak about them in such a manner. Maybe the forum did not allow you to speak as you would have preferred, however you will not be remembered by adoptive families for the amount of research on adoption you have conducted, but instead for your participation in a discussion that was demeaning and incredibly ignorant.

Susan M.
Mother to 4, nurse, and adoption advocate and support group facilitator.

]]> By: solangelnj http://chinaadopttalk.com/2007/01/06/so-much-for-believing-cnn/comment-page-1/#comment-29879 solangelnj Sun, 07 Jan 2007 18:39:10 +0000 http://chinaadopttalk.com/2007/01/06/so-much-for-believing-cnn/#comment-29879 I was one of the panelists on Paula Zahn's show on adoption on adoption. First, I regret if my comments were offensive or hurtful in any way. My goal in appearing on the show and in researching and writing on this topic is to debunk the many myths about domestic and international adoption and to start a discourse about an incredibly important issue. Unfortunately, the format of the program does not allow panelists to explain our position in any depth or to provide evidence supporting our assertions. Thus, I would like to take this opportunity to do so here. I do not believe that most families who adopt internationally are motivated primarily by race. There are many complex reasons why Americans choose to adopt internationally, and from China in particular. In my article, Discouraging Racial Preferences in Adotions, I address many of these reasons. For example, I explain that some Americans chose to adopt internationally because: --they believe there are relatively few infants available for adoption in the U.S. --they believe that domestic adoptions take too long and are more expensive than international adoptions --they prefer a closed adoption as opposed to an open adoption --they are afraid that the adoption will be disrupted—that the birth mother or father will reclaim the child. --they believe that many of the children available in the U.S. have significant special needs (for example, that the birth mother consumed drugs or alcohol while pregnant) --as a result of the United States’ history of race matching policies and the National Association of Black Social Workers’ opposition to transracial adoptions of African-American children, some white families may not be aware that they can adopt African-American children. They also might not know anyone who has. --some adoptive parents feel that given the One Child Policy in China, they can give a female child an opportunity that she otherwise could never have. I discuss all of these reasons in my article and then I show that many of these beliefs about adoption are based on misinformation. For example, although it can take a very long time to adopt a white infant in the U.S. and such adoptions can be expensive, that is not the case with adoptions of African-American children. Adoptions of African-American children are actually less expensive than international adoptions. The reason is that agencies must subsidize adoptions of African-American children because there aren’t enough families seeking to adopt them. For example, American Adoptions (the largest domestic adoption agency in the U.S.), like many agencies, has a separate, subsidized program for adoptions of “African American or Bi/Multi-Racial newborns and infants. Any race combined with African American.” This agency explains why the fees to adopt African-American or biracial children is lower than the standard fee--the fee charged for "adoption of Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, etc newborns and infants." It states that: “Costs are lower in our Agency Assisted Program because American Adoptions subsidizes the advertising for this program. There is a shortage of families for African American babies in the adoption community so costs must be lowered so it is possible for these babies to find wonderful homes.” Further, the average wait time for an African-American child, according to this agency, is “1-9 months” and they explain that the “The reason the waiting time is substantially shorter is because there are less families in this program.” I interviewed numerous adoption agencies as I conducted my research. (The agencies’ names, contact person, and the date of the interview are provided in my article which I have attached as a link to this email). These agencies all informed me that there is a shortage of families seeking to adopt healthy African-American infants. As a result they had to reduce the fees for adoptions of African-American or biracial children 25% to 50%. They also informed me that the wait for an African-American child was less than a year and, in some cases, as short as two weeks after completing the home study. In contrast, the wait time for an adoption from China is approximately 15 months. Many foreigners, primarily Canadians, come to the U.S. each year to adopt African-American infants precisely because such adoptions are relatively fast, affordable, and the majority of the children are healthy. Approximately 500 African-American infants are adopted internationally each year. In my article, I explain that I am not talking about African-American children in the foster care system. Adoptions from the foster care system can take a long time and for some prospective adoptive parents, the risk that the court will not terminate the birth parents’ rights or will place the child with a family member instead is unacceptably high. Thus, my focus and comparison is not between adoptions of children in foster care in the U.S. and international adoptions. Rather, I am comparing adoptions of African-American children placed voluntarily through private agencies with international adoptions. When we look at adoptions of African-American and biracial children whose birth parents placed them voluntarily, we see that there is no shortage of such infants. Rather, there is a shortage of adoptive families seeking to adopt these children. Unfortunately, while conducting my research I learned that race plays a role (consciously and unconsciously) in some Americans’ decisions to adopt internationally. Although scholars such as Elizabeth Bartholet and Randall Kennedy at Harvard Law School, Twila Perry at Rutgers Law School, and Patricia Williams at Columbia Law School have been writing about the role of race in adoption for years, I was appalled to learn that in 2005 and 2006, agencies were still finding that some families were choosing to adopt internationally because they did not want to adopt the children who were available in the U.S.—African-American children. Some prospective adoptive parents did not believe that they could competently raise an African-American child with a healthy racial identity, while others were concerned that their family members and neighbors would not accept an African-American child into the family even though they would accept a child from China, Korea, or Guatemala. Others feared that, if they adopted an African-American child, people would assume that their child was a “crack baby” (as ridiculous as that sounds). Interestingly, some Americans who adopted children from Korea or China found that some people automatically assumed that their child must be “smart” or a “model minority” because of his or her biological roots. I have tremendous respect for adoptive parents. I only wish (as I am sure you do) that race was never a consideration in any adoption decision. Unfortunately, it sometimes is. Some of you may have seen the article in yesterday’s New York Times discussing the sharp decline (18%) in adoptions from China in 2006. The number of international adoptions by Americans from South Korea, Russia and Ukraine also dropped significantly last year. Given this trend, I think we might see more Americans adopting African-American children. I am attaching a link to the NY Times article. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Foreign-Adoptions.html I am also attaching a link to my article with footnotes documenting my research. http://lawreview.law.ucdavis.edu/files/Issue%204%20Articles/DavisVol39No4_Maldonado.PDF I regret that I did not have the opportunity to make these points on the show. Respectfully, Solangel Maldonado I was one of the panelists on Paula Zahn’s show on adoption on adoption.

First, I regret if my comments were offensive or hurtful in any way. My goal in appearing on the show and in researching and writing on this topic is to debunk the many myths about domestic and international adoption and to start a discourse about an incredibly important issue. Unfortunately, the format of the program does not allow panelists to explain our position in any depth or to provide evidence supporting our assertions. Thus, I would like to take this opportunity to do so here.

I do not believe that most families who adopt internationally are motivated primarily by race. There are many complex reasons why Americans choose to adopt internationally, and from China in particular. In my article, Discouraging Racial Preferences in Adotions, I address many of these reasons. For example, I explain that some Americans chose to adopt internationally because:

–they believe there are relatively few infants available for adoption in the U.S.
–they believe that domestic adoptions take too long and are more expensive than international adoptions
–they prefer a closed adoption as opposed to an open adoption
–they are afraid that the adoption will be disrupted—that the birth mother or father will reclaim the child.
–they believe that many of the children available in the U.S. have significant special needs (for example, that the birth mother consumed drugs or alcohol while pregnant)
–as a result of the United States’ history of race matching policies and the National Association of Black Social Workers’ opposition to transracial adoptions of African-American children, some white families may not be aware that they can adopt African-American children. They also might not know anyone who has.
–some adoptive parents feel that given the One Child Policy in China, they can give a female child an opportunity that she otherwise could never have.

I discuss all of these reasons in my article and then I show that many of these beliefs about adoption are based on misinformation. For example, although it can take a very long time to adopt a white infant in the U.S. and such adoptions can be expensive, that is not the case with adoptions of African-American children. Adoptions of African-American children are actually less expensive than international adoptions. The reason is that agencies must subsidize adoptions of African-American children because there aren’t enough families seeking to adopt them. For example, American Adoptions (the largest domestic adoption agency in the U.S.), like many agencies, has a separate, subsidized program for adoptions of “African American or Bi/Multi-Racial newborns and infants. Any race combined with African American.”

This agency explains why the fees to adopt African-American or biracial children is lower than the standard fee–the fee charged for “adoption of Caucasian, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, etc newborns and infants.” It states that:

“Costs are lower in our Agency Assisted Program because American Adoptions subsidizes the advertising for this program. There is a shortage of families for African American babies in the adoption community so costs must be lowered so it is possible for these babies to find wonderful homes.”

Further, the average wait time for an African-American child, according to this agency, is “1-9 months” and they explain that the “The reason the waiting time is substantially shorter is because there are less families in this program.”

I interviewed numerous adoption agencies as I conducted my research. (The agencies’ names, contact person, and the date of the interview are provided in my article which I have attached as a link to this email). These agencies all informed me that there is a shortage of families seeking to adopt healthy African-American infants. As a result they had to reduce the fees for adoptions of African-American or biracial children 25% to 50%. They also informed me that the wait for an African-American child was less than a year and, in some cases, as short as two weeks after completing the home study. In contrast, the wait time for an adoption from China is approximately 15 months. Many foreigners, primarily Canadians, come to the U.S. each year to adopt African-American infants precisely because such adoptions are relatively fast, affordable, and the majority of the children are healthy. Approximately 500 African-American infants are adopted internationally each year.

In my article, I explain that I am not talking about African-American children in the foster care system. Adoptions from the foster care system can take a long time and for some prospective adoptive parents, the risk that the court will not terminate the birth parents’ rights or will place the child with a family member instead is unacceptably high. Thus, my focus and comparison is not between adoptions of children in foster care in the U.S. and international adoptions. Rather, I am comparing adoptions of African-American children placed voluntarily through private agencies with international adoptions. When we look at adoptions of African-American and biracial children whose birth parents placed them voluntarily, we see that there is no shortage of such infants. Rather, there is a shortage of adoptive families seeking to adopt these children.

Unfortunately, while conducting my research I learned that race plays a role (consciously and unconsciously) in some Americans’ decisions to adopt internationally. Although scholars such as Elizabeth Bartholet and Randall Kennedy at Harvard Law School, Twila Perry at Rutgers Law School, and Patricia Williams at Columbia Law School have been writing about the role of race in adoption for years, I was appalled to learn that in 2005 and 2006, agencies were still finding that some families were choosing to adopt internationally because they did not want to adopt the children who were available in the U.S.—African-American children. Some prospective adoptive parents did not believe that they could competently raise an African-American child with a healthy racial identity, while others were concerned that their family members and neighbors would not accept an African-American child into the family even though they would accept a child from China, Korea, or Guatemala. Others feared that, if they adopted an African-American child, people would assume that their child was a “crack baby” (as ridiculous as that sounds). Interestingly, some Americans who adopted children from Korea or China found that some people automatically assumed that their child must be “smart” or a “model minority” because of his or her biological roots.

I have tremendous respect for adoptive parents. I only wish (as I am sure you do) that race was never a consideration in any adoption decision. Unfortunately, it sometimes is.

Some of you may have seen the article in yesterday’s New York Times discussing the sharp decline (18%) in adoptions from China in 2006. The number of international adoptions by Americans from South Korea, Russia and Ukraine also dropped significantly last year. Given this trend, I think we might see more Americans adopting African-American children. I am attaching a link to the NY Times article. http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Foreign-Adoptions.html

I am also attaching a link to my article with footnotes documenting my research. http://lawreview.law.ucdavis.edu/files/Issue%204%20Articles/DavisVol39No4_Maldonado.PDF

I regret that I did not have the opportunity to make these points on the show.

Respectfully,

Solangel Maldonado

]]> By: Jill in DE http://chinaadopttalk.com/2007/01/06/so-much-for-believing-cnn/comment-page-1/#comment-29854 Jill in DE Sun, 07 Jan 2007 04:03:42 +0000 http://chinaadopttalk.com/2007/01/06/so-much-for-believing-cnn/#comment-29854 Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Like others, we do not watch CNN for this very reason. We will write letters to the CNN supports and put a little something on our website. BTW, Bob and I were foster parents for years and we were "emergency care foster parents" (meaning short term care- usually custody cases or jail time stuff) until one little child came into our lives... this child spent the better part of a year with us and we tried to adopt this child... it was a go and this child was older.. this child begged everyone to allow the adoption... it was "good to go" with bioparents.. then out of no where swoops a grandparent... judge says.. blood ties are much more important... WHAT? everyone was shocked.. the g-parent had child abuse cases against them in the past.. and g-parents STILL received custody of child. EVERYONE was heartbroken. I am not sure I will ever recover from that. THEN much later we tried another domestic adoption.. b-mom choose us.. until days before birth... then changed her mind and "picked" another family. oh and just to throw another "fun fact" a person of a different race (don't even speculate!) whom was pregnant and wanting to place her child for adoption, looked straight at me and said " I could never give my child to you b/c your white"... WHAT??? I simple in my best sweetest kindest voice said, um, whew I am so glad that China sees beyond my skin color so I can be Sophies mom. she just smiled ? I WILL NEVER BE A PARTICIPANT IN A DOMESTIC ADOPTION AGAIN> THE USA Does not protect ME and MY family. BUT it took all that to see how BEAUTIFUL a country CHINA is and how much I appreciate the way they run (even though I don't agree with everything) the program. There are orphans all around the world, and we should NOT feel anything except blessed that other countries will allow us to adopt them as our children. I doubt any of us who have or are in the process of adopting have ever looked at any country, whether domestic or international, and said.. hmmm lets see what country to go with so we can pick the prettiest or smartest child or the best chance at.... that is just ludricrous, as we aready know.... I know my post probably doesn't make much sense.. I was very frustrated when writing it. Sorry. Jill www.caringbridge.org/visit/waiting4daniel actual have a new site but it is passworded.. need to go to old one to get password. waiting for SN TA for daniel SINCE JULY..... 5 1/2 months.... lid mar 06 loi july 06 snta........ Thank you for bringing this to our attention. Like others, we do not watch CNN for this very reason. We will write letters to the CNN supports and put a little something on our website.

BTW, Bob and I were foster parents for years and we were “emergency care foster parents” (meaning short term care- usually custody cases or jail time stuff) until one little child came into our lives… this child spent the better part of a year with us and we tried to adopt this child… it was a go and this child was older.. this child begged everyone to allow the adoption… it was “good to go” with bioparents.. then out of no where swoops a grandparent… judge says.. blood ties are much more important… WHAT? everyone was shocked.. the g-parent had child abuse cases against them in the past.. and g-parents STILL received custody of child. EVERYONE was heartbroken. I am not sure I will ever recover from that. THEN much later we tried another domestic adoption.. b-mom choose us.. until days before birth… then changed her mind and “picked” another family.
oh and just to throw another “fun fact” a person of a different race (don’t even speculate!) whom was pregnant and wanting to place her child for adoption, looked straight at me and said ” I could never give my child to you b/c your white”… WHAT??? I simple in my best sweetest kindest voice said, um, whew I am so glad that China sees beyond my skin color so I can be Sophies mom. she just smiled ?
I WILL NEVER BE A PARTICIPANT IN A DOMESTIC ADOPTION AGAIN> THE USA Does not protect ME and MY family.
BUT it took all that to see how BEAUTIFUL a country CHINA is and how much I appreciate the way they run (even though I don’t agree with everything) the program.
There are orphans all around the world, and we should NOT feel anything except blessed that other countries will allow us to adopt them as our children. I doubt any of us who have or are in the process of adopting have ever looked at any country, whether domestic or international, and said.. hmmm lets see what country to go with so we can pick the prettiest or smartest child or the best chance at…. that is just ludricrous, as we aready know….
I know my post probably doesn’t make much sense.. I was very frustrated when writing it. Sorry.

Jill
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/waiting4daniel
actual have a new site but it is passworded.. need to go to old one to get password.
waiting for SN TA for daniel SINCE JULY….. 5 1/2 months….
lid mar 06
loi july 06
snta……..

]]> By: singergal http://chinaadopttalk.com/2007/01/06/so-much-for-believing-cnn/comment-page-1/#comment-29823 singergal Sat, 06 Jan 2007 22:21:01 +0000 http://chinaadopttalk.com/2007/01/06/so-much-for-believing-cnn/#comment-29823 Never been a CNN fan anyway, so am totally not surprised. Maybe they should interview my good friend, who has three bio sons, an adopted Chinese daughter, and an African American daughter adopted thru the foster care system. Oh, I guess if they featured a family like that, their biased and racists comments wouldn't fly! Never been a CNN fan anyway, so am totally not surprised. Maybe they should interview my good friend, who has three bio sons, an adopted Chinese daughter, and an African American daughter adopted thru the foster care system. Oh, I guess if they featured a family like that, their biased and racists comments wouldn’t fly!

]]> By: ChinaMockingBird http://chinaadopttalk.com/2007/01/06/so-much-for-believing-cnn/comment-page-1/#comment-29815 ChinaMockingBird Sat, 06 Jan 2007 20:51:13 +0000 http://chinaadopttalk.com/2007/01/06/so-much-for-believing-cnn/#comment-29815 Yet another reason for ONLY watching Fox News! Yet another reason for ONLY watching Fox News!

]]> By: Mom 2 Laura http://chinaadopttalk.com/2007/01/06/so-much-for-believing-cnn/comment-page-1/#comment-29798 Mom 2 Laura Sat, 06 Jan 2007 18:49:46 +0000 http://chinaadopttalk.com/2007/01/06/so-much-for-believing-cnn/#comment-29798 Here is the letter I sent to Mr. Klein regarding the interview. Mr. Klein: I am writing to express my outrage at the inaccuracies and prejudices portrayed in the interview regarding Chinese adoptions which was aired as part of Paula Zahn Now yesterday. Regarding the inaccuracies, I refer you to the quote at the conclusion of this letter. The sentiments expressed by this blogger represent the feelings of all of the adoptive parents I have met who adopt from China. My husband and I have been in the process of adopting a Chinese child for almost two years and are nearing the day when we will bring her home. To suggest that we chose to adopt from China because we want a smarter, prettier, or healthier child is not only ludicrous, it is also in itself prejudicial. Our reasons for adopting from China are as follows: 1. We want to adopt without the possibility of our child being subsequently removed from our home because a birthparent changed his or her mind. 2. We want a clear-cut adoption process with a predictable outcome. Chinese adoptions provide this whereas domestic adoptions do not. 3. I spent two years teaching in China, so of all the countries we could choose from, we feel China would be the best for us because we could share our daughter’s language and culture with her as she grows up. The views expressed by Ms. Zahn and her panelists were amazingly ignorant and highly prejudicial. They reveal the preconceived ideas of the panel, not of parents adopting from China. In that regard, I refer you to The Anti-Racist Parent, a blog for parents who are committed to raising children with an anti-racist outlook. It is a site frequented by, among others, parents of Chinese adoptive children. http://www.antiracistparent.com/tag/transracial-adoption. My daughter will unfortunately have to live with the prejudices expressed by the panel and those who agree with them. Though all of our friends and family are thrilled about our adoption process and understand our reasoning, there will be strangers who will meet our family in the future and wonder if we adopted our daughter for the reasons mentioned in the interview. We will do our best to deal with these issues as they come up. But the fact that CNN, an international news organization, has added to our burden by propagated these prejudices is appalling. I am posting this letter on our adoption website as well as other Chinese adoptive blogs. The Chinese adoptive community is entitled to a public statement from CNN apologizing for the inaccuracies and the prejudices expressed in the Paula Zahn interview. Sincerely, Etc. Here is the letter I sent to Mr. Klein regarding the interview.

Mr. Klein:

I am writing to express my outrage at the inaccuracies and prejudices portrayed in the interview regarding Chinese adoptions which was aired as part of Paula Zahn Now yesterday.

Regarding the inaccuracies, I refer you to the quote at the conclusion of this letter. The sentiments expressed by this blogger represent the feelings of all of the adoptive parents I have met who adopt from China.

My husband and I have been in the process of adopting a Chinese child for almost two years and are nearing the day when we will bring her home. To suggest that we chose to adopt from China because we want a smarter, prettier, or healthier child is not only ludicrous, it is also in itself prejudicial.

Our reasons for adopting from China are as follows:

1. We want to adopt without the possibility of our child being subsequently removed from our home because a birthparent changed his or her mind.
2. We want a clear-cut adoption process with a predictable outcome. Chinese adoptions provide this whereas domestic adoptions do not.
3. I spent two years teaching in China, so of all the countries we could choose from, we feel China would be the best for us because we could share our daughter’s language and culture with her as she grows up.

The views expressed by Ms. Zahn and her panelists were amazingly ignorant and highly prejudicial. They reveal the preconceived ideas of the panel, not of parents adopting from China. In that regard, I refer you to The Anti-Racist Parent, a blog for parents who are committed to raising children with an anti-racist outlook. It is a site frequented by, among others, parents of Chinese adoptive children.
http://www.antiracistparent.com/tag/transracial-adoption.

My daughter will unfortunately have to live with the prejudices expressed by the panel and those who agree with them. Though all of our friends and family are thrilled about our adoption process and understand our reasoning, there will be strangers who will meet our family in the future and wonder if we adopted our daughter for the reasons mentioned in the interview. We will do our best to deal with these issues as they come up. But the fact that CNN, an international news organization, has added to our burden by propagated these prejudices is appalling.

I am posting this letter on our adoption website as well as other Chinese adoptive blogs. The Chinese adoptive community is entitled to a public statement from CNN apologizing for the inaccuracies and the prejudices expressed in the Paula Zahn interview.

Sincerely,
Etc.

]]> By: heatherbt http://chinaadopttalk.com/2007/01/06/so-much-for-believing-cnn/comment-page-1/#comment-29783 heatherbt Sat, 06 Jan 2007 18:13:14 +0000 http://chinaadopttalk.com/2007/01/06/so-much-for-believing-cnn/#comment-29783 CNN/Paula Zahn shouldn't irk people who are well informed (thank you RQ for your part) and EXTREMELY used to doing LOTS of paperwork. Heather BT CNN/Paula Zahn shouldn’t irk people who are well informed (thank you RQ for your part) and EXTREMELY used to doing LOTS of paperwork.
Heather BT

]]> By: kitty http://chinaadopttalk.com/2007/01/06/so-much-for-believing-cnn/comment-page-1/#comment-29774 kitty Sat, 06 Jan 2007 17:29:46 +0000 http://chinaadopttalk.com/2007/01/06/so-much-for-believing-cnn/#comment-29774 I agree with Sam that changing the channel doesn't work. I feel like sending a taunting letter to CNN that the reason our Chinese children will be smart is because they won't be watching. I agree with Sam that changing the channel doesn’t work. I feel like sending a taunting letter to CNN that the reason our Chinese children will be smart is because they won’t be watching.

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