French Marianne says:

“I am sure you’d agree that if FP takes less children away from their families, it would be an excellent news for the kids even though there would be even less children available for IA.”

We all agree about that. In an ideal world, we would not be needing adoption.

But please, let’s not make this scandal a scandal due to IA. International Adoption is definetely not the problem.

What happened happened because some people wrongfully took advantage of the system – whatever side of the fence they were standing – and not because parents from abroad wanted to give love and shelter to orphan children.

All we can hope is that it will never happen again and that it will not give a negative perception of IA.

Best regards.

To Hopeful parents :
So called? The fact that FP may have fed IA is well known by China, by some adoptive parents and of course even by agencies since many years. This is not something brought out of a hat TODAY.
Happy to see you have published an additionnal comment (milder) since your first one which stated “an excuse to slow even more adoption process”.
I am sure you’d agree that if FP takes less children away from their families, it would be an excellent news for the kids even though there would be even less children available for IA.

Best regards

marianne, from France

What is terrible is that there were children taken from their families and given to IA. This is undeniable.

But this also gives IA a terrible image.

I just hope that the adoption agencies involved were not aware of this terrible fraud.

Again, we were told that the situation is even worse as far as domestic adoption is concerned.

We truly sympathise with the Chinese families who were forced to give their children.

The Moomans

“nothing that matters comes easy, nothing that comes easy ever really matters”

Don’t get me wrong, having them forcibly taken makes my stomach turn, but we are kidding ourselves if we think our children come to us simply because a birth family chose not to raise them in a country that practices population control.

To my knowledge, this is the first we’ve had reports of babies being forcibly taken from families and then put into the IA program. If it were to come out that this was common practice then the consulate would likely stop allowing American citizens to adopt from China. As they should. Also, the Hague would step in on this one as well, which would likely stop all other countries from adopting. Again, as it should.

Ironically, this has nothing to do with what the various anti-IA squawkers have been squawking about, and yet, if it is widespread, then the program really should not be open. Looks like they were all squawking in the wrong direction.

However, I do not see a reason to believe this practice of officials taking over-quota babies from families and putting them into orphanages and then into the IA program is widespread. It appears this is the case of officials acting illegally. They had to forge documents, lie on police reports, etc. It sounds like the practice in this area has already been stopped, which means the US government isn’t likely to shut it down in this area for new abandonments, though they may request that babies abandoned during that time frame not be referred to US Citizens.

For those of you who seem to have thought this was common practice and see no reason to be upset about this, I just really don’t know what to say to you. I could not have adopted from the program had I thought children were being forcibly removed from their families. The population control laws no longer allow for that to happen. Sure, there are bound to be some older officials still doing things the old way illegally here and there. And as they get caught then there will be less and less. Just as with the areas where it comes out that forced abortions are still happening – those reports are fewer and farther between every year. And in the era of the internet we would expect to see more of them if the numbers were the same, not less of them. Less of them being reported speaks to a lot less of them happening.

Over all, the vast majority of babies are abandoned. They are in the SWI because their birth family chose to not raise them. If I believed any differently then I would have to be questioning whether the program should be open, as well.

I’ve personally investigated both of my daughter’s finding stories. I’ve spoken to the people who found them, read the actual police report, etc. (No police report on GG, it was too long ago, but there was one for TT.) At the time I did it so we would have that information. With all of these reports, I’m glad we did it so that my girls can at least know for sure that the story we were told is the true story.

Before I decide much more on a personal level about this issue, I really want to hear from the CCAA. I’m now thinking we may not hear from the US Consulate. Since the practice has already been stopped in this area, it is most likely they will investigate to make sure it has stopped and the people responsible are no longer in charge, get assurances from the CCAA that steps are being taken to discourage this practice elsewhere, and that will be it. But, I do hope to hear from the CCAA.