Just watched this video. It sickens me. As much as I don't want this man to have any more exposure for what he's spewing, I have to share this so other people know what kind of attitudes are out there and what we're up against.
He says...."Low adoption rates can be attributed to a lack of adoption education". To solve this serious problem he wants his state of PA to institute a policy requiring that a unit be taught in public schools that promote "adoption as a positive family building option". Apparently one of the points he would like them to touch on is that the financial barriers to adoption have been overcome with good legislation and the adoption tax credit.
He's also indicating that adoption promo education is needed to balance out the poor representation of adoption in the media. The biggest problem he sees in adoption isn't the economic aspect of agencies charging tens of thousands of dollars for babies, but the poor perception of adoption created by the media. The example he gives of this - an article about adoptees using DNA testing to find their natural families. According to him the article insinuates that the adoptive family is not the "real" family. By using this as an example he is insinuating that adoptees don't have the right to know their own natural families.
"Lack of adoption is a serious issue concerning all of us" His lack of knowledge about the realities of adoption is a serious concern if he's going to be proposing that the public school system teach children that when they grow up they should buy children to "build" their families.
I wish people like this would put their energy into being concerned about poverty or child abuse. How about working on the cause of children losing their original families? Adoption is a TRAGEDY, not a miracle. Of course it's really not unbelievable that these attitudes are out there. His attitude is the result of the adoption promotion he wants to see more of.
His first "fact" is incorrect. President Clinton was never legally adopted by his step father. Rather President Clinton made a choice as a teenager to legally change his name to Clinton but that was the only legal paperwork done and I believe it had to do with his younger brother.
ReplyDeleteAs to his interpretation of the adoptee dna article - my interpretation is that he wants adoptees to just shut up and be grateful.
His absolute lack of knowledge is that babies are the predominant choice - not the older child...
Soooo... where is getting this idea that there's not enough adoption? Because the only kind of kids people usually want to adopt are quite under-available. There are years-long waiting lists for healthy infants leading to pandemic coercion of pregnant and new moms.
ReplyDeleteIf he was specifically encouraging education about kids who are free for adoption and waiting in the foster system, that might actually do somebody, somewhere, some good (even though helping kids stay out of foster care in the first place would do more good).
What a tool.
And with the kids in the foster care system, the real problem is that the foster system is broken and needs fixing, not that the kids aren't being adopted. I tell people to adopt out of foster care if they're going to adopt at all, but I'd be happy if the system allowed good foster parents to retain custody of the kids they're raising, and didn't treat foster kids as second-class citizens when they age out of the system. And not being intimately acquainted with foster care myself, I'm sure there are even more problems I haven't outlined here--but none of them would be solved by adoption.
ReplyDeleteI mean, let's not forget that all adoption really is, is falsifying a birth certificate. There is nothing about falsifying a birth certificate that would objectively make someone better capable of raising a child. The falsified birth certificate is only Dumbo's magic feather, but the elephants clamoring for it aren't fit to fly in the first place.
ReplyDeleteCan we say propaganda? I will. Propaganda. That is all this hogwash is.
ReplyDeleteLet him offer up one of his own children and see one of his videos, then, since it is so grand and all...
This kid sure thinks highly of himself, doesn't he? How stupid and naive to speak out like this about something he has no idea about. He hasn't lived life as someone who has lost a child to adoption or as someone who has grown up adopted. Once again it's someone who knows someone...
ReplyDeleteThe only way this would begin to make even an iota of sense is if he was talking about adopting out of foster care, but even then he has a lot of things to learn.
WTF? Who is this guy?
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, this is the kind of Bull$#@t we are up against. Thanks for finding this.
I second Lorraine's reaction. He can't be serious about teaching this in schools can he? Ok, I don't swear that much, but &%#%$&&!!!!
ReplyDeleteApparently he thinks he's an expert because his 2 little sisters were adopted. Of course he knows all there is to know on the subject - come on! Maddening isn't it?!!!!
ReplyDeleteI hate it when people with adopted siblings think they know all about adoption. They know nothing. I have bio-kid siblings, too. They did not lose their entire families on both sides, get a falsified birth certificate and grow up hundreds of miles from what was supposed to be their home town. They looked like each other and like their parents. Their grandparents were their genetic ancestors and they had a medical history. They didn't have to deal with the psychological fallout of being given away.
ReplyDeleteI hardly see how having a sibling who is adopted makes anyone an expert on adoption in any way, shape or form.
Totally agree Robin. I wonder if he's read any of the comments on the video. I hope he has and that it's made him think. I hope as a result he does some research and learns something from this experience.
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