In comments to the previous post, my friend Juli provides a link to a blog post by a guy named Mike Doughney, who says about his work:
developing some kind of framework in which to make sense of the Biblical American flood of “purposeful nonsense” is a valuable effort. I think that if you want to start to get a handle on what the future looks like, take a look at what Biblical America holds to be true. In particular, watch closely when people who some call leaders, people who I describe more accurately as the dominant personalities of Biblical America, are teaching things that they believe are important to their kids.
In his post he points out the following from the "adopters'" own website:
The Plan:Rescue Orphans from Port au Prince, Haiti
- Friday/Saturday, Jan 22nd : NLCR team fly to the DR
- Sun Jan 23rd: Drive bus from Santo Domingo into Port au Prince, Haiti and gather 100 orphans from the streets and collapsed orphanages, then return to the DR
- Mon Jan 24th: Bus arrives in Cabarete, DR at New Life Children Refuge
The obvious problems with this "plan" are numerous, from even just these few lines. The trip from Santo Domingo to Port-au-Prince, as can be easily learned through a brief online search, is over six hours by scheduled bus under normal conditions. Were they serious about making a daytrip out of this run, it would have been little more than a snatch-and-grab of whatever kids they could have found on the streets over a few hours.
Read it. It's enlightening.
Posted by Linkmeister at February 2, 2010 12:58 PM | TrackBackI think I'd go with "sickening" myself.
I heard on the radio that some of the children are now saying that they aren't orphans, and at least one says her mother told her she could go on the trip as a treat. This makes me wonder if the adults were not just grabbing kids, but telling adults with kids that they would take care of them and then bring them back.
This is why the US State Department no longer allows adoption from Guatemala, Viet Nam, and Samoa. There are really nasty people in the world.
Posted by: Juli Thompson at February 3, 2010 04:03 AMhttp://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100202/ts_alt_afp/haitiquakechildrenuscrime
The children involved are being reunited with their families, and apparently weren't well cared for by this group.
Hmmm. What's the word for it when strangers come, take children away from their families, either by stealth or force or false pretences? Is it adoption? No, that's not it.... I've got it! Kidnapping!!
I'm really, really mad about this. Can you tell?
Posted by: Juli Thompson at February 3, 2010 07:27 AMYou work for a legit agency, not New Life; why wouldn't you be mad at a group whose actions might reflect badly on all agencies?
Posted by: Linkmeister at February 3, 2010 07:44 AMTrue, although it's not my lifelong career. What really makes me mad is that I'm mom to (soon to be) two girls who are internationally adopted. Everytime something squirrelly like this happens, rules are put in place that stop that particular scam, but also shut down options for some number of children.
I am all in favor of children staying in their birth families, failing that, having stable, permanent homes in their birth country. But there are a lot of children for whom that isn't an option, and I'm afraid that a stable, permanent home in another country is becoming less and less a realistic option for most kids. It makes me angry and sad.
Posted by: Juli Thompson at February 3, 2010 01:39 PM