Mothers and adult adoptees alike are angry about an adoption system in the USA that they describe as coercive and run on profits. With a privatised adoption and what appears to be little regulation, the following advertising of babies, by advertising the qualities of their pregnant mothers is not uncommon.
"Tanya is caucasion, 26 years olf, 5f 5in tall, 140lbs. She has brown eyes, brown hair and describes herself as compassionate and energetic."
What follows is her tragic childhood history and the fact that she is 'open to all families' to adopt her baby.
"Karen is a very pretty young lady with a beautiful smile. She is 33 years olf, of Italian/German descent 5ft 2in tall, 189lbs with green eyes and brown hair"
We then learn that Karen already has one child she is unable to support so she too is open to most adoptive family types.
"Gina is 30 years old, 5ft 2in tall, 120lbs, with hazel eyes and light brown hair."
Perhaps this is a way of getting around posting photos of actual babies, which could look a little more like the selling of human beings, and of course we'd be pretty unhappy about that.
It is hard to tell what is being sold here until you read the entirety of each sales pitch. It sounds much like back page advertising for prostitution or perhaps surrogacy advertising where couples want to find someone similar in appearance to themselves. In fact, surrogacy appears to be a lot closer to the way in which these mothers are treated with their babies made 'available' to others before their mothers have even given birth.
There are many arguing for more adoption in Australia today as though this addresses the social problems of women in any way. I've argued vehemently against the idea that adoption is a solution to abortion here and here (basic maths tells us this isn't so), but it is also time to consider if the USA path is one we really want to travel.
Children have an absolute right to loving stable, 'for life' families. They also have an absolute right to the truth of their identity, connection to their family of biological origin, and the right to have their needs prioritised over the needs of adults who believe they have a 'right' to have children. Until we have agreement on these most basic positions, we are in danger of further drifting from any value for the mother child bond, and toward marketed distribution of children from the needy to the rich, no different from teh exploitation of women in developing countries who are so desperated to feed their families that they are forced to sell their children to wealthy Westerners.
Someone somewhere has to stop this commodification. Women and children are not worth more when they are for sale. They become worth less.
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