Adopted boy at center of immigration dispute

The case is more than tragic, argued the Guatemalan ambassador to the United States — it's a symbol of the ongoing national and international debate about what to do with immigration policy in America. "We believe this is a very unfortunate result of the problems of immigration policy in this country," said Ambassador Francisco Villagran de Leon, who attended the arguments before the court and has been providing support to Romero. "Children of undocumented immigrants should not be given up in adoption just because they are here illegally." Romero was one of 136 alleged undocumented immigrants picked up at a raid of a Barry County chicken processing plant in May 2007 and later charged with various offenses related to the illegal use of false or stolen Social Security numbers. While Romero was in jail, her child, an infant at the time, was passed around among family members before eventually being adopted privately by the Mosers.

The full article is here.

Thanks to Ethica.

La MesaPatch's adoptee story problematic

This article bothers me a lot.

The story which put me on the defensive early into the article was this one:

His knowledge of American culture was even shakier. So when his first term paper in European history came back with a red-penciled B, the 16-year-old had no idea what it meant. In Korea, grades were percentages—100%, 90%, 80%, etc.
"I didn't want to reveal how stupid I was," said Spackman, who today turned 71 and Saturday was inducted into his alma mater's Hall of Honor. But a "beautiful blonde" nearby had an A, and "she's too pretty to be smart."
Spackman surmised that A stood for average—and B "must mean bad."

How cute! The socially inept Asian male who of course finds the blonde beautiful. Later the article says that he was rendered mute by a beauty queen (presumably white) so on TV he became the stereotypical bumbling dorky Asian kid. Awwww! What a heartwarming story!

It glorifies the 1950s and the Eisenhower era as some utopia. Remember the 1950s? Conform to white, middle class, hetero-normative, nuclear family ideals, or else! Forget about the codified racism of the era because we could leave our doors unlocked. Nevermind the establishment of the domination of the "military industrial complex" (Eisenhower's own words) that now is symbolized by firms like Haliburton. Oh, and remember the H-bomb and nuclear attack drills in schools? What a idyllic time that was!

It says that "in 1951, getting permission to emigrate wasn't easy." That's quite an understatement! In fact it was impossible. Racist quotas were in place from 1923-1965 which allowed only Europeans to immigrate to the U.S. And, only northern or western Europeans at that. No Italians, Greeks, Poles, or Russians permitted! (Western hemisphere (Latin American) immigration was unrestricted then but that's a matter for another post)

Other problems with this article:

• It does it does a lot to validate the model minority myth of the studious Asian who learns English in a matter of months and excels academically.
• It calls James an orphan although it says that he was separated from his mother.
• It presents success as corporate success.
• It presents racial isolation as a good experience.

Missouri high court to consider immigrant adoption case

By MARIA SUDEKUM FISHER
The Associated Press
The Missouri Supreme Court agreed this week to review the case of a woman from Guatemala who said she never consented to her son's adoption while she was in jail for immigration violations.

The boy, now nearly 4, was adopted in 2008 after his biological mother, Encarnacion M. Bail Romero, was caught up in an immigration sweep at a Barry County poultry plant. Romero, who has served her sentence, has been seeking custody.
An appellate court overturned a lower-court decision that gave custody to adoptive parents Seth and Melinda Moser of Carthage, Mo.
The appeals panel said the lower court lacked authority to grant the adoption and cited state laws that were intended "to prohibit the indiscriminate transfer of children, meaning that someone could not pass a child around like chattel."
At the time of Romero's arrest, her son was being cared for by her family members. After her arrest, those relatives sought help from a Carthage couple, according to the appeals decision.
That couple took care of the baby during the week and returned him to his aunt on the weekend.
In September 2007, the Carthage couple heard the Mosers were looking to adopt. After a 10-day visitation period, the child went to live with the Mosers in October 2007, according to the appeals decision.
Read more: http://www.kansascity.com/2010/09/23/2246107/missouri-high-court-to-consider.html#ixzz10VHRZlUm

Via Ethicanet.org

Creating a Market

This post relayed this article. 


In related Ethiopia news is this post from the same blog.

JUN 3, 2010
BLESSINGS FROM ETHIOPIA
Heidi R. Weimer
http://blessingsfromethiopia.blogspot.com/

The elephant in the room for everyone primping themselves in this web site is the fact that the standard of living of the first world and the maintenance of that lifestyle is a direct cause of the misery for the rest of the planet. To then adopt from the world wrecked directly and indirectly by the policies, wars, sanctions, invasions, assassinations, and evil of an Anglo-American world system is adding insult to injury. Your battle starts at home; start waging it there and leave us alone. And stop begging for cash. It's really unbecoming of First Worldists. --Ibn Zayd

Mr. Zayd's posts are pointed and radical, and I don't know how he finds all the articles and blogs he reviews and rebuts, but I'm usually in agreement with his assessments. 


Furthermore, I'd like to unequivocally state that that international adoption is a market. I know I've stated this before, but this article just further proves that there's no doubt about this. When adopters find the requirements or fees not to their liking in one country, or those countries close their programs because the corruption has become so rampant and obvious that it can no longer keep up the pretense that it is benefit children any longer, adopters move on to the next country. They shop adoption agencies, too. If one scrutinizes too closely or decides that its ethics will only allow a certain profile of people to adopt, then they shop around for another, more accommodating agency. Despite the feelings of adopters who feel that they are over-burdened with procedures, fees, requirements, documents, and forms none of this actually succeeds in regulating adoption. If you have enough money, the market will supply you with a child.