Two takes on Madonna's adoption of Mercy

An interesting take on Madonna's recent adoption, and the article in Vogue that inspired it.

Once again, there are some key voices not heard in both of these articles.

Comments

[Psychobabbler]

"In reputable adoption countries-which include China, Russia, and South Korea-there are elaborate checks and balances in place to guard against baby-trading and to protect the rights of a child's birth parents."

Yeah, tell that to those 80 kids and families from Guizhou province.

[papa2hapa]

I'm totally surprised that people don't realize that buying a child out of poverty from Africa, and going into custody battles with the child's family, is NOT doing APs any favors of perception.

And of course, no one asked the child how they felt being taken from the mom and dad to live in America. Of course, when they finally do, the child will most likely be coached in what to say. Not intentionally coached, but subtly coached by Madonna and her people who will talk about the child in front of the child and say things like, "oh aren't you so lucky to be here now..."

Ugh...crap....bs...poo poo. aaargggghhhh....

[Rachael]

Agreed. In addition to the obvious exclusion of adoptee perspectives in the brouhaha, I would have liked to see more coverage of the Malawian cultural take on adoption. Like many others, I found it disturbing that Madonna circumvented much of the typical adoption process by specifically choosing a country with no formal adoption infrastructure in place, and I'd love to be privy to more of the internal dialogue occurring there in the wake of Madonna's "victory."

One thing I found interesting about the Vogue piece was the emphasis on birth family ties- in particular, the fact that a yearly progress report with photos or letters or video is "made available" to family members. Being "made available" and actually being available are two totally different things when many kids being placed for adoption are coming from remote areas where Ethiopian families don't have easy access to urban adoption offices. I think the Vogue piece glossed over the complexity of first family contact, which varies wildly from agency to agency and family to family in the Ethiopia adoption world.

And the line "I am now bonded to Africa"...yikes.