DEFINE SUCCESSFUL

This is not a blatant attack on Russian adoptees, Russian natural parents or even Russian adoptive parents. This is, however, an attack on the adoption industry and its international clone, the JCICS.

According to the blog of an adoption agency, the State Government and the JCICS is looking for successful adoption placements:

Program International Relations Initiative
Date September 11, 2008
Regarding Joint Council ACTION REQUEST - RUSSIA
In a proactive effort by Joint Council and the U.S. Department of State (DOS) to promote a positive public and governmental image of intercountry adoptions, we are collecting 20 stories of successful Russian adoptees. These stories will be strategically forwarded by DOS to the Government of Russia and Russian media.
Stories should be approximately 500 words in length and, ideally, include a picture of the adoptee and his/her family. Submissions should also include a confidential information release from the adoptive family authorizing a release from all copyrights. Confidential information releases need to include the names of the family members, their address, phone number(s), and an email address. Please note that the story and/or photos will be shared with Joint Council, the US Dept of State, authorities of the Russian Government and members of the media.

This blog post was dated September 11,2008. It is close to a month later. I wonder if they had any takers on this. I do not know what their definition of "successful" is. I think it might be better for all involved if we changed successful to honest.

It is time for some serious honesty in adoption. For a change, please some honesty. I personally do not want to hear another story on how we adoptees should be grateful that we were not aborted or dumped in a dumpster. I do not want to hear about how much an adoptive parent paid for their adoptee. I understand that jumping through hoops is necessary. In fact, I think adoptive parents should go through a few more hoops. That is not what I am discussing here.

I would like to see it discussed that there is some acknowledgement of loss for the adoptee. Loss of family and loss of country, heritage, and language need to be thrown in there. I would like to hear that some of these countries especially our country acknowledge that a child's rights are being denied. I fully understand that these children need families but not at the expense of their humanity. Russia accredits adoption agencies based on the United Nations rights of the child convention from what I can gather. I know a few adoptive parents that adopted from that region of the world. I want to hear truth. I want to hear about the adjustment of their children's lives since being in the United States. I would rather hear their truth, their trials and tribulations than listen to the happy happy joy joy stuff that the adoption industry puts out.