South Korean Adoptions: Canary in the International Adoption Mine?
Please read this article. I was on the radio show Dawn Davenport does and find her to be really holistic in her approach to adoption and the needs. My only bone of contention would be the research quoted. I think it is a slippery slope presenting research these days. The reality is for every research paper that says adoption is successful, there are others that dispute it. It depends on who the author is and the premise they want to support. Even looking at the old papers by Howard Alstein and Rita Simon there are ways to read between the lines that dispute the notion that international adoptees fair better than non-adoptees and African American adoptees in Caucasian families. When it comes to self-esteem and pride in their ethnicity, I have never bought into the notion that we, Korean adoptees, fair better. How could we, when so many of us didn’t even identify as being Korean Americans when we were younger?
I digress. Please read it and let me know what you think?
I posted this piece today as well. Beyond what you’ve mentioned, I think her use of research, at the very most, doesn’t spell out implications enough. For example, while citing Tobias, she fails to mention: the (surprising) age range of women who place their children for adoption; the evidence to show that most of women actually want to parent rather than place; and the evidence to show that women who receive “pregnancy counseling” from the Korean agencies are mislead/lied to.
I could go on-and-on, but that wouldn’t be productive here. Thanks for posting.
I would encourage you to comment on her blog too. However, I cannot go so far as to cite Tobias Hubinette as THE source either. It is so boring to be in the middle, but I am finding myself more and more in the middle of these debates.
I’m planning on commenting on her blog, but I’m feeling a bit caustic today and so I’ll probably hold off for a bit. You’re right. Being in the middle can be boring, but it’s important to have folks like you existing there.
Just posted a comment. You can read it here:
http://landofgazillionadoptees.com/2011/09/14/my-response-to-south-korean-adoptions-canary-in-the-international-adoption-mine/
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