This blog exists to support liberatory collectivist activism that is anti-patriarchy, anti-colonialism, and anti-capitalism. It also seeks to center the experiences, theories, and agendas of radical and feminist women of color.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

On U.S. and other Whites Adopting Haitian Children: not so fast if you care about Haitian children

All that follows is from GLOBAL CONNECTIONS. Click on the article title just below to link back to their site and this article as it appears there. -- Julian

The dead have not even been accounted for nor received proper burials yet & America is already talking about adopting Haitian children instead of setting the foundation to keep families together. We have anti-immigration laws in this country calling for the deportation of over 30,000 Haitian immigrants, many of whom have American born children who they will be separated from if the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) remains only temporary -to be recalled at America’s leisure without consideration of the devastation to families; yet we are going on about taking Haitian children from their homeland & families & adopting them out to Americans- huh? We always say we want to help, but our help seems to come too often at a devastating cost. This is a time & lesson in global humanity & humanitarian servicing, where we should reevaluate policy, how we administer aid & how we really help nations & people in times of need & tragedy.

We could have helped Haitians long ago by aiding them to utilize their ripe land for their own agricultural & economic benefit instead of utilizing it to build many wealthy nations, while forcing them into poverty & dependency. We could have helped with infrastructure that would be able to stand the tests of nature instead of losing thousands of lives & destroying families before the earthquake hit. We could have helped by not aiding in or standing idle to the destabilization of Haiti’s government long before the earthquake. We did not do all that, so at a time when we have the opportunity to right our wrongs -the first thing for us to think about is building a nation back to its glory of old as an even better, stronger nation with its families intact & people united in the continuation of building a great nation, not adopting out the future generation who will be the ones to carry Haiti’s torch!

When I saw this tweet from Wolf Blitzer -all I could do was shake my head & say oh no what are we thinking & not again.

Wolf Blitzer | Washington D.C.
“So many of you want to help Haiti. Some want to adopt orphans. CNN’s Mary Snow will report on adoption procedures in Sitroom.”

I will be watching carefully to see what this is all about, but I must say I do not like the tone & direction it is heading.

As an African I cringe at the separation of families throughout the Diaspora & Africa that was brought on by slavery -which even today still continues in many ways because of poverty & bad governance, which often give families no choice but to separate & give away or leave their children in order to seek a so called “better life” away from family. African descendants /families have been separated for far too long through the selling of the so called “better life” , which has left us with nations devastated by wars, poverty, lack of infrastructure & a perpetual disadvantage toward taking care of ourselves & believing in & living our greatness due to the fact that many of our best & brightest are taken away or drawn to the so called “better life” that the world keeps telling us can never be found at home.

The amount of money spent on Madonna & the Jolie-Pitts adopted African children’s wardrobe alone could support the villages they came from & kept them with their families. I think adoption is a noble, selfless act which I encourage all those who have the means & desire to do so, seek in great numbers; however we have to also consider if adoption is always the best way to provide a child with a better life as opposed to providing their families the help, education & aid necessary to keep the family intact. Maybe we should practice more of an “it takes a village to raise a child” motto by adopting families, not necessarily in physical form, but in the form of mental, emotional & financial support needed to help raise any and all children.

“The Greatest good u can do for another is not just share your riches, but reveal to them their own” (B. Disraeli)

“Of special note to international adoption are campaigns for adoptions that occur after disasters such as hurricanes, tsunamis, and wars. There is often an outpouring of adoption proposals in such cases from foreigners who want to give homes to children left in need. While adoption may be a way to provide stable, loving families for children in need, it is also suggested that adoption in the immediate aftermath of trauma or upheaval may not be the best option. Moving children too quickly into new adoptive homes among strangers may be a mistake because with time, it may turn out that the parents have survived but were unable to find the children, or there may be a relative or neighbor who can offer shelter and homes. Providing safety and emotional support may be better in those situations than immediate relocation to a new adoptive family.There is also an increased risk, immediately following a disaster, that displaced and/or orphaned children may be more vulnerable to exploitation and child trafficking.

Madonna adoption-This is a bit harsh, but great points are being made here particularly since many African countries specifically put in place residency caveats because of lessons of slavery of old & slavery of new.