The Globe and Mail published an article earlier this week, which broke the story that Ethiopia is now the second most popular country Canadians adopt from, after China. You can read the story here.
The story was good in many ways, but I worried that it left an impression that all African adoptions are risky and full of corruption, which is NOT the case inEthiopia. So I wote a letter to the editor, which you can read below.
Dear Editor;
Your article “The Next China” told the stories of several adoptive families with children from various African countries. Although the stories of adoption foils and difficulties need to be told, it’s a dangerous approach to paint all adoption programs with the same brush. Africa is a continent with 53 countries, each with their own systems and approaches to inter-country adoption. Adoptive parents most often choose Ethiopia, now Canada’s second most popular country to adopt from, because it has a stable, child-first, government-overseen program. They also choose to adopt from Ethiopia because it has a wonderful, rich culture; top-quality care for children transitioning to foreign families; and, with 4.8 million orphans, a pressing need for parents. Although I’m sure there are people out there who inquire about international adoption because they want to be like the infamous couple in the supermarket tabloids, I can assure you the families that make it through years of waiting and mountains of paperwork to bring their children home are motivated by a simple, common factor: the joy of building a family.
The second bit of news was talk-radio program aired just today. It’s much more positive and Ethiopia-specific coverage… I encourage you to listen to it here. (Speed ahead to 17 minutes in for it to start.) You can also read an article about the same Saskatchewan family here.
Note: there is one error in the program… UNICEF says there are 4.8 millions orphans in Ethiopia, as of 2005.
Great letter Nicky. I was also very unhappy that they painted all African adoptions as being corrupt, etc. Ethiopia is an amazing country to adopt from and it’s proccess is very straight forward. Maybe even better than domestic!? I hope that the tenacity and drive that we adoptive parents have to have to make it through all the paperwork and waiting will drive away those that are in it for the wrong reasons. We are here to make a family, not be trendy. I hope your letter gets published.
Good job on the letter Nicky!! I commend you for your well written and thought-out points. I hope the editor publishes your letter and prints a more positive story about the joy of adopting.
Oh, and the comments some people made about the article were jaw dropping.
your letter is very nicely stated. Well put!
Thanks for sharing this I really enjoyed listening to the newscast (I think I may link to it on my blog as well) (-: