Kid Dumping in International Adoption
Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Celebrities like Madonna and Angelina and Brad have apparently caused a rise in the number of children in international orphanages. Psychologists at the University of Liverpool have found the highest rates of children living in institutions are in Eastern European Countries.
The study reveals that in countries like Spain and France that families are choosing to adopt healthy, white children from international countries instead of children from their own countries, mainly of ethnic minorities.
The media, as well as the study, have labeled this the “Madonna-effect” after the singer’s high profile adoption from Malawi in 2006.
“Some argue that international adoption is, in part, a solution to the large number of children in institutional care, but we have found the opposite is true,” said child psychologist Professor Kevin Browne.
“Closely linked to the Madonna-effect, we found that parents in poor countries are now giving up their children in the belief that they will have a ‘better life in the west’ with a more wealthy family,” Browne said.
“Some celebrities have unwittingly encouraged international adoption, yet it has been shown that 96 per cent of children in orphanages across Europe and probably across the globe are not true orphans and have at least one parent, often known to local authorities,” he added.
Do you think this is true or is this just media frenzy? Will children have better lives in other countries?
Do we SAVE them?
We don’t save them. Everyone’s definition of better is different. I’ve never been able to answer that question. They are better for having a home regardless of where that home is. Parents that will love and care for them regardless of what country or skin color.
About parents leaving their children so they can be adopted, I pray it’s not true because that’s been my fear as a result of the “Madonna-effect.”
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Most kids are relinquished because of celebrity adoptions? I don’t think this is true. I seriously doubt that first mothers in developing nations have Madonna on their mind when they relinquish a child. This sounds like a very Euro-centric explanation to a complex problem.
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I’m at a loss. How can the “Madonna effect” lead toward people in Europe adopting HWI’s from other countries when neither Madonna nor Angelina Jolie adopted white children?
And of course, this article is only quoting one child psychologist that says “studies have shown”.
The old saying goes, there are Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics.
If you’re going to make a claim like that, back it up.
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