me b zola
me b zola's JournalPrime Time: The Secret Baby Trail
Prime Time: The Secret Baby TrailThis programme uncovered the export of Irish children in Mother and Baby homes to adoptive parents in America. The programme talks to mothers whose children were taken from them, to the children who grew up in the US, and to nuns as well. First broadcast: 20/06/1996
http://www.rte.ie/player/us/show/10291719/
This is a 37 minute video first broadcast in Ireland June 20, 1996. Excellent show that will shed light on not only the homes for unwed mothers in Ireland, but to the entire Baby Scoop Era as well.
The Sister interviewed here may only reluctantly agree to "registers" for mothers and their children to find each other, but Ireland is now on the brink of opening the records completely. Woot!
It was my mother sent off to the nuns (domestic, US)
I don't know if my grandparents sent money, I expect they did. But what I do know is that my mother was forced to work as a nanny for an upper middle-class family to "pay for her keep", and she never saw a dime of that labor. I also know that my adoptive parents paid $550 for me (I have the receipt), above and beyond their legal fees.
What sticks in my craw the most is the shaming that was done to my mother, the torture of having to care for another's child to "show her" what a "good" family was and what "she could never provide for me".
I don't understand your point of view. I do know that people who share mine have been shamed for decades into silence and we are now standing up to those who wish us to remain silent.
I have no patience with people who make excuses for the abuse hurled upon these women and the sorrow carried both by mother and child for the rest of our lives.
I saved a woman's life without a weapon~and the same night a cop saved mine also without brandishing
Its a long story, but my neighbor was about to shoot his wife in the face. When I walked in she was sitting in the corner sobbing for her life with her hands in front of her face hoping to shield herself from the rifle. He was bearing down on her and it was, to say the least, a volatile situation. I tried talking him down, but he was ramped up. Women who have faced an abuser knows that crazed look in their eye.
Long story short, I kept him from shooting her until the police arrived. When they got there an officer got me out. As I left the house, I began to leave the porch in the normal manner which would have had me walk in-front of the window of the room where my armed to the teeth neighbor was. Just as I began to walk in front of the window, another cop grabbed my arm and whispered, "this way", indicating to jump the rail in the other direction. Just as I did as he instructed, my neighbor shot through the window where he expected me to be~almost hitting a state trooper.
After another half an hour or so of a stand-off, the local sheriff got neighbor to surrender himself without any injuries.
Just thought that I would share this. Saving someone's life more often then not requires a clear mind, not necessarily a weapon.
'We can offer a better class of baby with a good background'
'We can offer a better class of baby with a good background': The 1961 letter from nuns to adoptive parentsNuns at Sean Ross Abbey, Co. Tipperary sent letter to Mary Lawlor's parents before she was adopted in 1961
Letter sheds light on attitudes towards children of poorer single mothers
'They adopted me out with an instruction book,' says Ms Lawlor
ByAlison O'reilly
Published: 21:55 EST, 7 June 2014 | Updated: 03:36 EST, 8 June 2014
Read the article @
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2651863/We-offer-better-class-baby-good-background-The-1961-letter-nuns-adoptive-parents.html
The Church was only one player in the Baby Scoop Era
Here in the states, the "mother of modern adoption", Georgia Tann has plenty of blood on her hands:
Georgia Tann: adoption architect, child advocate, and baby killer
~snip~
Tann and her crew stole newborns from hospitals, kidnapped and abducted children from their homes or on the street, and tricked single and widowed mothers into signing over their parental rights. From the 1920’s into the 1950’s it is impossible to know how many children went through Tann’s Tennessee Children’s Home Society. Many children died as a result of neglect and abuse; in 1945 it is estimated 40-50 children died in less than four months while housed in the illegally operated home. Children were starved, beaten, molested, mentally abused, and received no medical attention. Pedophiles were employed at the home, including Tann. She sold the children without conducting background checks on the adopters. She falsified records and extorted adoptive homes. She used the children as pawns; for example, she adopted out children to politicians, and then threatened to take the child back if the political families did not support legislation in her favor. Children were sold or given away like prizes in Memphis newspapers. “(We have) the merchandise in hand and in stock to deliver to you” a 1944 letter read to a prospective client. “We can never tell when we can fill an order,” another letter explained (source). There seemed to be no limit to what the Tennessee Children’s Home Society could do.
~snip~
In public, Georgia Tann spoke out loudly against child abuse, baby selling, corruption, and advocated child welfare reform. In private she sexually, physically, and mentally abused her charges, some of which were buried in the yard due to neglect.
Tann was never punished for her deeds. Some of the practices she utilized are still part of the adoption process today. Many adults, sold as children, continue to seek out their siblings, family members, and birth parents and reveal horrific memories of abuse. It seems the evil done by Georgia Tann will never be undone.
More @ link
http://www.examiner.com/article/georgia-tann-adoption-architect-child-advocate-and-baby-killer
Georgia Tann is the person responsible for sealing adoption records. Prior to her efforts, newborns were not stripped of their identity if raised by someone other than the biologic parents. The sealing of our own identities has absolutely nothing to do with protecting children or their mothers who relinquished them; it was only a marketing ploy to make her product (other people's babies) more desirable to upper middle class families.
Adoptees In The Wild: Andy Marra (uplifting and empowering story)
Andy is a Korean adoptee from Bethlehem, NY, who currently lives in New York City. She is a member of the LGBT community. Andy’s story became widespread after she blogged about her visit back to Korea for the first time and about her reunion with her birth mother and sister: huffingtonpost.com/andy-marra. Hear her talk about that experience, as well as her journey as a Korean adoptee.
~11 minute video @ link~wonderful story, well worth the click~
http://gazillionvoices.com/adoptees-in-the-wild-andy-marra/
Here's the link to the story referenced in the video interview. It appeared in HuffPo in 2012, I missed it at the time but what a great story.
The Beautiful Daughter: How My Korean Mother Gave Me the Courage to Transition
~snip~
"Mother," I slowly repeated in Korean. "I am not a boy. I am a girl. I am transgender." My face reddened, and tears blurred my vision. I braced myself for her rejection and the end to a relationship that had only begun.
Silence again filled the room. I searched my mother's eyes for any signs of shock, disgust or sadness. But a serene expression lined her face as she sat with ease on the couch. I started to worry that my words had been lost in translation. Then my mother began to speak.
"Mommy knew," she said calmly through my friend, who looked just as dumbfounded as I was by her response. "I was waiting for you to tell me."
~ much more @ link~
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/andy-marra/the-beautiful-daughter-how-my-korean-mother-gave-me-the-courage-to-transition_b_2139956.html
I hope others will find this story as uplifting as I do.
Epic win for a three year old little boy who narrowly misses being lost to adoption!
'People complain about men who don't take responsibility. Here I am, wanting to be a father to my son': Young dad wins custody THREE YEARS after mother secretly put son up for adoption as a newborn
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2592834/Young-Oklahoma-father-successfully-wins-son-adoptive-parents-granted-time-custody-following-three-year-battle.html#ixzz2xwsVqqL2
Jeremiah Sampson was playing football for Pittsburg State University in Kansas in 2009 when he began dating a girl, who then fell pregnant
They were not together when the baby was born in September 2010
When he went to be with her on the day the child was due, he found out his son had been put up for adoption weeks earlier
He challenged the adoptive parents, who lived in Florida, and eventually won
At Christmas last year he was granted full-time custody of his son, Hilkya, with visitation rights from the mother
Sampson is also suing the adoption agency for violating his parental rights
ByJoel Christie
Published: 13:52 EST, 30 March 2014 | Updated: 22:26 EST, 30 March 2014
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2592834/Young-Oklahoma-father-successfully-wins-son-adoptive-parents-granted-time-custody-following-three-year-battle.html#ixzz2xwsr9Ppo
Here's a link to an interview with this awesome father:
http://www.hlntv.com/video/2014/04/03/dad-wins-epic-custody-battle
Every adoption begins with a life altering loss for the child. I get why the adoption agency (who is being sued
) would fight the father for parental rights, they are all about the money. But anyone who wants to parent that would fight against the child's best interest has no business parenting.
Paper Orphans
2014 Human Rights and Transitional Justice Film Series
Film: Paper Orphans.
Date: Tuesday, 8 April 2014 at 12.00pm
Where: Griffith University, Nathan Campus, Law Building (N61 1.02).
The first film of the 2014 series curated by Dr Olivera Simic, will be presented by Ms Kate van Doore.
Created by Terre Des Hommes and UNICEF, Paper Orphans exposes glaring malpractices prevalent in Nepal´s inter-country adoption system. It is a story of parents who have lost their children to trafficking and intercountry adoption and are looking for them. In Nepal, and other developing countries, it is quite easy to "manufacture" an orphan - traffickers beguile remote villagers into sending their children to Kathmandu for their education with promises that they will return well educated and able to support the family. However, the reality is that traffickers majoritively sell the children into intercountry adoption or orphanages for profit without the family's consent or knowledge. Paper Orphans tells the story of one such child who was adopted from Nepal into Spain. and the ramifications for both his adoptive family and his birth family.
http://www.griffith.edu.au/criminology-law/griffith-law-school/news-events/paper-orphans
Please watch this trailer. I've read many accounts of this type of preying upon the poor for their children from several "underdeveloped" countries. Preying on the poor is evil. Preying upon the poor for their children is beyond evil.
Nigerian 'baby farm' raided – 32 pregnant girls rescued
Nigerian 'baby farm' raided – 32 pregnant girls rescued
Teenage mothers were allegedly forced to give up newborns to human traffickers in southern city of Aba
David Smith in Johannesburg
The Guardian, Thursday 2 June 2011 11.12 EDT
Nigerian police have raided an alleged "baby farm" where teenage mothers were forced to give up their newborns for sale to human traffickers.
Thirty-two pregnant girls were rescued from a maternity home run by a trafficking ring in the southern city of Aba, police said.
The girls, mostly of school age, were allegedly locked up at the Cross Foundation clinic so they could produce babies to be sold for illegal adoption or for use in ritual witchcraft.
~snip~
Human trafficking is ranked the third most common crime in Nigeria - after financial fraud and drug trafficking - according to Unesco's report on human trafficking in Nigeria. At least 10 children are sold every day across the country, according to the UN. Traffickers are seldom caught.
~more@ link~
http://www.theguardian.com/law/2011/jun/02/nigeria-baby-farm-raided-human-trafficking
In South Korea, quest to recast views of single motherhood
In South Korea, quest to recast views of single motherhood
A group of adoptees, who say they were given up because their mothers couldn't raise them, are spearheading efforts to make single motherhood less of a social taboo and financial constraint.
By Steven Borowiec, Correspondent / March 20, 2014
~snip~
Rather than being abandoned by her mother as the adoption agency told her, she and her sister were given up by their grandmother when their mother was working away from home.
Heit is part of a vocal group of Korean adoptees arguing that the primary reason Korean children are given up for adoption is a society that stigmatizes unmarried mothers. They are working to shift that cultural outlook, and are also speaking out against Korean adoption agencies, which they say are focused on growing profits to the detriment of child protection. The recent death of a Korean adoptee in the United States has added zeal to their cause.
~snip~
Advocates for unwed mothers have pointed to a lack of government support as a problem. Unwed mothers are eligible for a small government stipend of 70,000 South Korean won (about $65) per month, while families with adopted children receive more than twice that amount (150,000 won).
Heit is now married and settled in the country of her birth, where she works as an editor and translator. She maintains contact with her adoptive parents in the US but says, “my case shows how traumatic adoption can be, even when the adoptive parents are loving and have the best intentions.
“I still always wonder, if only someone had helped my mother, would things have been different? Could she have raised me on her own?”
*emphasis mine
~more @ link~
http://m.csmonitor.com/World/Asia-Pacific/2014/0320/In-South-Korea-quest-to-recast-views-of-single-motherhood
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