Russell's Rant

So Russell and I watched Paula Zahn last night. We were interested because they were going to discuss the new regulations in China. (Transcripts can be found by clicking this link.) They had people come on talking about how the new regulations discriminated against the overweight etc. and during the discussion one of the panalists posed the question "OK, why? What's the big deal with Chinese children? Enlighten me, please, help me out." At which point they began to answer using their OPINIONS! (Hello, it's a news show! Bring on the facts!! Bring on the research...bring on the people who've adopted and ASK them!) Anyway Russell my usually very timid, softspoken hubby got furious. REALLY FURIOUS. So he wrote Paula Zahn and sent it in. It probably won't get noticed. It probably won't get read: but I've asked and Russell said I could share it here.

“I had never watched Paula Zahn before the January 5th episode, but was interested in the story about China’s new Adoption Regulations as the father of a girl adopted from China. While I had a few minor complaints at the handling of the main question of China’s new regulations, I was absolutely flabbergasted at the thoroughly un-researched responses to Roland Martin’s rather judgmentally posed question about why parents adopt from China. While Solangel Maldonado claims to have “been looking into [this subject] for a long time”, she then proves she has no idea why so many Americans choose to adopt from China. It has absolutely nothing to do with racial bias or wanting an “intelligent” child, but has much to do with how the adoption process is handled in China verses the United States and other countries, along with other important considerations. It is by far much more reliable and less expensive than most other routes. There is a big difference between paying $20,000 for the privilege of raising a child from China (most of which is NOT paid to China but to agencies and other fees in the U.S.) versus the up to $50,000 or more paid for the CHANCE to adopt a child of any race from the United States. It can be quite daunting for a family who has to borrow much of the money needed in the first place. Since, in domestic adoption, the birthmother chooses the adoptive family, the end result is often much more restrictive for people who are even slightly outside of the main stream such as my wife and myself. Also, equating the adoption of infants to the Foster Care system is an Apples-to-Oranges comparison. It takes a very special kind of person to be able to provide a foster home for an older child (many of whom have been the victim of neglect or abuse) that will more likely than not be taken away and returned to his or her parents in HOPEFULLY a better situation that they left in the first place. I applaud Foster Parents and hope to join their ranks someday. It saddens me that this episode was used to misinform more people about international adoption. Even a cursory examination of the issues involved would have revealed much of this information to the panelists before the program.”

Comments

[Paige]

This was very well said! Good job.

[Michele (VAMom2Be)]

Bravo Russell,
Your comments are well written and to the point. I didn't watch the show - we're also out of the running for another child. Our number of divorces will keep us out. We are so thankful to have our Josie, it's truly a shame that qualified, loving folks won't get the opportunity to raise some quality individuals.
Good Job!

[Scott Ocheltree]

I think that feedback like this gets read more often than you think. I know when I countered Peter Goodman from the Washington Post last year on the way he had presented the Hunan child-trafficking incident he responded repeatedly to my emails. Someone will read Russell's "rant" and hopefully they will learn something.
Thank you Russell!

[K & P]

Good job Russell, and do not think your e-mail won’t have an impact. I am still too furious to be able to write an intelligent response, but I will soon. My husband and I were offended at what Ms. Zahn tried to pass off as journalism. We are also sick of the uninformed myth about the thousands of children available through our foster care system. I am a social worker who works with the aforementioned population, and I can assure you that the process(at least in CA) to free a child for adoption is long,
unpredictable and fraught with difficulties. In the time that I have worked with Child Welfare Services I have sadly witnessed children returned to their parent(s) three to four times. Let’s give them another chance… but what about the child? By the time parental rights are terminated, the child is older and is emotionally scarred. Add in utero exposure to drugs and/or alcohol, parents’ mental health diagnoses, and lower IQs. The result is a child who is incredibly difficult to deal with and who needs a stay at home parent, in order to succeed.

We chose China because of its predictability, the health of the children (although any child is an unknown) when compared to other programs, required stay in the Country and many other factors. The fact that our daughter would grow up to be a doctor, violinist or pianist, never entered our minds (outspoken punk rocker is more likely). Will she probably work hard at school? We hope so, but it is not about being Chinese, but rather due to the fact that her parents are college educated and that is usually a good predictor of a child’s future scholastic achievement. While we have no idea what she looks like, we know that to us she is going to be beautiful beyond words. That is not being racist; it’s simply human nature to see our children through our prism. What upset us the most about the panelists' focus on the racial aspect is that we are an interracial couple, and truly resent being labeled by so called experts that have not taken the time to research the subject and instead decide to ad-lib. Too bad CNN holds its experts to the same standards as Comedy Central does their stand up comedians.

Sorry to hijack your comment section and feel free to delete the comment. We have followed your blog since before you were united with Lydia. We are usually lurkers, since we do not feel that our writing is as good as what we usually read in blogland. Like you, we are mourning the fact that our daughter is not going to have a Chinese sibling due to the new regulations. Our plan was to wait 6-9 months and request to adopt a SN boy. Sadly, we do not meet the net worth requirement. Talk about embarrassing.

BY the way, the RQ has e-mail addresses for the sponsors of the program, for the “experts,” and others at Times Warner, CNN’s parent company. Let’s flood them with e-mails. :)

P&K (DTC 01/13/2007)