Today’s Guest Blogger is Bethany Janson.
The article I chose for our Blog Post Assignment was from The Washington Post in the “On Parenting” section on the topic of International Adoption. The article, “Is she happy? Is she loved? Remembering the girl who was almost my daughter,” written by Sharon Van Epps on November 25, 2015, tells the story of an adoptive mother’s experience and feelings during the incomplete international adoption of her and her husband’s prospective adoptive daughter from India.
The article offered strengths by providing the insight of the time commitment parents dedicate themselves to when moving through the lengthy international adoption process, as well as the heartache that can come with any type of adoption. Epps, who was the hopeful adoptive mother, thoughtfully described what I’ve heard to be true from many other internationally adopting parents; that once she and her husband saw the photo of their prospective daughter, they began to feel attached to this child at first sight, even though they had yet to meet her in person. She also shared how her heart, along with other members of her family, will forever be a bit cracked from the incomplete adoption. She describes how even now, several years later, she thinks of her prospective daughter and longs to know if she has been loved and taken care of by another loving family.
Through my critical Early Childhood/Family and Parent Education lens, I saw that the article had limitations in that Epps for the most part, only presented one side of the story in India’s reasons for, at that time, keeping their adoptions domestic vs. international. Epps mentions how she would describe to her other children how the people in India thought it would be best for children from the orphanages to stay there, rather than leave India. She fails to mention that she ever described to her children possible reasons as to why the Indian government would want to keep the children in India. My thoughts are it is mostly about race and culture. I am sure that many Indians would be fearful that children being raised in a Western country, such as the United States, might be surrounded by people who don’t look similar to them and/or who have no cultural similarities to that of Indian people. Epps also mentions an article that reports many Indians preferring illegal adoptions. Though there may be some truth to this statement, the context in which Epps presents this article could lead readers to believe that this is a commonly accepted practice in India.
Overall, the article provides a bit of insight to the general population about what one type of adoption might be, international, and that adoption processes are not always successful. Although it was wonderful that Epps was open and honest about her feelings during the adoption process and now post process as to how she feels about the daughter who was not able to join her family, I did think that parts of the article were promoting myths about adoption. I thought that even though there may be some truth to illegal adoptions taking place in India, by not talking about what type of source that information came from, many people will take that one piece of bad news and unfortunately, more than likely will create a stereotype about adoption for all of India. The author also neglected to acknowledge the importance of race and culture in adoptions, especially international adoptions, and how this affects the various parties involved in the adoption process views about that adoption. The author I am sure had the best intent when presenting the information she did about her personal experience with international adoption, but unfortunately perpetuated some myths that many people in our society believe about adoption and the process.
Article cited: Epps, S. V. (2015, November 25). Is she happy? Is she loved? Remembering the girl who was almost my daughter. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2015/11/25/the-girl-who-was-almost-my-daughter/