Global Social Experimentation; More Harm Done

If ever the expression on a face portrayed the pain inside, it is in this picture of Russian Adoptee, Artem Saveliev, aka, Justin Hansen as he arrived back in Russia after being returned by his adopter like defective, unwanted merchandise.

Bastardette, on her blog, has compiled a wealth of information about this tragic case. It is worth your time to go read. But steel yourself. It is a sad story.

It is also a story that asks more questions than it answers. I wonder why the Russian-based facilitators do not properly screen and treat these children. Lord knows, they have been through enough, already, if they have landed in the adoption system. These kids are damaged and grieving. They need the attention of professionals and constant support and reassurance.

I look askance at the American adopters who have brought these children to our country, arrogantly assumed to be superior to Russia, obviously without really and deeply thinking of the culture shock and the fear generated by unfamiliar surroundings. I see the smug assumption in these people that their families and culture will knock the Russian right out of these kids. What a line of crap.

If you go to the links provided by Bastardette that deal with Russian adoptees, you can pick and choose your horror story. Saintly adopters engaged in pedophilia, physical and emotional abuse and even murder are factually chronicled by BD.

I don't really want to hear anyone whining about how these people are not the norm. I'm sure there are others who are faring better with their Russian adoptees. But the fact that these horrible things happen at all, and with the frequency they are happening, tells me that extending the social experiment of adoption across national boundaries is not only ineffective but just plain wrong on too many levels.

So I digress, today, from the tragedy of the EMS to address a more immediate  drama. That poor kid didn't stand a chance. I am disgusted, appalled and furious. Damn it, Children are NOT products and adoption, as an industry, needs to be dismantled, brick by brick.

Adopter and industry pundit, Adam Pertman, remarked that children are not returnable. Gee, that was righteous of you, Adam. You can read a lot into that statement. I know of many children who should have been returned, to their mothers. This is different...this is using a child as a plaything, a badminton bird to be batted back and forth while the central issue, the well-being of the boy, was ignored.

So consider this my salute to the industry and those who keep it running, here, there and everywhere there are children for barter. Help them, don't use them.