Increasingly, mothers and adoptees are coming forward and telling of their experiences and of the attempts to silence them when they refuse to regurgitate the "party line". They want to inform others in order to prevent the anguish and other problems resulting from uninformed consents to surrender. And, for themselves, they are seeking counseling and support groups that address their problems realistically - where they are not just told how lucky they are or what heros they are, especially when they consider themselves not to be either lucky or heros.
These ordinary people do not have the huge funds available to the adoption agencies, lawyers and government organizations. They are not skilled in manipulating public opinion. (Because of a lack of funding, their stories and insights are most easily found on adoption webrings where their websites can be listed for free.)
At the same time, the adoption industry is using new tactics, implementing an advertising campaign disguised as journalism, entertainment, or news; getting all of the "helping" professions involved in identifying vulnerable pregnant women and pressuring them into surrender by denying them access to information about their options and about the effects of separation; trying to implement group settings such as the Adoption University@ curriculum where the realities of adoption are hidden and a differing opinion may be squelched by the group; getting pregnant women separated from society in maternity homes where they can be more effectively manipulated; implementing Safe Haven laws which instead of offering help encourage infant abandonment and applaud people for abandoning infants!!! ("At least the babies didn't die" is the rationalization, but the emotional damage to mother and child is so significant it should not be ignored.)
Evidence of the implementation/continuance of a coercive psychological system dedicated to the promotion of adoption can be found at http://www.infantadopt.org/
"..focused on reaching the millions of teens and women facing an unplanned pregnancy, the National Council for Adoption went about designing both a training program and a mass media campaign..."
This mass media campaign and blitz of adoption training for people in the helping professions is the result of the Infant Adoption Awareness Act passed by Congress as part of the Children's Health Act in 2000.
One can become an "Adoption Specialist" after a three day (20 hour) training program. The training itself is free and not only that but participants are paid $250 to attend and hotel, breakfast and lunch are all provided.
"By sharing adoption information and distributing materials to create adoption awareness in their clinics, Adoption Specialists can assist clients in making a fully informed choice. Adoption Specialists are major catalysts in accomplishing the goals set by Infant Adoption Awareness." "The parent organization of the Infant Adoption Awareness Training Program is the National Council for Adoption. It was founded in 1980 as a membership organization of adoption agencies. Dedicated to the preservation of adoption.."
Thus, adoption agencies have gotten us as taxpayers to fund their omnipresent and insidious advertising campaign.
Do you think the "fully informed choice" includes information about how adoptees suffer because of the lack of acknowledgement of the very real loss of their mothers? Or information about the percentage of mothers who later regret losing their child and all the memories they could have shared? Information about the number of adoptees and natural parents who find it necessary to seek counseling or who commit suicide? Do you think all the resources available for a mother, father and their families to keep their child are adequately covered? Are these mothers "fully informed" by telling them how language biased toward adoption and biased against true family has been developed to mold public opinion? By providing information such as is available on these websites?
http://www.originsusa.org/
http://www.eclectica.org/v6n3/delbalzo.html
http://www.cubirthparents.org/booklet.pdf
http://www.netaxs.com/~sparky/adoption/aspeak.htm
http://stop-abuse.20m.com/cps-abuse.html
Among the tactics used to obtain a consent is the use of the Open Adoption "carrot". Many parents don't know that the open adoption may be closed by the adopters at any time without their consent. In many cases, the adoption is closed immediately - the promise of openness was made only to lure them in. It's devastating.
Other tactics include having adoptive "parents" chosen in advance and sometimes even present at the birth (and we wouldn't want to disappoint them, would we?)
New tactics are being developed all the time.
Even whole nuclear families may be advised that it is "best" to surrender their new baby if a parent has been laid off temporarily.
Obtaining babies stolen from mothers in Guatemala or babies stolen from women who have been forced into sex slavery in some other country is another means of obtaining infants. In some cases it's easier for people to believe they are "saving" a child that comes from another culture - and besides there is less chance of "interference" from a poor mother who is so far away and doesn't speak English. The adopters can more easily maintain the fantasy that the child is really "theirs". For more on international adoption from self-described "abductees" visit http://www.transracialabductees.org/.
Any time a child is stolen or a mother is persuaded (even surreptitiously by means of continuous televised "happy" adoption stories or Adoption University@ curriculum ) that she is not the most important factor in her child's development, that she is not good enough for her child, or that her child won't know the difference, it is clearly very wrong. It's not just unethical - it is criminal.
The emotional damage to mother and child resulting from separation/adoption cannot continue to be ignored. No one should want a child so badly that they are willing to tear it apart from it's own family. That's not love - it's abuse.
The adoption industry isn't straight with people who are seeking to adopt, so many of them are completely unaware of the realities. For some, their adoptee may attempt to protect them from the truth and unless they happen to attend an adoptee support group or really listen to what adoptees say on line they may never know.
Adoption Bonuses: The Money Behind the Madness
http://www.massnews.com/past_issues/2000/5_May/mayds4.htm
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Here's an article from The Huntsville Times describing a situation where a baby was taken for adoption when the mother sought medical attention.
" Speak out and get attacked, says Dr. Ernie Hendrix, an Athens family physician who has taken public his fight to see a baby returned to its mother from the custody of the Department of Human Resources."
http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/1063993582219191.xml
Is it possible that some day people will be terrified to take any baby to the hospital or call for help of any kind, ever again? It's up to US citizens to stay informed and protect the rights of children to stay in their own families and the rights of parents who have not been proven to be unfit to raise their own children.
The Gladney Centers and Coercion
More on Coercive Psychological Systems