Who Will Fill the Empty Cribs?

As the mother of a son adopted from Romania, I appreciate you publishing this article. Unfortunately, as in the case of Romania, it is not true that all these countries are now better able to take care of their abandoned children. Many officials just want to claim that they are. Adoption procedures should be transparent and encourage local families to adopt, but children do not have a shelf life. It is ironic as well as tragic that more barriers to international adoption and even local adoption are being erected at a time when all current research shows the devastating effects of a lack of parental bonding at every stage of a child's development.

I praise you for writing about and publishing this story. It is a very grim reality for many - - both children without families, and families without children, that is is getting harder and harder to be brought together. Organizations such as UNICEF, who are supposedly FOR the children's needs, are in effect harming children if their work results in the child never ever getting his or her own FOREVER family. I am the mother of five internationally adopted children and I can share that they are loved, appreciated, and cared for as much if not moreso than their American-born peers!

Again, thank you for bringing this to the readers' attention. It is a wonderful start to opening this reality to all to see. I hope there will be further articles too, on the topic, that can ultimately HELP the children.

It is good to see the mainstream media get the point that adoptive families have known for three or four years: UNICEF is the biggest worldwide organization lobbying to keep children in their countries of birth, at whatever cost. They say that they support international adoption, but in practice, they oppose it at every turn. Like other ideologues on the left, they treat children as members of groups rather than as the unique individuals they are, with a God-given right to a family of their won.