It used to be that children were placed for adoption because they were orphans, illegitimate, or because poverty left their parents no other alternative.
In the current "adoption market," parental instability (primarily mental and emotional ) seems to be the common denominator in children ending up in the adoption sector of society. I believe this is true in America by a longshot and, with respect to certain areas overseas, -- primarily Russia and some Eastern European populations -- this is also true, despite claims by adoptionists that oppressiveillnesses are the key reasons for relinquishing children to the adoption system. economic conditions serve as the principal catalyst for the parental decision to surrender children for adoption.. No. Parental Alcoholism, drug addiction, abuse of all kinds (including sexual abuse) and mental illnesses are the key factors influencing the decision to place children for adoption. Later on, some or all of those ills become apparent in the offspring as well.
Here's an idea: Reward and remunerate citizens who reliably practice birth control; ensure that the remuneration is greater than the amount these people would receive in public assistance for an average of three kids. If such a proposal seems like an outrageous expense, think of the projected financial implications a hypothetical government will suffer should the current trend continue unabated. Until we put a cork in the dike of indiscriminate reproduction, we'll continue to witness the continuation of a long line of sociopaths and severely mentally impaired people being marketed to prospective parents as "adoptable."
Either that, or start putting the money where it really belongs: into the hands of the heroes who adopt these otherwise unadoptable children.
When Adoption Goes Wrong
Most Americans who adopt children from other countries find joy. But others aren't prepared for the risks—and may find themselves overwhelmed.
Let the Children Come
12/09/2007: The trials and tribulations of American couples adopting from Guatemala (Video: Jennifer Molina)
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Peggy Hilt wanted to be a good mother. But day after day, she got out of bed feeling like a failure. No matter what she tried, she couldn't connect with Nina, the 2-year old girl she'd adopted from Russia as an infant. The preschooler pulled away whenever Hilt tried to hug or kiss her. Nina was physically aggressive with her 4-year-old sister, who had been adopted from Ukraine, and had violent tantrums. Whenever Hilt wasn't watching, she destroyed the family's furniture and possessions. "Every day with Nina had become a struggle," she recalls now.
As the girl grew older, things got worse. Hilt fell into a deep depression. She started drinking heavily, something she'd never done before. Ashamed, she hid her problem from everyone, including her husband.
On the morning of July 1, 2005, Hilt was packing for a family vacation, all the while downing one beer after another and growing increasingly aggravated and impatient with Nina's antics. "Everything she did just got to me," Hilt said. When Hilt caught her reaching into her diaper and smearing feces on the walls and furniture, "a year and a half of frustration came to a head," Hilt says. "I snapped. I felt this uncontrollable rage."
Then Hilt did something unthinkable. She grabbed Nina around the neck, shook her and then dropped her to the floor, where she kicked her repeatedly before dragging her up to her room, punching her as they went. "I had never hit a child before," she says. "I felt horrible and promised myself that this would never happen again." But it was too late for that. Nina woke up with a fever, and then started vomiting. The next day she stopped breathing. By the time the ambulance got the child to the hospital, she was dead.
Hilt is now serving a 19-year sentence for second-degree murder in a Virginia maximum-security prison. She and her husband divorced, and he is raising their other daughter. She realizes the horror of her crime and says she isn't looking for sympathy. "There is no punishment severe enough for what I did," she told NEWSWEEK in an interview at the prison.
Hilt's story is awful—and rare—but sadly it is not unique. Adopting a child from another country is usually a positive, enriching experience for both the child and the parent. Over the last 20 years, foreign adoption has become more popular, and Americans now adopt about 20,000 children from Guatemala, China, Russia and other nations each year. (In the last few years, as restrictions and red tape have increased in some countries, the number of overseas adoptions has begun to drop.) Longitudinal studies show that most of these kids do quite well, but in a small but significant number of cases, things go very badly. Since the early 1990s, the deaths of 14 Russian children killed by their adoptive parents have been documented. (That disclosure was partly responsible for Russia's decision in 2006 to suspend its intercountry adoption program while it underwent review.)
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