The Declassified Adoptee

(Repost from  Yahoo News):  By Joseph Guyler Delva Joseph Guyler Delva – Sat Jan 30, 5:22 pm ET PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) – Haitian police have arrested 10 U.S. citizens caught trying to take 33 children out of the earthquake-stricken country in a suspected illicit adoption scheme, authorities said on Saturday. The five men and five women were in custody in the capital, Port-au-Prince after their arrests on Friday night. There are fears that traffickers could try to exploit the chaos and turmoil following Haiti's January 12 earthquake quake to engage in illegal adoptions. One of the suspects, who says she is leader of an Idaho-based charity called New Life Children's Refuge, denied they had done anything wrong. The suspects were detained at Malpasse, Haiti's main border crossing with the Dominican Republic, after Haitian police conducted a routine search of their vehicle. Authorities said the Americans had no documents to prove they had cleared the adoption of ...

Today, Thursday, January 21, 2010, Tyra Banks did a segment called "Teenage Pimps."  The segment was about teenagers who pimp out other teenagers for money.  But adoption somehow made its way into the mix. Awkwardly attached to the tale end of the show was the story of a former prospective adoptive couple who was scammed by an adoption lawyer.  Tyra introduced their portion of the show by listing famous couples who have adopted, musing that their adoptions must have gone smoothly because the celebrities had enough money to pay for the adoptions to go "smoothly."  She transitioned into introducing the couple by explaining how much they had spent: $60,000.  To Tyra, this was enough money for the adoption to, you guessed it, "go smoothly." The adoption lawyer promised to them, and to 16 other couples, that there were two "birth mothers" ready to relinquish upon birth.  He promised they could adopt both babies for $60,000. The prospective ado...

I just received email correspondence from an agent who works with MTV and MTV's hit series "Teen Mom."  They wanted to know if I would like to interview any of the show's cast members for a blog post. Along with the email was a copy of the press release.  It contains a quote made by Sarah Brown, CEO of The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy: "After 15 straight years of decline, the teen birth rate in the United States is on the rise again. In other words, the need to help young people understand the challenges of too-early pregnancy and parenthood and the profound, life-long responsibility of being a parent is now more important than ever. Thank you MTV for providing a no-holds-barred look at the realities of being a teen parent.” This is hardly something I would thank MTV for. They're benefiting from the ratings and notoriety given to them by people who feel that this show does "good." If you want to thank anyone, th...