I have recently read (thanks Robyn!) that there are a string of “adoptions” happening from Zambia, but they’re not following Zambian procedure for adoption, merely paying the orphanage and flying home with the child. This is illegal and it is this type of activity that can cause a country to shut its doors to intercountry adoption. That means that while a few families have made it home with “their” children, they’ve effectively denied the other thousands of orphaned children the possibility of being adopted internationally.
Please remember that, on the journey to your child, you are leaving footprints behind you that will either make the next family’s journey easier or more difficult. Yes, your goal is to bring your child home, but it should also be to do so in a way that leaves a favorable impression of intercountry adoption on all those with whom you work. Especially in the child’s country, please try to leave their countrymen thinking, “Gee, I’m sure glad that child is going to such a good family,” not “Why in the world did we let them adopt our kids!”
–> In case this isn’t clear, my pages on independent intercountry adoption from Zambia are about how to legally adopt a child from Zambia without the help of an American adoption agency.
Posted on August 16th, 2007 by Dove
Filed under: Fostering/Adoption
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