Justin sent me this excellent and insightful article about some of the older victims of China’s child trafficking problem. The man featured in the story is about 27 and he thinks his name was Zhou Chengliang. He remembers his abduction when he was six or so (this would have been in 1989-ish), but he can’t remember enough details to identify his family or even what part of the country he was from. There are a lot of men and women out there like him.
It’s so sad. I cannot imagine buying a child, knowing he must have been stolen from some other family. Why would a person do that? It’s not like there aren’t any real orphans to adopt. In fact, a Time Magazine article linked in the first article says that more and more Chinese couples have chosen to adopt, while the rules for international adoptions have gotten stricter and more exclusive.
I hope Zhou Chengliang, if that’s who he is, succeeds in finding his birth family. I wish the same for all the other trafficking victims inside China and out of it.
The Charley Project Blog 
Very sad especially b/c its greed that helped make the situation happen. Greed in China b/c they could turn a profit selling kids to foreigners. And greed in America and other places b/c without the demand for Chinese kids the selling would not of gotten so bad. Not saying American parents did anything wrong on purpose but I think there were a lot of them that just wanted what they wanted and thought they were intitled to it and didn’t look too close for fear of seeing something they didn’t want to see.
That’s why other countries are starting to crack down hard on foreign adoptions. Most of Russia has stopped them, Vietnam has stopped them.
Its kind of like those puppy mills you see on TV. A certain kind of dog gets very popular and everybody wants one and pretty soon the dogs are being over bred and treated badly and any time a person buys a dog from a store that uses the mills they’re just feeding the whole sad business.
I’m actually quite interested in international adoptions. I know Korea is trying to phase out on foreign adoptions, though it’s difficult because adopting within Korea is really frowned upon socially. It’s possible to adopt from certain countries in Central Asia and also Central America — I read somewhere that 1 out of every 200 babies born in Guatemala winds up getting adopted by Americans. Haiti was becoming a major source for international adoption until the quake disrupted everything.
I believe most adoptive parents are very good people and make good parents. But obviously it’s better if the kids can find homes in the country where they were born. It’s not as if America is lacking in adoptable kids, even infants, if you’re willing to take a black baby or a special needs baby. There’s a serious surplus of black babies — not sure if we’re still doing it, but for awhile we were exporting them to Europe.
Another thing to consider is that international adoption is an embarrassment for the source country (for lack of a better term). No country likes to admit that vast numbers of their children would have a better life elsewhere.
Guatemala has pretty much stopped foreign adoptions b/c the whole thing was so crooked and corrupt.
You know what’s sad? The same people that don’t want an american black or Hispanic baby are just fine with a Guatemalan or Liberian or Haitian kid. And the same ones who don’t want a special needs baby from America were bringing home those Russian kids that had all kind of problems and wierd behavior.
Princess, I hope you’re not suggesting that the Chinese adoptees, like China-made toys and notions, contain unusually high quantities of lead or other carcinogenic metals, in a bid by crafty traffickers to poison unassuming adoptive families overseas. The infamy!
You can’t be too careful with anything that was made in China but its almost impossible to avoid Chinese products entirely.
For the death penalty blog I guest-write for, I did an entry about some Chinese guys that were executed for adulterating milk with an industrial chemical that made hundreds of thousands of babies and toddlers sick and killed six of them: http://www.executedtoday.com/2010/11/24/
What are you gonna do with somebody that would put industrial stuff into milk? It wasn’t an accident, it wasn’t just to water down the milk. You’d have to be pretty cold to do something like that.
Actually, they did sort of do it to water down the milk. The chemical — melamine — was used to fool government tests which were supposed to determine whether or not the milk had been watered.
I agree — you would have to be very cold to do that. I suppose they didn’t check to see whether melamine was poisonous or not, but common sense would dictate that you shouldn’t put industrial chemicals in baby milk.
A friend is currently in Ukraine, preparing to board a plane home to Indiana with their newly adopted daughter. She has Down Syndrome, and has languished in this orphanage for FIVE YEARS! Most of the foreign adoptions now are no longer infants, but older, special needs children who would live their lives in institutions if not rescued by ‘foreigners’.
Little Zoe’s new parents are a lower middle class family who have sold everything they own of value and worked extra jobs to be able to ‘afford’ her rescue.
Just thought you’d like a happy story about foreign adoption!
Families in our church have adopted special needs children from Korea, China, Guatemala, Ukraine and the ever exotic Fort Wayne, Indiana!
Hey! I’m in Fort Wayne, Indiana right now. Boyfriend lives there.
Well that’s nice but if these people sold off everything and had so little to start out with how are they figuring to take care of this messed-up child once they get her home? I mean, its only just begun, she’s going to need all kind of things now and it’ll never end b/c she can never live on her own or support herself.
I think there are a lot of government-run programs and stuff to support Down’s Syndrome kids, I believe. Also autistic kids. I think she’s certainly much better off here than in Ukraine.
They sold things like TVs, jewelry, musical instruments and electronics. None of these are needed to take care of a child in need – ‘messed up’ or otherwise. They willingly parted with these luxuries so that Zoe would not be thrown away. Fair trade I think.
A heart-warming tale, certainly, yet it would seem that it might stretch the resources available here in our country, and perhaps ultimately serve to deprive U.S.-born children of their share of those limited resources. Everything’s a conundrum, innit, life and the rest? Spot on, sez I. Bang to rights.
I’m for adoption, in any way, and I do understand that special needs kids have a hard time. I do wonder though, how we have so many in need in this country and people (average and celebrity) go overseas. It seems the requirements are equally strenuous and all, but there are many kids here in the US that need homes. With that it always baffles me how we give money away to other countries when we have poverty stricken (sometimes for generations) areas here. Appalachain Mtns. anyone. Charity begins at home, or so they say. That said, it is someones choice. If it saves one child, that is a good thing.
Angelina Jolie and Madonna were hardly the first celebrities to adopt multiple children from other countries. That’s been going on for a long time. The famous dancer Josephine Baker (she died in 1975) adopted TWELVE kids from around the world. She called them the Rainbow Tribe. They were from Korea, Japan, Finland, Colombia, Finland, France (two from France), Israel, Algeria, the Ivory Coast, Venezuela and Morocco. She also had one bio-kid.
Have you ever actually looked at the children available for adoption in the U.S. right now? I once looked into it for my state. There were something like three children under age five of any race without serious disabilities. America may have poverty, but most impoverished people here don’t place children just because of that.
I know a child is a child, and certainly older or disabled children deserve families too, but I have a hard time being pissed that people want healthy babies or toddlers and are willing to go overseas for it. (People who give birth want healthy children too, after all.)
Yeah, an if I recall, some of JB’s kids ended up in a mess of their own for some reason or another. Not responding to number two here.
I agree with Kat. ITs nice to want to help kids in need but if your desire to help is that strong then you need to look closer to home for a child to help. I think a lot of the peoepeople adopting foreign kids think they’re going that way b/c they’re being good Americans and helping third world people (by bringing them to America and making them little Americans) but I don’t think that’s the whole story.
A lot of people go foreign b/c the process is quicker than it is in the USA. Which would mean its more about them and what they want than about being selfless. I always hear people say “oh they’re so selfless, they’re so generous” but bottom line is most people adopt b/c they want kids, not b/c they’re especialy generous or more selfless than other people. And it almost makes it sound like the kids they adopt are some kind of charity case and ought to be all grateful that these selfless kind Americans have rescued them.
Its like I said before, if somebody realy doesn’t have a problem with a child of a different race or a child with medical problems, why go over seas for that? Why complain about no healthy babies in this country if you are going to take on a baby with the same kind of problems from somewhere else?
If foreign adoptions weren’t so trendy right now and people were more willing to be patient and take in American kids, more Americans would be willing to put up their kids for adoption.
Princess is my friend 🙂 I’m not bashing overseas adoption, or adoption by any means, but I was a teachers aide in Plainville,usa, and there was at LEAST a family or two in need of help. I still say, and will stick by, let’s start here and work it over worldwide later……and ps, I do agree with the “trendy” label. How are you feeling, Princess?
🙂 Oh, I’m good. Courtney/Jessica hasn’t showed any sign of wanting to come out yet. Just counting the days now. Due date is the second of December.
I don’t know how she’ll manage when she’s born and she doesn’t have my bladder to punch and kick anymore. lol I should buy her a punching bag and hang it over her crib.
And yeah, I want to scream every time I see some famous celebrity adopting a foreign baby. They don’t even go through as much red tape as your average person. And some of these celebs are not all that stable in the first place. Okay, Michael Jackson’s adopted baby was American, I think, but seriously, would you trust him with a child? Knowing his history and his wierd behaviors? 😦
Perhaps we should see it as “foreign baby adopts famous celebrity” – it gives a sort of Zen twist to the matter.
If you check back and read this Princess (provided you are not in labor or something LOL) I vote for Jessica! I read back in the day (waaaaaaaaaaay back, when dinosaurs roamed the earth) a Star Wars book where the one girl was a Jessa/Jessamyn/Jessalyn. Never forgotten that name. I had my one boy so he clearly is not named that. Ever at two, I think he’d kill me! So, that’s my vote :).
Did you name him Jesse, at least?
Not in labor yet. My husband and the kids acted like they were surprised and a little disappointed when they saw I was still around this morning. This is getting old. I think my husband and the other teachers he works with have some kind of betting pool going on as to when #3 gets here.
I knew a little girl once named Jessica, and her last name was something like Brown or Bird. She always called herself Jessabrown or Jessabird.
Jillian wants the baby to be called Jasmine but if I go the rest of my life without ever hearing that name again I’ll be happy. Its a nice enough name but everybody that doesn’t have a kid named Jasmine has a dog or a cat or a rabbit or a pet giraffe named it.
Truth, Princess. When I was in school, it was Crystal. Then we had Aladdin and the Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast and I totally get being done with it. My little man is Garrett. It just seemed to fit :). I’m sure everyone has a bet/countdown thing as to when you go…..I’ll know the first day you don’t comment!
Luckily there aren’t too many Belles running around. Bella is getting to be popular now though, along with Isabel and Isabella.
My sister almost got named Crystal, or Krystal. But it was so common at the time they decided better not, so her name is Janelle. Oh, and my brother got the worst of it. His name’s David so he’s always David Lastname or David Lastinitial or David in the Blue Shirt or even David who threw up scrambled eggs in the auditorium one time. lol
How the hell do you go from Crystal (or a deriviative sp, sorry) to Janelle? LOL. I like that better, but wow, that was a change. We had in my school a lot of Jasmines, Belle/Bellas/Ariels(take your pick of spelling), etc. No Mulans yet.
And God willing we will never have any Mulans!
I don’t know how Crystal morphed into Janelle. It was kind of a lst minute decision, so maybe it was a nurse’s name? Or maybe it was a take off on Janet, which is my mom’s best friend’s name?