A Framework for Thinking Ethically an excellent article that describes the many different types of ethics and well worth reading and then thinking about which of the 5 Sources of Ethical Standards you most often apply in your life. A teaser to the article below.
What is Ethics
Simply stated, ethics refers to standards of behavior that tell us how human beings ought to act in the many situations in which they find themselves-as friends, parents, children, citizens, businesspeople, teachers, professionals, and so on.
It is helpful to identify what ethics is NOT:
It then discusses what ethics isn’t and then goes to the 5 different thought processes or approaches to Ethics. Fascinating read – I hope you enjoy it. Something all prospective parents should read, understand, and apply to the adoption process instead of naively believing there is no corruption in adoption because their agency told them so.
PEAR posted a DOS Adoption Notice: Ethiopia – More Orphanage Closures Announced which is an updated list that now has more than 2 dozen closures.
My question to anyone who knows – are these orphanages true orphanages based on our western understanding, or are they simply part of fulfilling the requirements for adoption referrals for international adoptions under Ethiopian Law and as such simply part of the pipeline?
Thanks Henry for commenting and reminding me to post a link to Nepal — Paper Orphans documentary posted on the web: Terrific documentary on the Bal Mandir kidnappings. By the Swiss INGO — Terre des Hommes.
Amanda at Declassified Adoptee has a thoughtful post her recent Adoptee Rights Presentation and then on the different responses she got to her photo post that came out of seeing the Occupy Pittsburg protest on her way home. Yesterday’s Photo: a Response to Some Responses It made me sad to realize that most likely the negative responses came from those who should be standing alongside fighting for our rights.
Another thoughtful post from Insert Bad Movie Title Here on how words impact us. The B Word
Malinda at Adoption Talk has posted about an article that reminds me that self-deception is alive and well in adoption land. “Children choose their parents”
The adopted ones blog 
momsomniac
October 18, 2011 at 9:31 pm
The “children choose their parents” thing…most likely comes from a branch of “new thought” (it’s a religion). I know people who TRULY believe we choose EVERYTHING that happens to us before our birth…this includes them asserting that one of their children “chose” to have cerebral palsy.
I have often wondered if they could say such a thing DIRECTLY to (for example) a survivor of the Sudanese Civil war.
I am a person of faith. As a UCC member, I am devoted to respecting other beliefs. But there are places where I find I cannot. This is an incredibly cruel belief system.
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The adopted ones
October 19, 2011 at 1:44 pm
Momsomniac,
I don’t think questioning or disagreeing with aspects of religion means lack of respect – if you called someone an idiot for believing it then you lack respect for the individual but challenging thought isn’t.
I don’t think I could ever wrap my brain over the fact of choosing everything that happens to us before we are born. To me it just makes no sense – I choose to be surrendered? I would choose to have the disease that wrecks havoc with my arteries? Not likely. Each to his own but love your question re a Sudanese survivor. The idea just doesn’t wash with me.
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momsomniac
October 19, 2011 at 2:27 pm
To be honest, it is tempting to name call (and oddly, the PRECISE name you mention) in such circumstances. : )
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veggiemom
October 19, 2011 at 1:23 am
Good question about the Ethiopian orphanages. I think many of them are orphanages that started just to house kids for adoption until they were legally able to go to agency care centers. There may be a few that are true orphanages but I would imagine that most are just a mechanism to funnel kids into the system. I would like to know for sure too though.
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graceling
October 19, 2011 at 4:26 am
I can only personally speak for one orphanage on the ET list, but I know that it was functioning on many levels… it housed children temporarily (there is no “foster care” system in ET) until they could be returned to their families, and I know it placed some children for adoption (IA as there is very little domestic adoption in ET.) It was also supposedly offering other family preservation services, but I am not sure of that, especially with regard to the past year or so. I don’t know how many “orphans” that were available for adoption were housed there on a more long-term basis.
I can also say that according to someone who worked on the ground in ET for an ASP, at least one of the orphanages listed was a “true” orphanage who placed very few children into the IA system. According to this source who was on the ground in ET as recently as 6 months ago, this orphanage had horrible standards of care for the children, and this source believes that the sub-par care contributed to or was the main reason for the revocation of the license.
it would be nice if the ET gov’t would give specific reasons for why each license was revoked (the way they do with restaurants in the US!)
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The adopted ones
October 19, 2011 at 1:52 pm
Yes – it would be very helpful to know the specfic reason for each closure – it would put persectives in place and allow for some more specific thoughts on the matter.
Gracelings and Veggiemom,
Personally I don’t think an orphanage should be allowed to exist simply as a weigh station to IA for lack of a better term. For one it allows westerners to believe the children are housed in “real” orphanages based on our definition which muddies the water in any discussion. And secondly it provides nothing in the way of making Ethiopia a stronger, better place to be and imo makes it seem very shady indeed.
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b.
October 19, 2011 at 5:51 pm
I would like to second that; the way orphanages may operate differ in so many ways. They generally used to have at least three functions: Children resided there temporarily, but could also be “relinquished to the orphanage”, who would then cooperate with different agencies in international adoptions (for the child, that usually ment being transferred to a transit home). Third, they offered support for families in need (“programs”, e.g. school scholarships), like other NGOs would. Usually, the orphanages had contracts with several different agencies. Usually, the understanding was that the orphanage could support the “programs” with the fees from IA.
B.
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cb
October 19, 2011 at 11:59 am
You have some good links there.
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momsomniac
October 19, 2011 at 2:34 pm
I believe the “orphanage” to which my great-grandfather was surrendered by his parents was similar to the ones in Ethiopia, although it was generally called the “poor house” by family. He was 3 at the time and was surrended with his older brothers. He grew up there, with his brothers, and was apprenticed out as a teen. All I can say about that is…there is so much misunderstanding about the nature of poverty…
MY primary question regarding these orphanages would be – what do the kids and surrendering parents say THEY’D like to see happen? Is there is a general consensus among the children and their birth families about what’s desired?
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