Author Archives: Maureen McCauley

About Maureen McCauley

I'm the creator of Light of Day Stories, a place where I examine international adoption issues. I am also a co-editor of "Lions Roaring Far From Home: An Anthology By Ethiopian Adoptees."

Happy Birthday, Lemn Sissay! And Thank You.

Posted on by
Reply

All of us in the Lions Roaring anthology community want to wish Lemn Sissay OBE a very Happy Birthday today! When he graciously wrote this about “Lions Roaring,” we were almost speechless, absolutely thrilled, and utterly grateful.

“Many thanks for ‘Lions Roaring Far From Home.’ I receive many manuscripts and proof copies.

Ethiopia is over half a day’s travel from Washington DC. It is seven hours from London. The internet means an adopted child can connect with Ethiopians around the world. This book is all about connection, connections to story, connection to homes, to the many homes that one person can have, and connection between writers: Bravo for getting this book together and for getting these authors together. It’s important testimony. Enjoy.”

Lemn is a prize-winning, world-renowned author, poet, broadcaster, and playwright; a PEN Pinter Prize winner; a BAFTA nominee; a former chancellor of the University of Manchester; the official poet of the 2012 London Olympics; and more. He is also an Ethiopian, born in England, raised in abusive foster homes, and a resilient survivor who works steadfastly for children and teens now in England’s foster care system.

Happiest of Birthdays to you! May there be many, many more.

“Lions Roaring Far From Home: An Anthology by Ethiopian Adoptees” can be ordered from most countries through Amazon here. Thank you very much! if you have trouble ordering it, use the Contact page here or email us at lionsroaringfarfromhome@gmail.com. If you are an adoptee and the cost is a barrier for you, please let us know and we will get a copy to you. Thank You!

What Can We Do For Deported Adoptees?

Posted on by
1

Yesterday I wrote a post titled The Shameful Reality of America’s Deportation of Adoptees. In April, I had written about The Loneliness of Deported Adoptees. It is not enough for me to write about this. I would be so grateful if you had a few minutes to help in any way. It could make a big difference for the adoptees who have been deported.

Here are some actions.

  • Share the information about the fact the United States deports international adoptees. Share it with anyone connected to adoption, as well as to those who have no connection.

  • Check whether your federal House Representative has sponsored the Equal Citizenship Act, HR 1386. If yes, thank them. If no, ask why not, and urge them to do so.

You can look up your Congressional reps here. This will give you info about your representatives.in both the House and Senate.

The bill has not yet been introduced in the U.S. Senate, as far as I know. Contact your federal Senator and ask whether they support citizenship for all international adoptees.

If you have a personal connection to adoption (adoptee, adoptive parent, birth/first parent, sibling of adoptee, grandparent of adoptee, etc.), let your House and Senate member know that.

  • Contact the National Council for Adoption and ask what actions they and their member adoption agencies are taking to help deported adoptees. They are in favor of the Adoptee Citizenship Act, and it is listed on their 2022 legislative advocacy page. If you have a personal connection to adoption (adoptee, adoptive parent, birth/first parent, sibling of adoptee, grandparent of adoptee, etc.), let them know that.
  • If you know of any lawyers who might be willing to help deported adoptees, please contact them. Feel free to let me know also, via the Contact page. I am happy to talk with them.
  • If you know any journalists or writers, or you are a writer yourself, please get the word out about the deportation of adoptees. I am happy to help with this, and can connect writers to the adoptees.
  • Please contact me if you would like to send an email or a package to a deported adoptee. The isolation and loneliness can be brutal, and a friendly word makes a big difference.
  • Please contact me if you would like to make a donation to a deported adoptee. Even a small amount can go a long way, and allows the adoptee to buy medications, toiletries, and food.

We are working on additional fundraising efforts, and would welcome any help.

Any one of these actions would be deeply appreciated. If you have other ideas, wonderful. Please let me know. Thank you very much.

The Shameful Reality of America’s Deportation of Adoptees

Posted on by
Reply

Yes, the United States of America has welcomed thousands of children for international adoption. Americans love the stories of the orphans rescued, lives saved, futures secured.

The United States of America is also fine with deporting international adoptees, dumping them back to countries where they don’t speak the language and have no job, family, or friends.

Some talking points about deported international adoptees:

  • They entered the USA legally with the paperwork, oversight, and approval of the sending country and the United States.
  • They were legally adopted by at least one U.S. citizen; often both parents were U.S. citizens. Many were adopted by U.S. military officers or veterans.
  • They were over 18 years old when the Child Citizenship Act (CCA) of 2000 was passed, which granted citizenship only to adoptees 18 and younger. International adoption began in the US in the 1940’s and 50’s; thousands of adoptees who were adopted in the decades before the CCA were excluded from acquiring automatic citizenship.
  • The responsibility for citizenship is with the adoptive parents, not with the minor child being adopted. Adoption agencies share some responsibility for ensuring that the children they have placed acquire citizenship, even if the agency is not legally required to do so.

Why didn’t the parents get citizenship for their adopted children? There are many possible reasons. They didn’t know they were supposed to do so. They thought citizenship was automatic. They filed the papers but not correctly. The U.S. government made errors on the paperwork. The parents were estranged from their children, or abusive toward their children, and decided not to follow through with citizenship.

Why don’t the adoptees just file for citizenship as adults? If (and it’s a big If) they know they are not citizens, and they are over 18, they can file for naturalization. It is a lengthy, expensive process, and many adoptees do not have the documents required to file. The parents might have lost, thrown out, or misplaced the documents. The parents may have died, and no one knows where the documents are. The parents may refuse to give the documents to the adoptee.

Why would an adoptee get deported? Adoptees who cannot prove citizenship can be deported if they commit a crime. The type of crime can be relatively minor or a serious felony; that determination often depends on state law. It’s a felony for non-citizens to vote in elections (even if they don’t know they are not citizens). Adoptees have been subject to deportation for writing bad checks, burglary, firearms possession, marijuana possession, and so on.

If they commit a crime, shouldn’t they be punished? Of course. If an adoptee commits a crime and is convicted, they should serve their time—just like any American, like any family member.

They should not though then be deported. Deportation of a legally adopted person should not be allowed by the United States. It is unethical, inconsistent with the values of “family,” and is a slap in the face of the adoption community.

Do adoptees subject to deportation get legal representation? Yes. That’s a basic tenet of our judicial system. The reality is that many adoptees are inadequately represented, because knowledge of adoption law and of immigration law are not always part of an attorney’s expertise, including public defenders. Some adoptees, after serving their sentence, are then detained by the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) for long periods of time without a trial. Some give up. Some have great difficulty hiring and paying for an attorney who can actually represent them effectively. Some get terrible advice from their lawyers, who may not have any familiarity with the adoption laws in place at the time the adoptee entered the country (in the 1950’s, 60’s, 70’s, etc.). Some are detained for months far from family. Some give up hope.

Once deported, it can be near impossible for an adoptee to find an attorney who will take a case pro bono. Most adoptees have great difficulty finding legal work once deported: they don’t speak the language, they don’t know the culture, they have trouble getting legal permits.

Once deported, the adoptees, welcomed as cute children at the airport with balloons and happy smiles, receive no help or support from the US government, including at the US Embassy. They have to depend on family and friends back home, and on strangers in the country.

Once deported, they cannot receive Social Security, even if they earned it for years, nor Medicare nor Medicaid. Many older deported adoptees have serious medical issues for which getting treatment is difficult.

Many deported adoptees go into deep depression, experience tremendous loneliness, and feel forgotten by the country they love and grew up in. Many feel forgotten by family and friends, and many are correct about that.

Why doesn’t Congress help them?

Strong anti-immigrant views have been pervasive in our U.S. Congress for decades. International adoptees, fairly or unfairly, enter the U.S. as immigrants, with all the legally required paperwork. I would argue that adoptees, as children being adopted by US citizens, should be considered separately. This is admittedly a controversial position in the immigration community and in Congress.

Why has Congress has failed to pass an Adoptee Citizenship Act that would grant citizenship to adoptees not included under the 2000 CCA?

Congress has failed to do this for years, since 2015 at least. Beyond the sweeping anti-immigrant feelings, here are some reasons:

  • Some Members of Congress don’t consider adoptees to be real members of a family, and thus may feel it’s no big deal to deport them.
  • Some Members of Congress don’t recognize or don’t care that international adoptees did not have agency in being brought to this country, nor in their acquisition of citizenship, despite being adopted with all the required paperwork and government approval.
  • Some Members of Congress are afraid of a slippery slope of “illegal immigrants” being allowed to remain in the US.
  • Some Members of Congress have no sense of ethics, nor an understanding of adoption.
  • Some Members of Congress feel if someone has committed a crime, then deportation is what they deserve, regardless of how they arrived in the US.

I struggle with this question, to be honest. I’d love to hear someone explain it to me in a way that shows honor and decency on the part of our Congress.

That said, I am grateful to those in Congress who have sponsored adoptee citizenship legislation, and who recognize it as fair and appropriate. I wish there were more of them with the courage and patriotism to do so.

The Korean Court’s Ruling On the Government Role in Adoptee’s Lawsuit

Posted on by
Reply

When the South Korean court ruled this week on the case of adoptee Adam Crapser’s lawsuit, they agreed with some of the allegations against Holt Children’s Services, the adoption agency. The court did not agree with any of the allegations against the government of the Republic of Korea,

According to Lee Kyung-eun (Ph.D. in law), director of Human Rights Beyond Borders, in a March 2022 Korean Times article, these were the allegations about illegal acts by the Korean government:

  • Negligence of its duty to protect its national in the process of inter-country adoption.
  • Unconstitutional use of proxy adoptions, a practice stipulated in the Adoption Special Procedure Act.
  • Negligence of its duty to monitor and audit the practices of adoption agencies.
  • Violation of its obligation to perform due diligence in the process of allowing children to leave the country to be adopted transnationally.
  • Failure to monitor and verify the citizenship acquisition of inter-country adoptees, as prescribed by law.
  • Negligence of its obligation to fulfill post-adoption monitoring of the plaintiff’s adoption.
  • Failure to uphold the international norms that seek to prevent financial gain by allowing the inclusion of such unethical practices in the implementation ordinance of the Special Adoption Procedure Act. 

The court did not hold the Korean government liable any of the allegations in the case of Adam Crapser’s adoption.

Some detailed information about the court decision is available on the Facebook page of Banet, a group for Korean adoptees searching for relatives.

A few points from Banet’s analysis of the court decision:

Because Korea has not ratified The Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption, it cannot be held responsible for failing to abide by it.

The Korean government had responsibility only for making the procedures possible for adoption. It gave responsibility and authority for supervising the adoption process to the adoption agencies iIn this case, Holt Children’s Services).

The Korean government has no liability as to where the adoptee was placed and with whom. Those decisions were handled by the adoption agency.

While the plaintiff alleged that adoption by proxy is illegal, the court said the Korean Congress made adoption laws, and allowed adoption by proxy.

While the government may not have known about illegal activities or may not have brought disciplinary action against adoption agencies, the government nonetheless did not breach its duty to supervise the agencies.

The government accepted the decision of the state of Michigan regarding the suitability of Crapser’s first adoptive parents.

I am not a lawyer. Nor am I an expert on any of this, and certainly not about Korean adoption law in the late ’70’s, when Adam Crapser was adopted. This legal decision by the South Korean court will, no doubt, be scrutinized by adoptees, adoption agencies, and government agencies responsible for intercountry adoptions.

This is, as far as I know, the first significant decision regarding a Korean adoptee placed in the United States. Adoptions from South Korea began in the 1950’s, and Korean adoptees are the largest group of international adoptees (estimates range from 150,000 to 200,000 adoptees, mostly placed in the US). Some folks see this lawsuit as an important step in the right direction; others think it will be inconsequential. Perhaps the Korean government is relieved; perhaps adoption agencies and other governments are thinking about what lies ahead for them.

Global Ramifications of a South Korean Adoptee’s Lawsuit

Posted on by
Reply

When the South Korean Court announced its decision yesterday on Korean adoptee Adam Crapser’s lawsuit against both Holt Children’s Services adoption agency and the South Korean government, it created an incredible precedent in the world of adoption.

The lawsuit alleged that Holt and the South Korean government acted illegally and deceptively in the processing and oversight of Crapser’s adoption.

The court decision is groundbreaking for international adoptees:

  • Holt Children’s Services, a Korean adoption agency, was successfully sued by an adoptee in his country of origin. This is, as far as I know, unprecedented.
  • Holt has been ordered to pay financial damages to the adoptee for illegal acts.
  • The court found Holt responsible to make sure the adoptee had US citizenship, and to report that to South Korea’s Minister of Justice.

Ramifications/Possible Next Steps

I am not a lawyer, but I believe Holt and Crapser can appeal this decision. (The court did not agree with all of Crapser’s allegations.)

This decision could create legal standing for other adoptees to sue Holt Children’s Services, or, I suppose, to sue other adoption agencies.

Rumblings of a class action suit have rolled around the adoption community for years. Perhaps this opens that door.

US citizenship for adoptees was not automatic when Adam was adopted. His criminal record and inability to prove citizenship led to his deportation, despite the adoption having been approved by both Korea and the US. There are said to be thousands of adoptees who entered the US before the Child Citizenship Act of 2000 who do not have citizenship: some know they are not citizens, some don’t know they are not, and some have been deported. At least one deported Korean adoptee, Philip Clay, died by suicide. Many others, in Korea and elsewhere, are struggling.

That a Korean court has held the adoption agency responsible for the adoptee’s acquisition of citizenship in the adoptive country could have huge ramifications for deported adoptees and those without citizenship. I imagine both the US and countries of origin/sending countries are looking at this decision closely.

Crapser’s lawsuit also made allegations against the South Korean government, and the court apparently did not agree to those. More information about this is expected soon.

Korean Court Dismisses Government Liability, But Orders Holt to Pay Compensation to Adam Crapser

Posted on by
1

According to KBS (Korean Broadcasting System), a South Korean Court has ordered the Holt Children Services adoption agency “to pay compensation to a South Korean adoptee who was illegally sent overseas despite having biological parents in the country.

The Seoul Central District Court on Tuesday sided with the plaintiff, 48-year-old Adam Crapser, born Shin Song-hyuk, ordering the agency to pay 100 million won, or 75-thousand U.S. dollars, plus delayed interest.

The court did not, however, acknowledge the government’s liability for compensation, dismissing that portion of the lawsuit.”

According to the AP (Associated Press), “In reading out the verdict, Judge Park Jun-min did not elaborate on why the court refused to hold the government accountable. Crapser’s lawyers said they will review the full version of the ruling, which the court didn’t immediately release, before deciding whether to appeal.

‘We want to express our very serious regret,’ said Kim Soo-jung, one of Crapser’s lawyers.

‘The (government) knew that children procured for adoptions were not being (properly) protected, that their human rights were being violated — they should have done something about it, but they didn’t. … It seems that the court simply saw the government as a monitoring institution, and not as an actor that directly committed illegal acts.'”

Further, according to the AP, “It remains to be seen whether Crapser’s case inspires more lawsuits by adoptees, who are becoming more vocal with their criticism of past South Korean corruption in adoption practices, which caused a huge but unknown number of wrongful family separations and stymied thousands from reconnecting with their roots.“

The Court will apparently release more information tomorrow, and both Holt Children’s Services and Crapser may appeal today’s ruling.

While this may not have been the ruling that Adam Crapser hoped for in terms of government liability, the court case does now create a precedent of sorts for other adoptees.

As the AP article states, “Tuesday’s verdict came months after hundreds of Korean adoptees from Europe and North America asked South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate their adoption circumstances. They say their status and identities were laundered to facilitate marred adoptions.

The commission has opened investigations of dozens of those applications and may take more cases in the coming months, as it proceeds with the most far-reaching inquiry into South Korea’s foreign adoptions yet.

The commission’s potential findings could allow more adoptees to launch legal actions against agencies or the government, which would otherwise be difficult because South Korean civil courts put the burden of proof entirely on plaintiffs, who often lack information and resources.”

The action by the South Korean Truth and Reconciliation Commission, combined with this court case, could hold huge ramifications for international adoptees from Korea and from other countries. Around the globe, especially in Western Europe, international adoptees are mobilizing to demand more information about their adoptions, and, as in the case of Adam Crapser, to hold adoption agencies and governments liable and accountable for “wrongful family separations” and for the inability to find their families and learn their own histories.

Ethiopian Adoptees in Addis Gather to Discuss “Lions Roaring Far From Home”

Posted on by
Reply

There is a remarkable community of international Ethiopian adoptees who have returned to Ethiopia. Some have married and are raising children there. Some have set up businesses. Some are living with or near their original Ethiopian family. They were raised the Netherlands, France, Germany, the United States, and elsewhere. Many adoptees visit, and that is important. These folks, though, have returned to their homeland and immersed themselves in Ethiopia.

Recently, a group of adoptees gathered in Addis to talk about “Lions Roaring Far from Home: An Anthology by Ethiopian Adoptees.” One of the writers, Heran Tadesse (who is also a poet, a yoga teacher, a forestry expert, and more), brought the group together at an organic juice and grocery cafe, Abeesinia Herbal, run by Ermias, a French adoptee.

All the photos and captions here are courtesy of Heran. Thank you.

At the gathering, the conversation was around “Lions Roaring,” as well as about each adoptee’s individual stories: how they grew up, where they lived, why they returned to Ethiopia.

One American adoptee, Mike Davis, was adopted at 8 years old by a U.S. Army officer. He grew up with his dad on American Army bases, ran several small businesses, and has a wife, children, and grandchildren in the US. Because of a shameful US immigration policy that deports adoptees who are unable to prove citizenship, Mike was deported to Ethiopia in 2005. He is now 60 years old, and hopes to return to his family in the United States. Mike is one of our writers in “Lions Roaring.” We are grateful to the Ethiopian adoptee community in Addis that has supported him, giving him respect and companionship, and we are working on ways to bring him back to the US.

We also love the fact he is wearing his “Lions Roaring” tee shirt, along with holding the book. That Ethiopian coffee cup is also beautiful.

“Lions Roaring Far From Home” includes essays and poems by adoptees raised in six countries (the US, Canada, France, Sweden, the Netherlands, and Australia), and ranging in age from 8 years old to over 50. They also have a range of perspectives on adoption. The writers and the co-editors have been working to promote the book, and especially to get it in the hands of Ethiopian adoptees. If you are an adoptee who cannot order the book from Amazon where you live, or if the cost is prohibitive for you, please email us at lionsroaringfarfromhome@gmail.com, and we will find a way to get the book to you. We invite everyone to follow us on our Facebook page and on the Lions Roaring website.

Thank you to Heran, Mike, and all the adoptees who took the time to talk about our book and to share their stories. Amaseganello.

Judgement on Adam Crapser’s Suit Against Holt and South Korea Could Be Announced Tuesday

Posted on by
Reply

On Tuesday May 16, a South Korean court is expected to rule on adoptee Adam Crapser’s suit against the adoption agency Holt International and the government of the Republic of Korea.

From my 2022 blog post Adam Crapser vs. Republic of Korea and Holt International: “Obvious international human rights violations:

“In January 2019, Korean adoptee Adam Crapser filed a petition against the Korean government and Holt Children’s Services Inc. for allegedly violating his rights during his adoption process. ‘Although the plaintiff’s story garnered worldwide media attention, his lawsuit represents a historic legal first..this petition is the first and only attempt by an inter-country adoptee to hold the Korean government accountable for failing to uphold its duty in such an adoption.'” 

Lee Kyeung-eun, the director of Human Rights Beyond Borders), wrote in The Korea Times article “Adam Crapser vs. The Republic of Korea,” that “This petition filed by Shin Song-hyuk (better known as Adam Crapser) is the first and only attempt by an inter-country adoptee to hold the Korean government accountable for failing to uphold its duty in such an adoption.”

Kyeung-eun cites several “Alleged illegal acts of Republic of Korea” as well as “Alleged illegal acts of Holt Children’s Services Inc,” and argues that “The plaintiff (Crapser) has suffered the following rights violations: the right to know and preserve his true identity due to the fraudulent falsification of his orphan registration (a birth registration reserved for children without their parents’ information); damages from physical, mental and emotional abuse inflicted in the course of the adoption, the dissolution of the adoption and the consequential multiple moves to other homes and the effects of those events; violation of the right to acquire and have the nationality of his adoptive country; violation of personality rights and the right to pursue happiness due to deportation.”

After being brought to the United States for adoption at 3 years old, Crapser was horribly abused and abandoned by two adoptive families. He got into legal trouble, and faced deportation because he could not prove his US citizenship.

Ultimately Adam was deported by the Unites States back to South Korea in 2016, leaving behind a wife and 3 daughters. He is not the only deported international adoptee: According to the New York Times, “Deportation a Death Sentence to Adoptees After a Lifetime in the United States.”

I wrote about Adam’s deportation for Slate. I’ve been writing about the tragedy of adoptee deportation for years. While Crapser is not the only internationally adopted deportee, he is the first to sue both his adoption agency and the government of his country of origin. Many governments and adoption agencies are likely watching this case closely.

I will post more when we hear about the court’s decision. May there be justice for adoptees.

Thinking of Hanna Williams on the 12th Anniversary of Her Death

Posted on by
Reply

Ethiopian adoptee Hanna Williams (Hana Alemu) died on May 12, 2011, 12 years ago today. We have not forgotten you, Hanna.

A photo of Ethiopian adoptee Hanna Williams at the orphanage. Hanna is wearing a blue and white striped shirt and has a slight, shy smile.
Hana in Ethiopia, prior to adoption. May she Rest in Peace.

Her adoptive parents, Larry and Carrie Williams, remain in jail for the crime of Hanna’s death. They were convicted and jailed in 2013.

Ethiopia ended international adoptions in 2018, in part due to the outcry over Hanna’s death. I hope that family preservation and orphan prevention remain paramount to anyone wanting to help vulnerable Ethiopian children.

The book “Lions Roaring Far From Home: An Anthology by Ethiopian Adoptees,” is dedicated to Hanna and to Ethiopian adoptees who have died by suicide. We will not forget you. Revenue from sales of the book will go to Ethiopian adoptees.

We will always keep you in our hearts, Hanna.

The Loneliness of Deported Adoptees

Posted on by
3

A favor: please keep in mind the many deported adoptees who are alone in a country with which they have little connection. They were adopted by U.S. citizens and raised in America, the place they call home.

They didn’t get U.S. citizenship, due to their adoptive parents not completing the process, or to bureaucratic snafus, or to some other reason beyond their control: they were children when they were adopted into what was supposed to be a “forever family.”

Some adoptees have been shocked to find out, as adults, that they could not prove they were American citizens. While citizenship was granted to international adoptees 18 and younger in 2000, there are estimated thousands who are now in their 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, and older who may not even know they aren’t legal citizens.

And some have been deported, to countries where they don’t know anyone, don’t know the language, are unable to get work, and get little help from anyone.

They are lonely. Some of the older ones have serious health issues, like gout and diabetes, with little access to medications or medical care. They are not eligible for Social Security (regardless of how much they paid into it) or Medicare. They don’t speak the language, and they often have difficulty fitting in or finding a community.

Keep them in your heart, would you? Many feel forgotten. They left their original countries as little children, brought to America and (we hope) an adoptive family that loved them and kept them safe. Some deported adoptees married and have children they haven’t seen for years, and possibly never will again. I know one adoptee who has never met his own grandchildren. Some haven’t seen their siblings or parents or friends for decades, and every day can be very hard.

International adoptees should NOT be subject to deportation. It was not their fault that they did not get citizenship as children, when they were brought legally here to the U.S. (It is very hard for them to gain citizenship once they are adults.)

It’s their loneliness that haunts me, and keeps me advocating for legislation that will allow them to come home.

Meanwhile, please do not forget them.