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_ .

New Legislation Introduced for Adoptee Citizenship

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Legislation has been introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives and Senate to grant citizenship to all international adoptees.

Please contact your Congressional representatives and ask them to co-sponsor the “Protect Adoptees and American Families Act,” PAAF.

Proponents of the bill have for years focused on a bipartisan effort.

The bill introduced in the House by Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) and Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) is H.R. 5492.

In the Senate, the co-sponsors of S. 2923 are Sen. Maizie Hirono (D-HI) and Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)

Here is a statement by Sen. Hirono:

Proposed law aims to correct citizenship oversight for adoptees

Adoptees United has solid information here about PAAF.

Next steps could be hearings in the Judiciary Committees of both chambers, then passage in both the House and Senate, and then signature into law by the president.

That’s certainly my hope. Thousands of international adoptees, brought to this country to join new families, did not automatically receive citizenship because their parents failed to get it or because of bureaucratic errors. This reality has been an untenable, unfair reality that the Congress has taken far too long to rectify. This legislation has been previously introduced over the last 10 years, though it has not passed. It would provide a long overdue correction, one wanted by the sending countries, by the adoption community, and by adoptees.

It seems amazing that, for decades, international adoptees were not granted automatic citizenship when they were adopted by U.S. citizens and arrived in the U.S. You can learn more here.

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Some folks might forget that international adoptees are immigrants, with all the complexity that immigration involves. I urge all adoptees and their families to make sure they have a Certificate of Citizenship. A passport is a limited means of proving citizenship, can expire, and is issued by the U.S. State Department, The Certificate of Citizenship is issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and does not expire. State and Homeland Security use separate databases, and so having a passport may not be adequate proof of citizenship for some purposes.

And the current cost of the Certificate for adoptees is 0, which is wonderful and could change. More info on the fee schedule for the N-600 is here.

You may never need the CoC. I get that. But the parents of deported adoptees (those convicted of a felony and without citizenship) probably never envisioned their children subject to deportation either. Nor, of course, did the adoptees themselves, including those who have been deported to Germany, Korea, Brazil, and elsewhere, who are sitting in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers, or who are unable to vote or get financial aid because they have no proof of citizenship. Why risk it?

And please support the passage of the Protect Adoptees and American Families Act. It is long overdue, and it is the right thing to do. Thank you.

New Anthology on Estrangement in Adoption Is Seeking Submissions

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Estrangement in adoption is a complicated topic. As a co-facilitator at Adoption Mosaic, I’ve been part of the Navigating Estrangement class for adoptive parents for three years. Adoption Mosaic also runs an adoptee-only estrangement group, Adoptee Beacon. Both are offered once a year, usually in the spring. Adoption Mosaic’s We the Experts program had a great adoptee panel on estrangement.

In fact, Lora Alegria, one of the panelists, is one of the editors of a new anthology on estrangement, along with Sullivan Summer. Both are adoptees and writers, and they describe the anthology as a collection of “creative nonfiction work exploring the theme of estrangement, written by adoptee authors.” You can find more iinformation here. You can email them at adoptee.estrangement@gmail.com. The deadline for submissions is December 15, 2025.

I hope many adoptees will consider submitting their essay to this important anthology. Please spread the word about this!

Supporting the voices of adoptees is vital. I would feel remiss if I did not mention “Lions Roaring Far From Home: An Anthology by Ethiopian Adoptees.” I am honored to be a co-editor. I am deeply grateful for each of our adoptee writers. All revenue from sales of the book goes to help Ethiopian adoptees. Thanks.

The Complexity of Animal Abuse in Ethiopia, and How to Help

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I get it: Where people are starving, children are suffering, medical care and clean water are minimal, animal cruelty is low on the list of things to alleviate.

Balance that with the utterly ludicrous amount of money spent on pets in many nations. The amount American spent THIS YEAR is about $157 billion, for veterinary care, food, boarding, treats. It’s absurd, how devoted we are to our pets here. I say that as a person who has a beloved dog and cat in my life.

I believe animals should be treated decently, whether they are beloved companions, sources of food, part of nature, or used in farming or tourism. Decent non-cruel treatment should be the norm.

Anyone who has visited Ethiopia has seen the complexity of life there: It is a beautiful, historic, warm culture; also there are mentally and physically ill people languishing in the streets, often treated with ridicule or worse. Mothers and children begging. People without shelter, without water, without basic standards of life we take for granted here.

You will also see horrible things happening to donkeys staggering under heavy loads and beaten mercilessly, dogs being whipped, cats being poisoned, dehydrated horses being hit repeatedly and left to die.

Yes, the needs of humans should come first. I’d like to think we could help the animals in some way too.

And many folks are. Take a look at The Blue Vet, the Ethiopian Veterinary Association, and Veterinary Service Addis.

Here’s an article about the “Official launch of the Ethiopian Veterinary Education National Action Plan for the 2020 Harmonized Curriculum (Ved-NAP), via Ohio State University (in the US) and the University of Gondar (Ethiopia) College of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Sciences. Here is the impressive Veterinary Education Action Plan for vets and veterinary students in Ethiopia.

I’ve advocated for many organizations in Ethiopia doing remarkable valuable and needed work for impoverished families, for vulnerable children. That work must be a priority.

Still, I am going to invite you today to support the work of two tiny organizations in Ethiopia that are making minuscule but important steps to changing attitudes toward and conditions of animals in Ethiopia.

A photo I took of a little street cat in Addis

One is EARS, Ethiopian Animal Rescue and Sanctuary. They are community-based, focusing on dogs, donkeys, and horses. They are working to provide a safe haven for suffering, injured, and abandoned animals, giving them medical care, food, and clean water. In Ethiopia, a relatively small amount of money can go a long way, so any and all donations will be deeply appreciated. They are constructing shelters for dogs and for the equine crowd (horses and donkeys), hiring staff and guards, and providing food to the animals: support is needed.

The other is Addis Animal Project-AAP, which is geared toward protecting animals and finding homes for cats and dogs.

Many people are fighting animal abuse in Ethiopia, from well-established veterinarians to folks who just believe animals shouldn’t be tortured.

EARS and AAP can use our help. Please donate. Please share their Facebook info. Keep the animals and their caregivers in your prayers. Cruelty is all too common these days, and this is one way to bring kindness to our world.

Finding Joy in the Midst of Grief and Confusion

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At a recent meeting of folks in the adoption community (adopted people. adoptive parents, birth parents), we got to talking intensely about some daunting issues, including grief and confusion among adoptees who are worried about citizenship and deportation, not necessarily for themselves but for others. They worry and pray for the adoptees who have been deported. The adoptees in this meeting all had proof of their U.S. citizenship and none had committed any crimes, so legally they weren’t among those who might end up in detention centers or worse.

Even so, many adoptees, especially Black or brown folks, including if not particularly those raised in predominantly white communities, are worried about being caught up in an ICE raid. They wonder if having been born in another country, whether Mexico or Korea or Russia or elsewhere, makes them vulnerable, or “less than,” or susceptible to dirty looks or worse. Even if they are not worried for themselves, they are worried about fellow adoptees, and about anyone who feels compelled to carry around their passport all the time, just in case.

Many adoptees wonder if their white parents and family and friends can truly understand what they are dealing with every time they read the news, or walk down a busy street, or consider traveling.

We closed our meeting by having everyone share one word about how they were feeling: words like rage, grief, exhaustion, fear, and overwhelmed were a theme.

Everyone also shared one thing that brought them joy. I really appreciated the chance to pause and think about that. I hope you will take a moment to focus on what brings you joy right now.

For many folks, it was a connection with nature: looking at the ocean, maybe seeing a whale, watching monarch butterflies feast on milkweed, seeing fabulous birds (this becomes more important with age, I grant you), and simply feeling a nice breeze while walking outside.

Photo by Maureen McCauley; Sunset off Blake Island, Washington state.

A couple of us also mentioned crafting (sewing, for example) and art. Here’s a collage I did recently, using a photo transparency.

I recently took a class in acrylic collage. I am finally feeling strong about making art for the sake of making art.

And of course, beloved friends and family often bring joy as well.

That’s me and Hamish, who is skeptical about something I’ve said.

Sometimes, finding joy within family is hard, when folks are far away (emotionally or geographically), or they are dealing with medical or mental health or financial or work issues. We all carry burdens and sorrows; I am not sure why we are not then more kind to each other these days.

That brings me back to the grief and confusion that we felt in the meeting, and that many folks are feeling now. It’s okay and understandable to feel those things. Maybe focus also on feeling joy, even in the midst of sadness or anger. We need to tip our hearts that way. Small steps and all that, meandering toward compassion and hope.

Research on Ethiopian Adoption: An Informal 9-Page List

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If you’ve ever wondered about research on Ethiopian adoptions, here is my informal, incomplete, unannotated list of academic theses, sociology and law journal articles, books, and reports. Much of the research here, though certainly not all, has been done by Ethiopian scholars.

I am especially interested in research on Ethiopian birth parents. I’ve included in my list the few theses and articles I am aware of, and would welcome more.

For years, and as recently as yesterday, I have railed about the astonishing lack of adoption services to international birth parents. Ethiopian Adoption Connection/Beteseb Felega has worked hard in the realm of search, reunion, and other services. Funding is a challenge; I am among the donors, and invite others to contribute as well.

I do not have a strong sense that the pre-adoption services are stellar; I’d love to read research on what services were and are provided to international birth families by adoption agencies prior to placement. Many countries no longer send children for international adoption. Pre-adoption services remain important, and I am uncertain about their current and past uniformity or utility: has there been any evaluation?

Post-adoption services for international birth families, including in Ethiopia where international adoptions ended in 2018, remain vital, and almost nonexistent. I understand, intellectually, the reasons: many birth families live in remote areas, they speak various languages so would need translators, many are illiterate, many move without any useable address, and so on. Adoption agencies theoretically don’t have the infrastructure to provide services. I believe nonetheless they have a fierce ethical responsibility to do so.

The likelihood that will happen in any meaningful way is heartbreakingly small.

Original photo by Maureen McCauley. Addis Ababa, 2018.

Maybe, however, there will be more research. It’s not a substitute for services (such as informing mothers that their children are alive; or helping them deal with grief or shame), but more information will keep those birth families somewhere on our radar.

For now, here is my list. The research and articles cover a range of information on Ethiopian adoption. If you have additions or corrections, please let me know.

Aselefech Evans, MSW–Clinician, Co-Editor “Lions Roaring,” Writer, Ethiopian Adoptee, More–Is Now on Substack

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Aselefech Evans, MSW, LSWAIC, has launched on Substack.

From her first post: “…I am Aselefech, proudly Oromo from the Oromia region of Ethiopia. Mother, Daughter, Auntie, Author (Lions Roaring Far from Home), family preservationist, and Black clinician—a title I hold with pride, as we make up only 4% of the field—and the owner of Stillness Therapy.”

Aselefech will be focusing on adoption, on neurodivergence, and on eating disorders and recovery. Her Substack is titled “From Stillness to Storytelling,” She will be writing primarily about three areas: adoption, eating disorders and recovery and neurodivergence. Aselefech has lived experience and extensive professional training in all three areas.

She notes “I’ve found deep connections with others whose paths to self-understanding have been anything but linear. I’ll share reflections, resources, and community voices that honor the diversity of our brains and experiences.”

Please read, subscribe to, share, and learn from this new Substack writer.

In full disclosure, Aselefech is my daughter. I could not be more proud of her. She brings a knowledgeable, compassionate heart to her writing and her work.

More Challenging Ideas for Adoptive Parents: Adoption is Trafficking; Adoption as a “Both/And”

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My post last week on 3 Challenging Ideas For Adoptive Parents was well-received–thank you to those who read it, shared it, and connected with me about it.

My perspective is as an adoptive parent. Wherever we are in the constellation, talking together in community about complex ideas is vital.

Here are more Challenging Ideas.

Adoptees can have a wonderful childhood, love their adoptive families, and hate adoption.

It’s a both/and proposition. This Psychology Today article is a good introduction to both/and thinking, if you’re not familiar with it. Here is an excerpt, not specific to adoption:

 “,,,multiple things can be true at the same time and that everybody has a right to their experience, regardless of what somebody else is experiencing…Both/and says that you can and almost certainly will feel more than one thing at a time. You can feel both grateful and resentful of the pressures of parenthood. You can feel both exhilarated by a high-powered position and overwhelmed by the sacrifices that it demands. You can feel both appreciative to stay home with your kids and trapped by its routines. You can both love your career and wish you had more time with family. You can feel both ambitious and content. 

Both/and honors the full complicated reality that life presents.”

The notion that an adoptee can hate adoption is a complicated one for adoptive parents to consider, since we were the ones who instigated and paid for the adoption; further, we (most of us) deeply love our children, and know that, if not for adoption, we would not have these children in our lives.

Adoptive parents might wonder: “We thought we were doing a good thing when we adopted, giving a child a better life. Did we do the wrong thing, engage in an unethical act?” Or “How can anyone hate adoption?” Or “Does this mean my adopted children don’t really love me?”

Both/and thinking, rather than Either/Or thinking, can help work through some of this complexity.

Elena Hall, an adopted person, wrote a children’s book titled Adoption is Both.

 Cindy Zhu Huijgen, adopted from China to the Netherlands, writes on Inter Country Adoptee Voices, “Why I am relieved that China terminated its adoption program.”

|Adoption is trafficking.

The notion of adoption as equivalent to trafficking is a tough concept, I’d argue. Still, when we consider the role of money (the amount, who’s paying, who’s pocketing), the power imbalances and ethical murkiness (if not outright corruption and fraud) that are too often part of adoption, we can understand the argument.

Adoption and child welfare services are a multi-billion dollar industry, according to IBIS World: “…industry-wide revenue is expected to climb…to $30.5 billion (emphasis added) through 2025.” There’s so much that can go wrong as a result. Poor and vulnerable people can easily be horribly victimized, lied to, deceived. While international treaties like The Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption are designed to prevent trafficking, they are certainly not without flaws, and have many critics.

It is tempting, I’d argue, as an adoptive parent to say, “Well, we went through an accredited, reputable agency. There could not have been trafficking.” And if one hews to a tight definition of trafficking, the comparison with adoption can get clouded. Even so, the large sums of money exchanged; the power structure of who is placing children (or being coerced or deceived or bribed into doing so) and who is receiving children; the oversight (or lack thereof) of all the people involved in locating babies, children, and expectant mothers; and the reports of abused adopted children treated as slaves–all of this is deeply disturbing.

The National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges stated in The Disturbing Connection Between Foster Care and Domestic Child Sex Trafficking that “It has been estimated that 60% of all child sex trafficking victims have histories in the child welfare system. Youth without stable families are particularly vulnerable to being exploited by traffickers. Traffickers are targeting and recruiting youth directly from foster care, group homes, and residential placements.”

The book Finding Fernanda is a sobering read about international adoption from Guatemala. In an article titled “International Adoption or Child Trafficking?,” E.J. Graff reviews the book from a journalistic perspective: “Finding Fernanda is a true-crime page-turner about two mothers-Betsy Emanuel, an American, and Mildred Alvarado, a Guatemalan-accidentally united by a horrible adoption kidnapping. First-time author Erin Siegal uses the moving story to deliver investigative reportage at its finest, examining in tremendous detail exactly what happened to Betsy, to Mildred, and to the daughter that both of them lost.”

Graff notes that “Between 1998 and 2008, nearly 30,000 Guatemalan-born children (mostly infants and toddlers) were adopted by U.S. parents. In some years, that meant that an astonishing 1 out of 100 children born in Guatemala was adopted by an American family. For most of that time, everyone but the prospective adoptive parents knew-or in some cases actively chose to “unknow“-that the country’s international adoption system was a cesspool of corruption and crime, and motivated by money. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and news organizations reported in detail, repeatedly, that the country’s babies were systematically being bought, coerced, or even kidnapped away from families that wanted to raise them. But because healthy babies and toddlers kept on coming at a regular pace that kept up with demand in America, and because powerful Guatemalans were getting enormously rich off the baby trade, the system did not shut down until January 1, 2008.”

Guatemala is one country cited for trafficking; there have been many others. Here’s an article about issues in China: “Exploring variations and influencing factors of illegal adoption: A comparison between child trafficking and informal adoption.”

Against Child Trafficking “works to prevent child trafficking in intercountry adoption and to align international policies with the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.” From the ACT web page: “In 2008, (ACT) was registered as an NGO in the Netherlands. It was established at the behest of the European Commission by Roelie Post, a civil servant at the European Commission” who investigated Romanian adoptions in the 1990’s for trafficking, and faced harsh opposition from the international adoption lobby. Post “forged a valuable partnership with Arun Dohle”, an adopted person from India raised in Germany. Together, they established ACT.”

A Reddit discussion “Can y’all break down the idea that adoption is trafficking?” includes many adopted people asking and answering questions.

Final Thoughts for Today

Again, this is a superficial presentation of dramatically complicated subjects. They are, though, being frequently discussed in many social media sites. They should not be dismissed.

Estrangement is increasingly common in the adoption community, a somewhat well-kept secret, though increasingly emerging into the mainstream. Folks who shy away from the challenging ideas may be among those who are estranged. We adoptive parents need to be able to sit with these tough notions, because our children may be doing exactly that as well.

I welcome your thoughts on these issues, and will be offering more Challenging Ideas soon. Turns out there are quite a few. Take good care, everyone.

Update on Mike Davis, Deported Ethiopian Adoptee

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Mike is, of course, much more than a deported Ethiopian adoptee. He’s a very good person, husband, father, grandfather, an entrepreneur who ran a pizza place, a gas station, a convenience store, and more. He and his adoptive father, a U.S. Army Master Sergeant, both thought Mike had citizenship. Bureaucratic errors apparently won out. When Mike got in trouble with the law in 1991, he served his time, and has had no legal trouble since. Nonetheless, he was deported, alone and without money, employment, or knowledge of the language, to Ethiopia in 2005.

Mike does not complain about his life there, but it is very hard. He has learned Amharic, and he has found ways to provide food and basic shelter.

In June 2023, we started a GoFundMe for Mike. We’ve raised about $5000 since then, and that money has made an enormous difference for Mike. He’s been able to get medicines, and to see doctors for his gout and dentists for his teeth pain. The funds have helped with legal costs, including filing fees for documents and other attorney charges. He’s used the funds to get shoes and socks, as well as a water tank and water for his home.

If you have helped in any way, many thanks!

Thank you also to all the folks who have visited with him. Recently, a group of Ethiopian adoptees spent a bit of time with Mike in Addis. The young people are part of the Ethiopian Adoptees Foundation, and Mike loved visiting with them. Thank you to Mari and each of the wonderful visitors.

Thank you to the EAF visitors!

Visitors like this, plus the adoptees who visit Addis with their families, mean the world to Mike.

His efforts to return home have not yet been successful, especially in the current US political climate. You’d think a 63-year-old man who was adopted to the US as a little boy, who committed a crime over 30 years ago, who took responsibility for his transgression and served his time, and who was deported over 20 years ago: you’d think he’d be allowed to return to his wife, children, and grandchildren. That hasn’t yet happened. We keep Mike and his family in our hearts. We are deeply grateful to his lawyers. We remain hopeful and optimistic. We appreciate all the prayers and good wishes.

Over the last two years, Mike has been frugal and thoughtful about his expenses, spending small amounts on life necessities: rent and food mostly. He is always gracious and appreciative when visitors bring him socks, tee shirts, and the occasional bag of Snickers bars.

Please help us keep Mike’s spirits up. His health is fair, but being elderly and alone in Ethiopia is not easy. His legal costs have added up, and we are hopeful that there will be good news.

We have had no donations for 6 months.

If you can donate, that would be wonderful, Even small amounts make a big difference. Please share the GoFundMe with others as well, and please send good wishes that Mike can return home.

You can read Mike’s essay, “An Ethiopian Adoptee Deported to Ethiopia,” in our anthology Lions Roaring Far From Home. All revenue from sales goes to help Ethiopian adoptees.

“Lions Roaring” on Goodreads: 4.8 Stars Rating

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We are proud of our book, Lionss Roaring Far From Home: An Anthology by Ethiopian Adoptees” for many reasons. Its sales have greatly surpassed the majority of independently published books. On Amazon, it has a 4.8 Star rating. Revenue from sales goes to Ethiopian adoptees; we’ve contributed close to $2000 to GoFundMe and similar to help cover school costs, pay rent, pay medical bills, contribute to homeland travel, and more.

Cover art of Lions Roaring book. Ethiopian woman next to a roaring lion.

We also have a 4.8 Star rating on Goodreads, which is wonderful. We have 15 ratings and 3 reviews there.

Many thanks to everyone who has bought, read, shared, left stars, and supported our groundbreaking book.

Thank you as always also to Ethiopian artist Nahosenay Negussie for the brilliant cover art. We are so grateful to our Ethiopian community.

It’s an amazing book. Please share it with others!

3 Challenging Ideas for Adoptive Parents to Consider, If Not Embrace

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This is a starter pack of potentially jarring notions for us adoptive parents.

Consider how your brain and body react to them, and why.

If you feel defensive or dismissive, pause to consider why. If you nod and feel less alone, explore that. Feel free to share this post with others, including your adult adopted children, folks without direct connections to adoption, therapists, counselors, relatives, friends. Please feel welcome to share your reactions, either in the comments or in an email to me: Maureen@LightOfDayStories.com. I’d be happy to hear from anyone about these Challenging Ideas.

This is an unsettled time in the adoption community. Adoptees are speaking out more, on TikTok (#AdopteesOfTikTok) and other social media platforms. They are hosting adoptee-only webinars, starting nonprofits, building businesses related to adoption which do not involve placement of children. In my work with Adoption Mosaic, I have developed curriculum and co-facilitated multi-week workshops for Seasoned Parents and on Navigating Estrangement, geared to adoptive parents of adult adoptees. So many adoptive parents are perplexed by their adult children’s anger about adoption (or about the parents’ approach to racism and racial identity). So many are estranged. So many are startled by some of the current volatility in adoption.

Adoptees are not a monolith; nor are adoptive or birth parents, so there’s lots of room for conversation. And we need more conversations and connections in the adoption community.

Here are three Challenging Ideas. I will give a brief description, and then share some resources, mostly by adoptees. Some of the adoptees draw primarily from their lived experience; some draw from academic research.

Relinquishment in adoption is trauma. Adoption itself can be trauma as well.

The separation of children from their mother is inherently traumatic. Think of how you’d feel hearing about a baby or young child whose mother had died, recognizing the depth of that loss. Separation from one’s mother, even if for a child’s safety, is a traumatic event.That’s true in relinquishment for purposes of adoption as well. There is a wealth of material about Understanding Trauma and Behavior in Adopted Children. If children are older when they are relinquished, they may have also experienced many Adverse Childhood Experiences, or ACEs, such as neglect, abuse, witnessing violence, removal from their home into foster care, or relinquishment for adoption, which can include physical relocation into a place where they don’t speak the language, don’t have racial mirrors, and have been taken from all that was familiar.

None of this damns anyone to horrible outcomes, especially if they grow up with or at some point find stability, safety, and recognition of their needs. Not all adoptees do. In any case, the Hallmark version of adoption as all-happy, the rainbows-and-unicorns scenario, could use more skepticism and less pressure on adoptees, especially, to be grateful or to have no issues with having been relinquished and adopted.

Lina Vanegas MSW, an adopted person from Colombia, is profiled here as an Adoptee Advocate. She discusses trauma, loss, suicide prevention, and other related topics.

Via Boston Post-Adoption Resources, Erika Kramer MSW writes on Adoption Trauma.

Theodora Blanchfield AMFT, an adopted person, writes that “I Am Grateful to Be Adopted–And Yet, Adoption Is Still Traumatic.”

Michele Merritt, an adopted person, writes in Science Direct about “Discovering latent trauma: An adopted adult’s perspective.”

Adoption should be abolished.

Abolition of adoption is a complex subject. No one wants children to be abused, neglected, in danger, needing medical care, out on the streets: that’s true for adoption abolitionists as well.

What adoption abolitionists want, as I understand it, is a systems overhaul, where, for example, poverty or patriarchy aren’t automatic reasons to remove a child from a family. where no one is entitled to a child, where families have access to equitable medical care, where children can afford to go to school, where a child can remain somewhere within his or her won family, safely.

Adoption abolitionists argue for an overhaul of the current adoption industry, which would include ending it. First steps would include genuine transparency (currently lacking in many adoptions) where adoptees have access to their own information, such as their original birth certificates and their parents’ names. Fraud, corruption, and coercion in adoption practices must be eliminated.

The role of money, for example is a huge structural factor: it is mostly white, relatively wealthy people who adopt, and children of color who are removed from their families. An international or private attorney adoption of one child can cost $40,000. That money could instead be used for job training, rent, and child care to allow a mother to keep her child. I’ve heard more than once that “adoption is a permanent solution to a temporary situation,” for example.

The US adoption tax credit is a significant government option that goes to adoptive parents; over the years, it’s involved billions of dollars for adoptive parents. Imagine if there were a structural overhaul that re-distributed funds so that families could keep their children, or get medical care for the children, or help grandparents or older siblings to care for the children. According to the Tax Policy Center, “The adoption tax credit has been repeatedly expanded, from an initial maximum value of $5,000 in 1997 to $14,300 in 2020. In 2020, taxpayers claimed total adoption credits of $322 million. The temporary availability of a refundable credit pushed the cost of the credit up to the dramatically higher figures of $1.2 billion in 2010 and $610 million in 2011 (including the refundable portion).”

Adoption Mosaic held a We The Experts panel featuring four adoptees who advocate for the abolition of adoption. Learn more here.

Lina Vanegas, listed above, often writes about abolition, and has also presented workshops with Mila Konomos, an adopted person from Korean, who posts about adoption survivors, abolition, and liberation.

Melissa Corrigan, an adopted person, writes “Abolish adoption.”

Nicole Eigbrett, an adopted person from China, tells her story here: “Adoption abolition envisions a world without ‘organized abandonment’ “

Marjie Alonso, an adoptive parent, wrote “I willingly, joyfully adopted my sons from Paraguay. I would never do it again.”

Adoption is rooted in white privilege, supremacy, and saviorism.

This can be an especially hard idea for adoptive parents to wrestle with. Like many other aspects of societal inequity, adoption is rooted in power and privilege. Who adopts? Who loses their children to adoption? What do they look like? What are their incomes, education levels, religions?

How does adoption perpetuate societal inequities, rather than prevent or eliminate them?

Kimberly McKee, Ph.D., an adopted person from Korea, writes about “White Supremacy, Christian Americanism, and Adoption.”

Alyssa Enright, an adopted person from China, wrote this editorial: “White Saviorism’s Effect on Transracial Adoption.”

Chidimma Ozor Commer, Ph.D., wrote “When ‘Good Intentions’ Backfire: A Case for Non-Transracial Legal Guardianship Rather Than Adoption, and Why Transracial Adoption Is Not Trauma Informed.”

Final Words for Today

Please be assured that this is a superficial presentation of three topics that are deeply nuanced. Nonetheless, adoptive parents can and should lean into them, since their adopted children (perhaps especially those who are full-fledged adults) may be doing so as well. Yes, there can be great joy and love in adoptive families–I love my children more than I can say. I also know that relinquishment and adoption have deeply affected them, as well as their original families (including grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins). All children should be loved, safe, and as healthy as possible. All parents deserve to keep their children, and we all have a stake in helping them do so. That’s the goal. (There will always be exceptions.) How can we move toward that goal together, in a fair way, sooner rather than later?