Ap's and Paps that have been or are involved in international adoptions.....?

wynn

The adoption group I'm in has talked about this. A lot of us parents would like to see one central dna database for all international adoptees. Besides that we know a lot of our children will want to search, there's the possibility of siblings out there.

I did a swab on my son here, our contact did his mother's where she lives, and so I think we have a good match. But it would be terrific if both their dna info could have been put in a database because my son has a sister somewhere here in the US. It would be wonderful if should she decide to search in five years (she should be thirteen now) she could just do a cheek swab and send it in to possibly be matched. I'm afraid at this point that she's assuming she's an orphan and won't search, or that her parents didn't get any information and she won't try.

I think our only hope of getting a registry like this is if a private for profit company takes it on. They would have the technical abilitiy and resources. I would pay to put my children's information in there. The hard part is how to manage getting the natural mothers' information in there - it would have to be for free and it would have to be well publicized and accessible in their countries.

Mei-Ling

Independent, if you have a blog I would love to see it.

Being a TRA, I can understand where your anger is coming from. Adoption is not the win-win scenario everyone seems to think it is. The relinquishing mother never wins (and don't bother telling me "It's the choice that she made!", people. The mother doesn't *have* a choice. Relinquishing your child because of poverty and financial issues is NOT a choice.).

I think you need to keep control of your temper... your implied accusations along with these "questions" are clearly turning people away even before you've managed to get your point across.

Even while understanding your perspective of adoption, I would strongly advise that you remain respectful instead of shooting down everyone else's opinions.

Like I said, if you have a blog, I would really like to see it. I'm sure you have a lot of other points that need to be expressed more.

Randy B

This is obviously an issue near and dear to your heart for some reason but in my view this is definitely a local issue that needs to be addressed locally first. Guatemala needs to get it's own house in order first before it resumes foreign adoptions. Adoptive parents are often not aware of the local issues at play in a country when they adopt internationally and I honestly don't believe that they should be expected to bear the emotional burden of another countries corruption. I'm not saying they should just be allowed to adopt blindly but at the same time the local system needs to be cleaned up so that there is a minimum degree of safety in its operation.

Again, with your idea you run the issue of jurisdiction. There is no way that Guatemala would ever, ever be able to enforce the collection of DNA samples from children adopted from there. No court in that country has the authority to reach into the US, Canada, UK, Germany... and compel adoptive parents to provide DNA from their children.

Now, if the country wanted to legislate the collection of DNA samples from children placed for adoption BEFORE the adoption process is completed and the child leaves Guatamala jurisdiction then thats a different story. In that way, if a mother comes forward at some date in the future and claims her child was abducted for adoption the DNA records could be checked for a match and IF there is a match they would at least know where that child went to. Then the issue becomes how to prove her story and then get the child back which in and of itself could be impossible. Not only would a Guatemala court have to be convinced but a court in the child's new country would need to be convinced and then there would still need to be some mechanism in place to compel that child to be returned. The fight could go on for years with no reliable outcome.

I'm not saying it's not an important issue for the parents of Guatemala or that it shouldn't be an important issue for anyone considering adoption from that country. I just think that it's potentially such a major issue, with tangled jurisdictions, and perhaps it's best that Guatemala get it's own house in order first to cut off future problems.

Also, what would happen if there was a registry. It may actually have the potential to spawn even more corruption. Lets say a mother gets paid to give her child for international adoption only to come back a few years (or less) later and claim the baby was stolen. Could they not potentially play the system to get more money at that point in time? I know, a very distasteful thought but the potential is there.

Edit

Yes, I did say that it seems to be an issue for you but I NEVER said that it was an unimportant issue. I merely pointed out what I saw were problems with your suggestions. If you take them as ways to throw water on what you are trying to do then that is your problem. If you were the "glass is half full" type of person you may see them as areas that could be addressed or counteracted to strengthen your attempts to set things straight. If you don't want to take it that way then so be it.

Kazi

I've said many times that I hope China will eventually have a DNA bank, just like Korea, however I don't see that happening until the one-child policy is lifted (2010) and the statute of limitations on abandonment is eradicated. I would love to have even the smallest chance to find baby girls' mama and baba... for my daughter. If they did implement one, obviously you cannot mandate it retroactively, however, I do believe we would do it.

As for Guatemala I can't imagine how everyone involved is feeling. The majority of APs are not of the desire to take a child from a family that wishes to raise them. I know we're not. I believe the majority of families who adopted from Guatemala, did so in good faith. Like Randy said, I don't believe you can compel families to have DNA test run on their children, however, I do think there will be some that will.

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