In the past two years, I have been interviewed by five different TV stations and six other media outlets including the Reuters and the Associated Press. I know I am not alone in being questioned by media about international adoption as the topic of international adoption has hit a media high with significant changes which include the closure of Russia, rehoming children, and the Universal Accreditation Act. While the most coverage occurs when a bad situation in adoption occurs, there is still positive coverage of international adoption.
When I read articles or watch television shows about adoption or corruption in adoption or problems in adoption, I am always left with so many questions. It is difficult to know the whole story from from a short media item that is limited in words or time. However, it appears that there are times that not telling the whole story may portray a very different view of the situation. I recently viewed a national television show regarding adoption problems/corruptions. There were several scenes in which the adoptive parents had an urgency and demand for a document to be able to depart the country. I did not find it an accurate portrayal because a flight scheduled should not dictate such urgency to a country that is allowing parents to adopt their children.
While often media is restricted in the amount of information that can be given, adoptive parents seem to give too much information. At MLJ Adoptions, we have a no social media policy during the adoption process. The following experiences support this policy:
- In recent meetings with national Directors for Adoption in Mexico, one of the Directors told a story of an adoptive parent using social media after their adoption and indicated how appalled they were with this adoptive parent’s online activities. I began to feel that this parent’s shared information may affect other parents’ adoptions. The Director was clearly providing the story so that we knew they felt it was inappropriate and they were watching adoptive parent’s behaviors via the internet.
- Samoan government specifically asked adoptive parents not to post pictures of their children while in Samoa completing the adoption process. Previously, Samoan officials had asked us to remove pictures of their children from our own website. Samoa wants to protect the confidentiality of children not yet home.
- After adding a new team member, we were contacted by Mexico’s Central Adoption Authority requesting updated information on the new employee for their file. While it is protocol for us to up-date this information, we were shocked at how quickly they viewed the new staff member’s biography on our website.
While these are just the three examples, there are several other examples in which adoptive parent’s facebook or blogs have been viewed by governments and they did not approve of the content or disclosure of information. Ukraine indicated several times that adoptive parents should not share information and discussed closing adoptions to Americans due to the amount of disclosure Americans were providing regarding Ukrainian children or orphanages. It is important to understand how adoption and media are connected and can affect the process.
For more information about international adoption, click here.
Michele Jackson, JD
Michele L. Jackson, JD taught the Hague Convention for five years as an adjunct professor at IU School of Law – Indianapolis in an advanced international family law course, She is the founder of MLJ Adoptions and frequent presenter on international adoption process, law and other related issues.
Michele Jackson, JD
Michele L. Jackson, JD taught the Hague Convention for five years as an adjunct professor at IU School of Law – Indianapolis in an advanced international family law course, She is the founder of MLJ Adoptions and frequent presenter on international adoption process, law and other related issues.