It has not been a good week for trans-racial adoptive parents. First there was the case of the Dutch diplomat and his wife, which I wrote about earlier this week, who dumped their adopted Korean daughter on Hong Kong officials after 7 years. Now, a woman in Indianapolis has been charged with killing her adopted Korean 13 month old. Rebecca Kyrie is facing the charges of murder, battery resulting in death, neglect resulting in death, and aggravated battery in the Sept. 4th death of Hei Min Chung. Autopsy results show the baby died from blunt cranio-cerebal injuries associated with shaken baby syndrome. Rebecca and her husband adopted Hei Min Chung less than 6 months ago.
After my initial reaction of horror, sadness, and anger upon hearing of these stories, I began to wonder about the comparative rates of infanticide and homicide of children living with non-genetic caregivers vs. those with genetic parents. Does a lack of a genetic bond increase a child’s risk of being killed by their caregiver? And if so, what are the implications for adopted children and the whole adoption process - particularly cross-border adoptions. Unfortunately, research from the late 1990’s shows that stepparents are 100 times more likely to fatally abuse their children than genetic parents - the rates are even higher when just looking at stepfathers.
On a positive note (if there is such a thing when examining this topic), there was no variation in fatal abuse rates between adopted parents and genetic parents. The researchers believe the lack of variance is due in part to 1) the fact that adoptive parents are highly motivated and undergo greater scrutiny during the adoption process, and 2) adopted parents tend to return children to adoption agencies more frequently than appreciated. Current rates of adoption dissolution or disruption (unsuccessful adoptions) are about 10 - 20%.
Two thoughts popped into my head when applying these rationales to cross-border adoptions. First, don’t people turn to international adoptions b/c the process is easier and faster and there is less scrutiny? Therefore, wouldn’t it be logical to conclude that adoptive parents entering into the international adoption market are less likely to be vetted and there is greater risk for unfit parents to adopt a foreign child. Secondly, while disruption and dissolution might be viable options to end an adoption that hasn’t bonded well, isn’t it a lot harder for parents of cross-border adoptions to return their child to the home agency? It’s not like a family can just purchase a one way plane ticket to China and stick their 13 month old adopted child in the seat. The logistical complexity of dissolving a cross-border adoption may be enough to convince the parents that it is not an option for them.
All this to say…the world of cross-border adoption and trans-racial adoption is not a simple one to tread. I salute the loving parents who are raising healthy, well-adjusted (relatively speaking) adopted children, and also the children and adults growing up in multi-ethnic adoptive homes. I’m now going to go and read something happy and get all these negative adoption stories out of my head.
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tien nguyen wrote:
Like you said, the rate between interracial and intraracial adoption deaths are relatively the same, but it just so happens that the interracial adoption stories receive more attention–but should it? Does killing or harming an adopted child any worse if the child is the same race as the legal parents, or if the child is of their own blood even? In any situation it’s a terrible tragedy, but certainly I don’t see it as any worse between the two situations.
Posted on 19-Dec-07 at 3:34 pm | Permalink
Simon Bao wrote:
There was some great coverage this week on NPR of these international adoptions. Lots of these interracial adoptions are actually international adoptions.
One of the guests forced the question on everyone’s minds: Are people really finding couples to raise orphaned babies in need?
Or are they just out there finding babies for couples who can afford the process?
When international adoptions feature Finders, finders fees, brokers, rushed paper work, no legal protections for the biological parents… the answer’s easy to figure.
Posted on 19-Dec-07 at 3:42 pm | Permalink
Bo wrote:
The death of a child is horrible in any context. If the rates WERE different (which they are not), I would be very concerned and would hope others would be as well. I do believe that the death of an adopted child (regardless of race) does get more public attention b/c of the nature of adoption. Adoption is a voluntary act that the parents commit themselves to. Therefore their is greater scrutiny and slightly higher expectations (rightly or wrongly) that the parents will fulfill their commitment to be good parents. No one forces a person to adopt a child. I hope all the media attention brought by these two terrible stories make people re-examine the whole adoption process (inter and intra-racial) to ensure that it is as well vetted and tested as it can be.
Posted on 19-Dec-07 at 3:44 pm | Permalink
AG wrote:
There was also the case of Peggy Hilt that was on newsweek.com this week. The comments on that article are also very enlightening; a lot of RAD parents have commented there. We adopted from Taiwan (and I am Taiwanese so it was not an interracial adoption) so I don’t know much about the Korean adoption process, but for Taiwan we were screened up the wazoo. While I do not think the adoption process is perfect, I think part of the issue here is a lack of awareness of potential post adoption issues, and also a lack of support for post adoptive parents. We hear so much about happily-ever-after adoptions, but that is not always the case (one study showed that 65% of adoptive parents experienced post adoption depression). I’m not talking about black market adoptions but adoptions like ours where we were poked and prodded and analyzed from every angle before being allowed to adopt. Most prospective adoptive parents (PAPs) are not aware of attachment disorders or post adoption depression and if they find themselves in such a situation, many don’t know where to find help. They are also ashamed at not being happy when it was something they wanted so badly and worked so hard to get. So what is good about this negative attention that international adoption is getting lately in the media is perhaps PAPs will do more research before they decide to adopt and that hopefully agencies out there will provide more information and post adoption support.
Posted on 19-Dec-07 at 4:55 pm | Permalink
Bertie wrote:
Did you read about the Chinese regulations that were instituted recently?
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/19/world/asia/19cnd-adopt.html?ex=1324184400&en=9619656c675c4fdc&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
“China is planning to issue new, tighter restrictions on foreign adoptions of Chinese children, which would prohibit adoptions by parents who are unmarried, who are obese or who are older than 50, according to adoption agencies in the United States.”
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/05/01/chinas_policies_lead_to_drop_in_bay_state_adoptions/
“Now, agencies say, Chinese officials allow no more than 8 percent of the country’s children who are adopted to be placed with single people, and requires all applicants to sign statements that they are not gay or lesbian.”
Vetting is good, but STUPID vetting is just stupid.
Perhaps some post-adoption counseling is the way to go.
Posted on 19-Dec-07 at 11:19 pm | Permalink
Molly W. wrote:
“First, don’t people turn to international adoptions b/c the process is easier and faster and there is less scrutiny?”
INS requires a home study to adopt internationally, and (depending on state laws) that requires home visits, background checks, fingerprinting, physicals, references, copies of tax forms, several hours of adoption education, etc. There are lots of reasons people turn to IA (some admirable, some less so) but ease isn’t one of them.
I don’t think screening or genetics has much to do with whether there’s abuse or not — I think you have to really *want* to parent to become an adoptive parent, and I think some step-parents grudgingly accept kids as the price they have to pay to be with the kids’ biological parent. If you really want kids, that’s likely to be in your head even when they’re making you crazy; if you secretly resent them, that’s also likely to be in your head when they’re making you crazy.
Posted on 20-Dec-07 at 10:50 am | Permalink
akrypti wrote:
If Communist China didn’t exist, how would I get my laughs every morning when I read the international news section?
Posted on 20-Dec-07 at 2:46 pm | Permalink
S. Smith wrote:
If Communist China didn’t exist, things would be so expensive that you would be dirt poor right now. Lets see you laugh about that.
Posted on 20-Dec-07 at 4:15 pm | Permalink
Bertie wrote:
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071219/earns_morgan_stanley.html
hey akrypti… does this story make you laugh? morgan stanley is being bought by communists!
actually, that’s pretty “LOL” in a really messed up way.
Posted on 20-Dec-07 at 4:23 pm | Permalink
Ron wrote:
Heh. You know you’re Asian American when find it perfectly fine to make fun of other Asian people but get pissed off when non-Asians do it.
Nobody oppresses Asian people like other Asian people.
That being said, transracial adoptees almost always come out mentally fucked up; Asian Americans already have a social stigma of being extremely insecure with who they are. Can you imagine what they would be like raised by white people? Let’s not fool ourselves, a big part of Asian America’s problem lies with, surprise, Asian Americans.
Dumb shits.
Posted on 20-Dec-07 at 5:05 pm | Permalink
Akrypti wrote:
Heh. You know you’re ignorant when [you] find it perfectly fine to disregard context and make sweeping generalizations about transracial adoptees.
Two things some of the posters need to learn: 1) how to take a joke, and 2) how to interpret a critique.
Posted on 21-Dec-07 at 1:51 pm | Permalink
SImon Bao wrote:
Ron, do you have anything other than anecdotal evidence for the assertion that transracial adoptees almost always come out mentally fucked up? That’s a spectacular assertion, and you should indicate whether it’s based on your personal hunch, some anecdotes, or some evidence that’s credible, something with weight and persuasion behind it.
It’s a rather spectacular claim you make about transracial adoptees, and if it’s just your humble opinion, it would be good to label it as such.
Posted on 21-Dec-07 at 2:52 pm | Permalink
LilyMom wrote:
There is a Chinese professor at a University in Florida who has done a ton of research that shows that Chinese girls adopted from the early 1990’s are very well adjusted. The parents “invest” a lot of love, time and financial resources in their daughters.
There are many books out there written by white adoptive parents as loving tributes to their Asian children. Just go on Amazon and google “Asian adoption” or “Chinese adoption” or Korean adoption” and you will see all of the books that come up, for little kids as well as other adoptive parents.
The cruelty exhibited by the Dutch adoptive parents of that adorable little Korean girl had all of the Asian adoption chat rooms in an uproar. For every incident like that, there are thousands of loving parents who cannot believe that anyone could do this to their daughter.
And by the way, that kind of cruelty exists in our world, whether a child is adopted or not. My husband recently photographed two boys who were adopted and then left on the steps of the social welfare department four years later with all of their belongings in a garbage bag.
By the way, I am the adoptive mother of a 2.5 year old from China and also the only “white person” on the board of my city’s Organization of Chinese Americans group. One of the gifts my daughter gave to me was the desire to be an example of appreciating and immersing myself in her culture.
Posted on 29-Jan-08 at 1:09 pm | Permalink
Beth Wallace wrote:
Now continue and take a good look at the Sheryl Sueppel and Steve Sueppel and their children, Ethan, Seth, Mira and Eleanor all four children adopted from Korea. All four unmercifully and brutally murdered by Steven. This is a character flaw, it is not a fine line situation. Stevens deranged behavior did not begin the day of the murders. His smiling for family pictures was after years of deception and lies. The couple did all the things people who love money and “being the Jones do”. Adopt foreign children, attend church, give to charities, live in a big house nice cars, and what else they are doing behind closed doors. Loving dads do not raise children to be so obedient they would not run and rebel when someone sticks they in a car with gas running after murdering their adopted mom. They would not sit and wait to be blugeons by a bat one by one, a 10 year old boy is old enough to dial 911 leave it hanging and run out the door for help.
These are actions of “controlled forced obideient children. A wife and mother and extended family who knew nothing ? I am frankly sick of foster parents and adopting ones taking children like pets on parade for their social image and treating them like tomorrow trash. People need to be screened and children out of the country need to have a good reason not to adopt them out to their own people first. They are not toys, they are human beings. I am sorry Jolie had no time to pay dolls as a child but she is out of control. The money is such a big factor in all of this, and my fear is also in child trafficking with these children. Perhaps there was more to Stevens murdering the whole lot of them then just his money stealing. What else is not being told about his character and his secret life ? There is no excuse not to be screening people who would pay money to literally purchase a child especially out of the country. What about adopting even one of the needy American children. Why all Koreans when they are a white American couple….perhaps asking some serious questions of people like this is imperative before giving away your children.
Posted on 18-Aug-08 at 3:54 pm | Permalink