1 Year and Counting

Today marks the first anniversary of this blog, Borrowed Notes.

So, Zach Galifianakis has been kind enough to lip synch to what I’ve always wanted to say:

“You Give Me Joy”

The point is, Adam…

1. The Người Việt2 Online series written by Venus Lee about adoptions from Vietnam is but one egregious example out of MANY that demonstrates how the media excludes alternative voices/stories/opinions, which do not conform to the adopt-a-Third-World-infant-at-all-costs program.
2. The value and merits of a listserve are quite different from that of a blog: A listserve is ostensibly for members of a specific community to post information and opinions and to reply to said information and opinions; a blog is essentially an individual literary endeavor where one person posts private opinions and thoughts. That being said, both mediums use a moderator. In the case of listserves, the moderator’s, or administrator’s, job is to keep group discussion on point and to delete abusive comments and/or (usually porno) SPAM. In the case of blogs, the author reserves the right to allow, or disallow, comments and to publish, delete or modify any of those comments. Therefore,…
3. I chose to post the Letter to the Editor on VAN’s listserve (as well as several other listserves) in order to expose its content and message to a wider audience. In regard to your suggestion about posting the exchange we had on VAN’s listserve, or any other personal email correspondence we may have had, on my blog, I reserve the right to accept or refuse said suggestion. My blog is not an Arby’s restaurant. With that being said, I allow comments on my personal blog (the Misplaced Baggage blog also allows comments from the public) and do not intend to micromanage them. You had every opportunity to leave your own personal comment about the Nguoi Viet post on either blog. But, you chose to open  your own blog, which brings me to my last point…
4. Welcome, Adam. You have joined the ranks of adult adoptee bloggers who are pushing their points of view out there and getting heard amongst the din of mass media. Not only that, but you are now one of a very few adult Vietnamese adoptees who decided to stick their necks out there and start blogging.

Now, was getting your “voice” heard really that difficult?

Listen to Kali & me on The Adoption Show, Sunday, May 25th!

NEXT SHOW

Sunday May 25, 2008

9:00 PM (EST)

www.theadoptionshow.com

ANGRATE ACTION ALERTS

with

KALI COULTAS

Kali talks with Kevin Minh Allen about current and past adoption practices in Vietnam. Few know or understand what’s going on in Vietnam, such as its 42 operating adoption agencies. What’s disturbing, but not surprising, is that no one is consulting the daughters and sons adopted out of this country: the true voice and perspective of international adoption.

About Kevin: Born Nguyên Ðúc Mînh in Gia Ðịnh district of Sài Gòn on December 5, 1973, Kevin Minh Allen was adopted at 9 months and flown to the U.S. in August 1974. He grew up in a suburb of Rochester, NY, until at 27 years of age, he moved to Seattle, where he is currently enjoying the view. He has written and published poetry, book reviews, news articles and information panels for a museum exhibit.  His work can be found online in Tiếng Magazine, Asian American Movement Magazine, The Fighting 44s and the Poetry Superhighway, and in print as well, such as The Northwest Asian Weekly, The International Examiner and HazMat Journal.

Check out the blog Misplaced Baggage: http://misplacedbaggage.wordpress.com/ run by Vietnamese adoptees: Kevin Minh Allen, Sumeia Williams and Anh Dao Kolbe

My response to Adam at Permanent Rice

Adam at Permanent Rice calls me out in one of his latest posts regarding my post about Người Việt’s series on adoption on Misplaced Baggage.

My response to his response appears here.

Follow-up to the post “Letter to Wende Grant”

For so long, I’ve looked in the mirror and no recognizable reflection ever stared back at me. I have no photos to go by, no documents to give me a clue as to who my parents were.

Now that I know things are missing, I want them back.

Last night, while waiting for the bus home, I got a call on my cell phone from an area code I didn’t recognize. I didn’t answer it and let it go to voicemail.

When I got home, I fixed dinner and sat down to re-runs of UFC bouts on the Spike Channel. An hour into it, I decided to check my voicemail messages.

“Hello, Kevin, this is Sister Nelle Gage…”

I couldn’t believe my ears.

Gage worked for Friends For All Children during the War, the agency through which I was adopted to the United States back in 1974.

In her message, she said my letter had been received by Wende Grant and that Grant passed it on to her to follow up on. After she attends to some personal business, Sister Gage said she will call me within a week to address the inquiries contained in my letter.

I couldn’t finish my dinner. I turned off the TV. I called a friend.

My Two Cents on The Kojo Nnamdi Show

Yesterday, I tuned into WAMU 88.5 FM out of Washington, DC, to listen to The Kojo Nnamdi Show. I wanted to listen to a segment about the recent events surrounding international adoption, especially from Vietnam, called The Changing Face of Adoption. Linh Song, Executive Director of Ethica, tipped us off on her appearance on this show and encouraged adult adoptees to call in, or write in, with questions.

The two other guests were Michele Bond, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Overseas Citizens Services, and Tom DiFilipo, President and Chief Executive Officer, Joint Council on International Children’s Services.

At first, I simply wanted to listen to the discussion and wait to see what these three people were going to say about whether or not adoption from Vietnam should be permanently, or temporarily, stopped and to what extent the corruption in adoption was prevalent in Vietnam. I guess the dynamic the show was attempting to set up was that Michele was there to stand behind the US government’s report on irregularities and outright corruption in the practice of adoption in Vietnam; Linh was there to represent the middle ground, advocating for adoption, but only if transparency and high ethical standards are implemented; and Tom was there to advocate for P/APs’ desire to continue with the adoption of Vietnamese children.

Like standing on a large boulder in a bend in the river, I so wanted to jump into the choppy water just to see if I could survive the initial shock of the freezing temperature and then swim across the current as fast as I could to save my ass. I decided to email my two questions to the show, using its online contact form. However, I got brave and without really thinking about it I picked up the phone and called the 1-800 number. I jumped.

And, you can hear the results in a podcast of yesterday’s show HERE.

Below, are the questions I asked Michele and Tom:

• Question for Michele: How many US adoption agencies have been implicated in the known cases of corruption in adoption from Vietnam? Will they be prosecuted if found to be involved?
• Question for Tom: How can adoption agencies be more engaged in family preservation and other programs for physically and mentally handicapped children, other than facilitating the adopting out of children to foreign countries?

P.S. Sumeia, the intrepid Ethnically Incorrect Daughter, also called into the show and was on queue to ask her questions, but the show ended before she could put in her own two cents.

IGBA: Inappopriately Groped By Adoption

You probably won’t appreciate what comes next until you read this article*: Who Will Fill The Empty Cribs?

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

“International adoptions are on the decline, despite growing demand and an endless supply of orphans.” [Snark Decoder: Your bath is ready, Lady Bathory...] 

“After decades of nonstop growth, the international adoption mill has begun to stall.” [Snark Decoder: Bring in animal control...we got ourselves a situation here.]

“…resurgent national pride…” [Snark Decoder: I thought we had broken their will long ago; send in the marines!]

“…The supply of adoptable children is drying up.” (Peter F. Selman, demographer, Newcastle University) [Snark Decoder: Quick! Till this field of flesh and let's sow the seeds of misery. We will not stop until everyone gets a baby!]

“…the need for intercountry adoption…remains vital in many parts of the developing world that are not prospering…” [Snark Decoder: Leave the Mother; take the Baby]

“The fear of many adoption experts, particularly in the West, is that these rules [the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption] may prove so rigorous and indiscriminate that they will severely curtail international adoption as a vital escape route for children in troubled regions.” [Snark Decoder: Those black devils eat their own, you know. It's true; I read it in an agency brochure.]

“Supplies are dwindling from countries that have traditionally provided the majority of children for international adoptions.” [Snark Decoder: Get your orphan now, while supplies last! They're adaptable, so adoptable! Cut, stretch or squeeze 'em! We guarantee their durability, or your money back!]

“No country better illustrates the system’s potential for abuse than Guatemala, which had become a favorite of anxious adoptive parents, especially from America. They were drawn by the few-questions-asked system that dispatched infants in a matter of months. Gays, singles and unmarried couples were welcome. Inspired by the lack of regulations, a ruthless class of jaladoras (pullers) began trolling the city slums and impoverished countryside, sometimes buying babies cheap (or, allegedly, stealing them) and selling them dear. Foreigners shelled out upwards of $35,000 for a Guatemalan waif, with shadowy foster homes and crooked bureaucrats playing midwife to the exchange.” [Snark Decoder: Couldn't have summed it up better myself.]

“”Everyone wants a blue-ribbon baby, not the 4-year-old with AIDS, or the 10-year-old with one leg,” says Selman. Some adoptive parents struggle to find effective treatments for their children’s ills; others seek to give them up. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently found that 81 children adopted overseas were relinquished to foster-care agencies in 14 states in 2006.” [Snark Decoder: Hell, Selman, you don't even have to be physically handicapped; your adoptive parents can just make shit up about you and leave your ass behind! Just ask Jade.]

“In the vast majority of cases, however, foreign adoptions are successful.” [Snark Decoder: As long as you keep your eyes, ears and mouth closed, kid.]

“Celebrity adoptions like those by Madonna and Angelina Jolie have certainly raised the continent’s profile.” [Snark Decoder: Dark Continent meet your masters..er, I mean, your saviors.]

 *Hat tip to Harlow’s Monkey

Never say never

One of the most beautiful blog posts I’ve read in a long time.

 

Simply Not Done

Người Việt owes us an explanation

Wrote a little something about how the media treats international adoption in Misplaced Baggage.

Specifically, I addressed how Người Việt2 Online passed up a great opportunity to inform the public about the myriad issues surrounding adoptions from Vietnam with its 4-part series on the topic back in December 2007 and January 2008.

Instead, yet again, it did a wonderful job of pandering to the all-important ‘customer’ within the adoption industry and ignoring everyone else.

So, after Người Việt2 Online published the last article, four of us adult Vietnamese adoptees wrote a letter to the editor. I’ll paste it below just to give you a taste of how much we were (and are) not amused:

To the Editor of Nguoi Viet2 Online:

When we saw that Nguoi Viet2 was featuring a 4-part series on adoption from Vietnam, we were more than a little intrigued because of our background as adult Vietnamese adoptees. We are just a few of many members of the first generation of Vietnamese adoptees who were flown out of the country to join families around the world during and at the end of the Vietnam War.  So, it was with much anticipation that we wanted to read what a Vietnamese-American publication had to say about adoption from Vietnam. Unfortunately, the articles fell far short of any wide-ranging examination of both the history and continued practice of adoption from Vietnam.

Nguoi Viet2 had an extraordinary opportunity to inform the public about issues surrounding international adoption, specifically from the point of view of birth parents, adoptive parents and the adoptees themselves. The series on adoption could have sparked lively and constructive debate about the social, economic and political factors that drive international adoption between Vietnam and the United States, as well as the far-reaching consequences felt by birth families, adoptive families and society at large.

Apparently, Nguoi Viet2 has simply allowed an easy-to-use guide for prospective adoptive parents to be published. As superficial as the content is, it is even more disturbing that the overall message of the series is that Vietnamese children are commodities on the store shelves waiting for American consumers to pick out and purchase. It is regrettable that the author sought no comment or opinion from Vietnamese government officials in charge of adoptions, birth parents or their relatives, social workers or officials from child welfare agencies, or even any adult Vietnamese adoptees. For if she had, a more complex and comprehensive picture of the process and its effects on everyone involved could have painted. The series could have gone beyond the traditionally narrow focus of “orphan” and “savior”.

Although the series mentioned allegations of official corruption and the selling of infants on the black market, which forced the Vietnamese and American governments to briefly halt adoptions from Vietnam a few years ago, the articles appear to treat these crimes as nuisances by highlighting the prospective adoptive parents’ anxiety and anguish as they were forced to put their adoption plans on hold. To seemingly sweep these charges under the rug and forget about them is an offense to journalism.

Perhaps when Nguoi Viet2 chooses to report on adoption again, the editor will keep in mind that its audience will be comprised of many diverse members from the adoption community, and they will expect to be informed rather than ignored.

Thank you for your time.

The Adoption Show promo

Thanks be to Gershom!

UPDATE: Got word that the podcast will be posted on May 25!!