Marketplace

I couldn't resist making this post.  I was browsing another blog about adoption called CJ on Adoption and came across this website that acts as a facilitator for prospective parents and children in need of adoption.

I was serious when I titled the post Marketplace because that is exactly what it was.  It looks like a Craigslist for adoption, just a bit more organized.  It even lists a whole slew of children waitlisting for adoption.  Here is an example of the Marketplace.  Even more disturbing for me is the sign "Reduced Fee" right next to some little kid's info, making it look like a shopping website hoping to entice the prospective couples to pick out one of these kids like shopping for grocery. 

Whatever on sale would go faster!  And be hurry to let those kids outta the door, cuz they're near the expiration date!

Rescuing Babies

I was reading the Wikipedia... yes, it's pathetic.   BUT I came across something to blog about so it's not that bad, huh?  Well, it's called Operation Baby Lift, a mass evacuation of South Vietnam's children during the last day of the Vietnam War.  It placed thousands of Vietnamese kids in homes around the world.  If you are looking for media presentations of this event, here are three that you can probably get on DVD:

• Daughter from Danang
• Operation Baby Lift - the Lost Children of Vietnam
• Precious Cargo

This was the case of an impressive maneuver of government and nonprofit organizations' efforts in case of great disaster.  The newest comparable case would be the Haitian's orphan rescue by the New Life Children's Refuge of Idaho. If the children were taken out of a disaster stricken country, without proper paperwork, put up for adoption, chances are those kids still have living relatives that would like to take them back.  This is where the pros and cons of swift actions versus correct paperwork come into play.  Is it better to place the child in a stable environment ASAP or to wait for the UN-recommended 2 years waiting period?  Or in the case of Kyrgyzstan's investigation that I blogged about earlier, dragging its proverbial feet and making the families waited needlessly?

Brad, Angelina Take Kids for Ice Cream -- in Italy!

Look!  Well, follow the link to see the couple taking the kids out for ice-cream....  I mean, just look at Zahara in this picture.

News – PIC: Brad, Angelina Take Kids for Ice Cream -- in Italy! – Celebrity News – UsMagazine.com

Bureaucracy!

I just found this on Yahoo! News.  Apparently, American families have been trying to complete the adoption process for children from Kyrgyzstan for 2 years.  The process was first halted because of a Kyrgyzstan initiated investigation because of suspected corruption in the adoption system.

Hopefully, the recent riot would not make them wait too long since most of the matched children have serious medical problems.  At least 1 child died and another sustained neurological damages in the 2-year wait.

One does not need to think long and hard to see these children have suffered unnecessary.  If only bureaucracy does not have so many red tapes and incompetent handling.

Let's Do It Korean Style

After the last post on adoption a la "As Seen On TV," I got to thinking, apparently never a good thing, since I keep coming back to the Korean TV drama series.  Have you ever watch one of those?  You would start laughing or crying and proceed on crying on and off throughout the show.  Since 99% of the shows are limited run, meaning everyone knows exactly how long the show last so the directors would milk the shows for all its worth, putting in as much clique as possible.  An extremely common plot device is an character who turns out to be adopted but somehow get embroiled into old family grudge.  Somehow, the adopted kids always have to choose between the adopted family and the birth family.  Add that to the fact that Korean culture, and the rest of Asia, pretty much insist on blood ties and we have fireworks.

Just look to the right, that's a Kdrama called "I'm Sorry I Love You."  Don't you feel sad already?  I mean, I can tell before I watch the show, there's going to be a lot of crying/Kleenex and at the end of the movie someone will die, probably of cancer.

If you want a taste of Kdrama and movie, just watch this music video, you understand what I mean.



All that ramblings lead me to Naleigh.  So have you seen her?  Katherine Heigl and hubby Josh Kelley adopted a daughter from Korea named Nancy Leigh, or Naleigh, to be their first child.  She is a special need child that made the adoption process faster than normal.

Though the adoption process was arduous, Heigl confessed to Ellen DeGeneres that it was worth it.  Korea seems to be VERY throughout in the vetting period.  Well, I do think a 40 page long questionnaire is extensive and that's just on the child-rearing philosophy, mind you.

Naleigh looks bright and cute in this picture.  I sure hope she'll have a sibling to play with... whenever mommy quits Grey's Anatomy, that is.

One thing we know for sure is that Naleigh would never have to make that awful choice like the Kdrama actors have to, right?