Adoptive families greet Haitian orphans - The Globe and Mail, Canada
There are many stories like this in papers in wealthy countries this week. Of course, many people’s immediate response will be one of joy that these children have found a safe and happy home. It should, however, also give us some reason for pause and reflection on responsibility for international support and efforts to sustain families across all cultures.
Transnational adoption is a complicated issue and a full discussion of all aspects of it is beyond the scope of this blog post. At the individual child level, we should always respond to need of a home and family, but at a societal level should our support go to offering homes or to offering support so that families can stay together? Why aren’t we asking why we’ve created a world where families and extended families, and even communities cannot raise and support their own children?
These tend to be issues that we avoid having discussions of - particularly since at the individual family level in the wealthy nation you have a well intentioned and loving set of parents just looking to build a family and offer a child a loving home. There are questions here, however, that go beyond individual families and individual children to our duty to the larger global community and all families.