International Adoption Day 2009

Today was IAFQ's annual International Adoption Day. Did you see it on Channel 9 news? Hurrah for positive press! I don't know the final figures yet, but I think there were about 900 or 1000 attendees. See pics and read about the 2007 one and 2008 one if you like.

I spent much of the day on the IAFQ table, providing info to members and prospective members, selling t-shirts, loaning library books to members and so on. I managed to take off for an hour in the afternoon to sit in on a film festival by adult adoptees. They shared a series of short films dealing with adoption issues, and I was so impressed. I'm relieved that our children will have a strong community of other adoptees to journey with and learn from. I'm also grateful that as prospective adoptive parents we can learn from the mouths of adoptees as they share their experiences.

One thing took me by surprise and I've been thinking about it since. Some teen and adult adoptees sat on a panel to answer questions, and when one of the panel members was answering a question she said she would definitely adopt if she couldn't have kids. Why is adoption only seen as an option when all other means to create a family have been exhausted? When will adoption be seen as a legitimate way to build a family regardless of reproductive ability? I wonder how the general public will begin to change their perception on this issue when people within the adoption community still haven't.

I'm still here!

I missed posting about our 7th and 8th month LIDversaries. Life has been busy and fun and hectic. I am now Vice President of IAFQ and enjoying that very much. We are starting up coffee afternoons for parents-in-waiting. Apart from that, when it comes to the adoption all we can say is 'still waiting!'. Things have stalled a bit in China due to the swine flu, like they needed any assistance slowing down!

More to come...

6 months logged in (and a droopy eye)

It's the eighth of the month, which means we are celebrating six months logged in! I feel that the time is flying by. Not sure I'll still be saying that over the years to come when we are still waiting!


Today is also International Womens' Day, celebrating the economic, social and political achievements of women past, present and future. IWD is a holiday in China.

I'm celebrating both by going to the doctor. My eye was pink and sore yesterday, and I woke up today and things are worse. It's all puffy and swollen, and my eye-lid is droopy. It's super-attractive. Hopefully it can be treated quickly as I have a lot I need to achieve this coming week.

All images licensed under Creative Commons. 1. keyboard 6, 2. Six is a Crowd, 3. 6

Batch 9 Referrals

OHMYGOODNESS! Qld Batch #9 have received their referrals!

T and P were referred a BOY! See his gorgeous face at China Moon.

After a long, dry spell of no referrals for Queensland, this is joyous news worth celebrating! Can't wait to hear about others in the batch.

Stolen and Sold

Imagine finding out your adopted child had been stolen and sold to an orphanage, and was not willingly relinquished by his/her birthparents.

I recently blogged about Love Our Way, the story of an Australian family who found themselves in this heartbreaking situation. The situation is devastating, but thankfully the outcome for this family and the birthmother has been positive.

Last week, ABC's Foreign Correspondent program ran a documentary about this family's story. Please take the time to watch it (27 mins). We need these issues to be exposed. We need increased awareness. We cannot afford to be naïve when it comes to adoption ethics.

China has had its fair share of child trafficking issues. If you've been around China adoption for a while, you'll remember the Hunan scandal in 2005. It's a conundrum; many orphanages pay a 'finders fee' when abandoned children are handed over. This encourages trafficking and kidnapping. In a developing nation where child abandonment is not uncommon, without an incentive program such as finders fees there is little hope for genuinely abandoned babies.

5 months logged in, pending referrals and another hat to wear

Eek! I missed our five month LIDversary on Sunday, but that's okay - we were out with our China adoption support group for a belated CNY lunch, so we celebrated in style!

Queensland is *this close* to referrals for new babies from China. We had NONE in 2008, so everyone in the support group and China adoption community here is hanging out for good news. I know some of the couples in the batch about to be referred, and it was so disappointing last month that they missed out by one measly log-in day. At least we know they will definitely be next.

In other news, the President of our state support group IAFQ (International Adoptive Families of Qld) contacted me last night. He is going to nominate me as Vice President at the AGM next week. OMG what have I got myself in for. I am already over-committed and time-poor. I will need to work hard at doing justice to the position.

Oh, one more thing - OziMum is in China (finally!)

Happy Australia Day! Happy Chinese New Year!

Australia Day and Chinese New Year day fall on the same day this year. Funny thing, that lunar calendar.

I'm being completely un-Australian and doing some work today; I have to apply for my own job, as it was a tap-on-the-shoulder thing and policy requires that you can only act in a position like that for a certain period of time in Government, and then the job has to be advertised and appointed properly. Or something. All I know is I have some serious selection criteria to respond to.

So, it's no BBQ for me, no Triple J Hottest 100, no beach cricket. Just a computer, a headache and a whole lot of corporate jargon.

We headed into Brisbane's Chinatown to celebrate CNY on Friday night. Aaron and I are both in green and on the left in the first pic, and that's me trying not to get mowed down by a lion dance in the second pic.

4 months logged in

It's the eighth of the month, which means we are celebrating four months logged in!

Love Our Way

Today I read Love Our Way, a recent Australian book outlining the story of a large adoptive family who learned that their youngest two children from India were not willingly relinquished for adoption, rather stolen from their mother and sold.

Ugh. I can't even begin to fathom the birth mother's anguish and pain... nor the emotions of anyone else involved in the saga. As I read the story I couldn't help but be relieved that these children were adopted into this particular family, where the parents were bold enough to confront the issue and wise enough to take the steps they did. In a strange series of events it seems that the birth mother's life has been saved through the reunion and she has a hope and a future.

We need stories like this to be told. There is/has been corruption in international adoption in a number of countries, and unless people are aware then there can be little done towards ensuring ethical practices are employed globally. I am pro-adoption, but as I have said before on this blog, I believe international adoption should be a last resort, and then only for children whose only other option is to be raised in an institution without a permanent loving family. I've read too many stories from adult adoptees to believe that transnational adoption is always the fairytale ending it's often made out to be.

Julia Rollings, the author of Love Our Way, has a blog - Towards a New Ending. It was nice to finish the book and then read the following installments and see current pictures in her blog. I was excited to learn also that the television show Foreign Correspondent will be sharing some of this story when it recommences screening in February.

If you're interested in buying the book, I picked mine up at an airport Newslink store. You can also use the link above.

Christmas wishes

Happy Christmas! We are off to tropical far north Queensland for a week where we will celebrate Christmas with my parents. Wishing all our friends, family and blog readers a very special Christmas and holiday season!