[Watch video] 15 Sept. 2009 (Andrew Geoghegan) Since Angelina Jolie adopted her daughter Zahara in 2005, the number of Americans adopting Ethiopian children has quadrupled.
A pop-media obsession with celebrities adopting children in Africa has resulted in a queue of adopting foreigners dealing with opportunistic adoption agents in operating in a regulatory vaccuum. In Ethiopia - and beyond - its creating a heartbreaking mess.
International adoptions may seem like an ideal solution to the dreadful deprivation among the young in Ethiopia and the often impossible circumstances confronting parents trying to feed and raise their children.
The reality though, is far from ideal.
Some adopting parents suspect or discover the new child they’ve taken in is not an orphan as they’d been assured. The child may also have a litany of health problems that has been covered up by corrupt officials.
Also many ‘relinquishing’ Ethiopian parents or carers may have been duped into giving up their children through a heartless process called ‘harvesting’ and can’t hope to re-establish contact with them.
Ethiopia has 5 million orphans needing homes and the United States has millions of homes needing babies. Africa Correspondent Andrew Geoghegan and producer Mary Ann Jolley, discover it’s not a simple mathematical equation or zero sum game. There are virtually no government regulations or policing of the process. Many international adoption agencies flashing Christian credentials are taking advantage of the situation. Corruption, fraud and deception are rife.
Foreign Correspondent follows a Florida couple in their mid fifties as they travel to the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, to pick up their three adopted children, aged three, four and six. It’s a gut wrenching moment when they meet the birth mother who has come to the orphanage to say a final goodbye to her children. This transaction appears above board but it’s all too common for Ethiopian parents to give up their children for international adoption after being coerced by adoption agencies.
Foreign Correspondent investigates the activities of one of the biggest American agencies operating in Ethiopia. In a remote village in the country’s south, the agency openly recruits children with parents. Each child offered for adoption is then filmed for a DVD catalogue which in turn is shipped out to potential adoptive parents.
A world away in California a mother of one - looking for a brother for her son - chooses from a CWA DVD catalogue. The agency’s sales pitch promised a healthy, abandoned child, but that could not have been further from the truth. Her story is tragic and disturbing and exposes the callousness of the profit oriented international adoption business
A group of grieving mothers who have given up their children for international adoption gather at an orphanage to tell their stories. All claim they were told by adoption agencies they would receive regular information about the whereabouts and wellbeing of their children, but have heard nothing.
It’s a thought-provoking edition of Foreign Correspondent and a must watch for anyone considering adopting a child from another country or who has celebrated the apparent social consciousness of Hollywood A-listers.
September 16th, 2009 at 1:32 pm
shame on us!!!! senater Enofe insulted our mothers,saying they give their children to dogs to be eaten,becouse they can not afford to feed.
this kind Americans racist and idiotic perception and woyane’s carelesness for the rest of Ethiopia exept his greedy clan members,gave the West including Americans the right to establish their humman commodity market in the heart of the country in Addis Ababa,Americans and the west are not only robbing our resources,they are robbing our mothers and sisters taking away their children,as far as woyane goes,they are doing their usual genocidal business on the rest of Ethiopia.
how long we gona live with this kind of national embarrasment and shame?,what is wrong with us ?
SHAME ON US !!!! God save my poor poeple !!!
September 16th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
“Children Born on the wrong years miss out for life.”
The abject poverty in ethiopia has already made everything for sale including Infants. Well ! thats the product of the much celebrated Double digit economic growth in Ethiopia that produced five million orphans and forced mothers to give up their infant children to adoption.
September 16th, 2009 at 4:58 pm
solomon
Instead of dying by hunger and disease let them go those who survived, I am sure they will survive most of them they are going to America they are not going to Somalia. Who knows one day they will rescue Ethiopia once they equiped with knowledge and forward thinking, things happening for reason, otherwise this old dry ethiopian pride doesn’t help them, that dry ethiopian pride is the one pulled us back, we afraid all the time changes and deny fact.
Our country is one of the poorest nation in extreme poverty, we have enough population to suffer in hunger, our dry pride doesn’t help them let them try their luck.
There is an ethiopian saying “TEGDERDARI TOM ADARI”.
bye for now
September 17th, 2009 at 3:23 am
Here is, also, the video:
Ayeeee Weyane, now, they are profiting from selling children:
http://www.ethiotube.net/video/5801/Fly-Away-Children–Commercialization-of-Children
September 17th, 2009 at 7:38 am
I can not belive how ignorant we are become. This sad story is happening in the 21st century. I can not belive that the Ethiopian government making $100 milion a year by selling babys. Officialy his world has gone crazy!
September 17th, 2009 at 9:35 am
One thing I witnessed. I was there out in Ethiopia for a vacation. Needless to say, when I returned back to the US, the Ethiopian Airlines was packed with American couples who are returning home with their adopted little Ethiopian children. The Children were in agony and I can see how their heart aches for longing their loving parents from behind. For me it was a tragic.
During the Flight I also witnessed again the American couples that adapted the children are either male couples or female couples sitting and grouping at distant seats. I now understood what has happened to these children for heavens sake. It was a scandal.
Can you imagine the result of an adoption and the custody of these little ones in the hands of a Gay and or a Lesbian.
This is what our Country is up to. I cried for the children.
I am a mother of two and I was weeping facing the window of the aircraft and deeply felt their agony. It is a sell out. The mother from Wolieta only thinks that her children are in placed in good hands.
I talked to a sitting passenger over the matter. He confirmed to me that the Ethiopian Government is all out aware about this.
What a Government we have under Meles
I ciried again and I still cry am crying for these children
September 17th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
We must stand up together enough is enough, say no for our invader’s. starting from Meles zenawi Bereket Simon and there fellow idiot bandit groups.We must defend our human right By standing up together to distroy those evil criminals. before they managed to distroy all of us from our land and our history.unity is our strength.There was no such horrore story in Ethiopia ever before.Its all our mistake was keep silenting 18 horrific years long.We still unable to organizing well enough to defend our right,Its our mistake for not working together,But God created us to help each other.Its our mistake not to share our conscious and as a result we face such catastrophe.We need change starting from ourselves.not to fight each day and night for nothing.At list we must prepare to deliver peace for our future generation.remember those colonised countries in Africa today they are far away from us in their development and humanright progress.But our mentality still parking on tribal issues shame on us. Foreigners do planning for long for their country.But we still deny each other everyday for our common issue to help our counrty.pleace pleace we need change starting this second from today for better tomorrow.
September 17th, 2009 at 3:50 pm
Rapist Meles doesn’t care what happen to the kids.
September 19th, 2009 at 4:51 pm
TARA
I agree with you in some of the points you made, there is probability some of the kids are end up on homosexual, pedophile individuals and they can use them as sex toys but when you see in general and when you weigh the prons and cons, In my openion the prons side weigh better.
By the way westerners adopt kids it is not just from ethiopia, they adopt kids around the world, when you compare the number of kids adopted from china to ethiopia it is like a drop in the ocean. China is one of the major country where westerners adopt childrens.
But blaming ethiopian goverment for that is “AHEYAWEN TETO DAWELWEN ENDEELU YEHONAL”. There is an individual who need to be blamed for all this fuss “MR POVERTY”. We have to unite and fight him instead of fighting each other.
bye for now
September 21st, 2009 at 2:53 pm
ethiopia will be the first child exporter in the world with in the coming five year. it is not a surprise but it is just what AHEYAWEN TETO DAWELAWEN , NARROW MINDED ,BLIND, STUPID people deserv.
September 24th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
shasu
relax man!
September 27th, 2009 at 6:23 pm
I do think there is a lot of good in adoption. But what I don’t agree is the corruption of the process. The government never cares for the people and children are the least of concern. I think it is EVEN the same for people of Ethiopia. Just look what is going on the streets of Addis. Most of us that are judging are enjoying the freedom vested upon us by America or the western world. So I think America or Americans in general cannot be blamed. There are good people intending good deeds. And most of the children might grow up to enjoy the life we have in the western world. On the other hand, even the ONE child that falls to the crack and winds up in an unfortunate situation matters a lot. It is our obligation to teach these mothers who are giving out their children of all the possiblities. Now that the secret is out every mother should be concerened and think twice before they make adoption the solution. Our (Ethiopian) problem is we are lukewarm and we never take responsibility for anything. We just BLAME, BLAME…… Stop the blame game and start the work!