This too: “Jesus said love one another. He didn’t say love the whole world.” In the adoption world, “one another” includes those we may not like listening to – those who are dissident, angry, loud, rude, or aggressive. Their adoption realities may differ from ours, but in Mother Teresa’s paradigm, they are our “one another.”

Honestly, I believe every single adoption-focused social network and web forum could come down today, and international adoption would continue to flourish. Infertility alone will see to it, and altruism will fill in the gaps. The basic good in humanity will ensure that when children need homes, they will get them. No charge of cultural genocide will change that.

But for someone to figure out how to foster the kind of dialog that would acknowledge the value of intercountry adoption to children in real need of families while also acknowledging its flaws; seek opportunities to solve the root causes that make it necessary; foster collaboration to provide support to those living adoption; encourage people to reach outside their own point of view to learn from others; and respect constructive criticism – now THAT would be a feat.

As parents, we fall in love with our children easily when they are an idea, then an image, then scraps of information we so carefully glean from what comes our way. Those opposed to IA prefer to toss out grenades labeled “cultural genocide” or “money-driven industry” and ignore the reality of an individual child, whether this be from knee-jerk reactions to media hype … so often based on misinformation … or personal cases of sour grapes.

Addressing this, as you well know, has been a driving motivation for my work over the years, with the goal of narrowing the aperture to highlight one child, one family, and train the focus there.

Dehumanizing orphans in favor of grandstanding for some cause perceived to be noble is a problem we must all face and fight.

And thanks for the Kiva plug. Good on ya!

Thanks for your efforts on behalf of others in the world. Please let us know how we can help.

Owen Allen
http://blogs.msdn.com/oallen