Blog Post #9

                Since this post was open ended, I decided to discuss the ethical issues raised by DM’s story. I was overwhelmed with some of the choices she and her friends made during their adoption process. I thought her views added a very new dimension to our ethical discussions.

                First, I had a difficult time hearing about her lying to get her child. She knowingly committed fraud, and even found it to be ethical. She stated that she lied on many documents, she broke the law in both the United States and Ukraine, and she bribed people to get what she wanted. I think deep down she really believed she did it for the benefit of her child, but I do not think it makes up for the fact that she completely went against protocols and laws to do so. She also complained about how there was bribing and corruption in the adoption process, yet she participated. This reminded me of the view of Michele Greene in Adam Pertman’s book who said “almost everyone I dealt with there was awful” when discussing her adoption process in Guatemala (Pertman, pg. 76). Michele Greene viewed the Guatemalan government and adoption process as corrupt and “awful,” yet she paid every bribe they asked her for. This is a parallel to DM’s story. Both wanted a child so badly that they went against laws and protocols to get one, not thinking of the continuation of corruption that they were contributing to.

                I also found DM’s view of Ukraine to be similar to those who adopted children from Haiti. She thought that these children’s lives would be infinitely better in the United States. It did not seem to cross her mind that these children were not being allowed to be adopted by foreign parents because the government thought it would be best for the children to stay together or to be raised in their own culture. DM also expressed this view when speaking of a child her siblings adopted from Jamaica.  She sounded as if she knew for a fact that this child’s life would have been worse off if he had stayed in Jamaica. It did not seem to cross her mind that maybe being adopted from his home country and forced to assimilate into the United States contributed to his difficulties. I think this exemplifies white supremacy. She truly believed that living in the US in her white family would be better than living anywhere else in the world. It was difficult for me to listen to her story after all that we have learned this semester.

Julie Thurmes