A review by sde
The Child Catchers: Rescue, Trafficking, and the New Gospel of Adoption by Kathryn Joyce
4.0
This was a fascinating book about adoption, but an aspect of it I knew nothing about - that in very recent years evangelical Christians have massively embraced adoption as part of their mission. Churches are encouraging members to adopt, but the adopting parents (and probably the pastors themselves) are not aware of the difficult ethical issues around adoption. Many of the "orphans" have family members, sometimes even parents, alive. Often the issue is poverty and/or difficulty reuniting children with family in war-torn areas. I do know of several Christian groups that have begun debating some of the questions around adoption, but I did not know how strong the other side is. Adoption sounds like a good, and my guess is that most people trying to adopt are only intending to improve the situation for these children. (I assume that the one family that used their adopted children basically like servants are the exception to the rule.)
Every family considering adoption, whether Christian or not, should read this book. The more we all know about the issues, the better we will be able to monitor adoptions so that only those children who truly need a home will be adopted.
I would have liked more discussion on WHY adoption has become so important and rose so quickly in certain churches. Even after reading the book, I didn't get a sense of this. Obviously, money has a hand in this, but I don't believe that is the major reason. I also would have liked more exploration of how the adoptive families cope with the information that their adoptions may not have been on the up-and-up now that there is little they can do to reverse it. I know many families that have adopted from pretty much every country that was outlined in the book. Most felt they did due diligence at the time and some even met the biological families at the time of adoption, but, according to this book, there still might have been misunderstandings about the process with the bio families. How do adoptive parents deal with this emotionally while still being the parents their children now need? How do they work for improving the adoption process without their children feeling as though their adoption was a mistake.
Every family considering adoption, whether Christian or not, should read this book. The more we all know about the issues, the better we will be able to monitor adoptions so that only those children who truly need a home will be adopted.
I would have liked more discussion on WHY adoption has become so important and rose so quickly in certain churches. Even after reading the book, I didn't get a sense of this. Obviously, money has a hand in this, but I don't believe that is the major reason. I also would have liked more exploration of how the adoptive families cope with the information that their adoptions may not have been on the up-and-up now that there is little they can do to reverse it. I know many families that have adopted from pretty much every country that was outlined in the book. Most felt they did due diligence at the time and some even met the biological families at the time of adoption, but, according to this book, there still might have been misunderstandings about the process with the bio families. How do adoptive parents deal with this emotionally while still being the parents their children now need? How do they work for improving the adoption process without their children feeling as though their adoption was a mistake.