Home » Partners & Parents » Multicultural Family » Or Something Far Worse - Page 2

Or Something Far Worse - Page 2

© Susan Culver

And here are a few of my gripes about this atrocious situation. First of all, the adoption was final. Why would the INS start an investigation AFTER the fact? If there were suspicions about whether or not Cambodian orphans were truly orphans, why were these unsuspecting families granted permission by the INS itself to adopt from Cambodia in the first place? Why were they allowed to go through the entire process, even so far as to make these children THEIR OWN children in the eyes of the law, as recognized by both countries, if there was a problem?

Why did it take months for these families to obtain permission from their own government to bring THEIR children (as proved by an adoption certificate and a newly issued birth certificate) home?

And, the INS resolution to the issue, which ironically came just days after the 20/20 broadcast is equally as appalling. In an INS press release dated December 21, 2001, INS Commissioner James Ziglar announced an immediate suspension of the processing of adoption petitions in Cambodia and a review of the adoption process in Vietnam. The thirteen families were finally permitted to bring their children home. The conditions upon bringing them home is that they will adopt them again in the United States within the next two years and keep INS updated on that process as it takes place. Additionally, if any documentation is ever dug up that will prove these children weren't legal orphans in the first place, they must be returned to Cambodia.

The Child Citizenship Act of 2000 guaranteed automatic citizenship to any child adopted in a foreign country by American citizens. The adoptions of these kids were finalized in Cambodia. These American parents have already been granted legal parentage of these children in all that legal parentage entails. Do these kids get their citizenship? And, if so, is the INS now potentially going to get into shipping very young, very innocent American citizens to Cambodian orphanages?

My final gripe comes from yet another statement made by Commissioner Ziglar, who thinks now that the situation is concluded. It's the one where he says he'd "like to remind American citizens considering adoption abroad that there are thousands of adoptable children in the United States deserving of a home."

As the adoptive mom of a child from U.S. foster care, I will agree that this is true. But it doesn't need to be stated. To pit the legal process of adopting internationally against the legal process of adopting domestically in a country founded on freedom of choice makes me wonder if this situation is not about something far larger than Cambodian's status on orphans. I will not go so far as to suggest the "d" word (discrimination) or the "r" word (racism), but I just have to wonder. Was the months-long trauma recently brought to American adoptive parents in Cambodia - and now in Vietnam, where a similar situation is arising - a case of misunderstanding, missing documents, or... Could it have been a case of something far worse?

The copyright of the article Or Something Far Worse - Page 2 in Multicultural Family is owned by Susan Culver. Permission to republish Or Something Far Worse - Page 2 in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.