More often than not, the people completing unethical adoption are white Evangelical Christians. The most unethical adoptions have been, arguably, from Uganda, where children who have families are often taken to orphanages because international adoption is a thriving business there. It makes the government money to declare that children are abandoned, then have these children adopted by (white) parents overseas.
Unethical adoption is child trafficking.
I think it's vital to work against unethical adoption and white "saviors" coming to Uganda, as it is very present there. So here is a list of organizations doing thought provoking work around this topic, for digest and maybe to find organizations to support.
The Ugandan Adoption Model
The Ugandan adoption process also includes verifying that a child is in fact an orphan, but this system is often cheated by removing names from birth certificates and things like that.
Children who are considered for adoption from Uganda live in orphanages or homes in areas of poverty.
No White Saviors
The important thing that NWS does is change the way we think about missionary and development work. It makes us question whether mission trips and service trips are for the benefit of others, or the benefit of those going on the trips. NWS also calls out child trafficking, unethical adoptions, people who glorify white saviors, and companies that support the colonial model.
You can follow No White Saviors on Instagram here. Their website is nowhitesaviorsorg. If you would like to support NWS, you can do so here.
Watoto Ministries
Watoto Ministries is a branch of the Watoto church located in Kampala, Uganda. This group seeks to build communities with children who would otherwise be in orphanages as well as adults, such as people who have been widowed. The model they use does not only include homes- it includes schools, medical care, spirituality, mentoring and agriculture. Watoto Ministries has created three villages in Uganda that operate this way and want to spread the model across Africa. They also have a program called Father's Heart "men from Watoto Church commit themselves to becoming father figures and positive male role models to a specific Watoto home. They visit whenever they can to help the children with their homework, to play with younger children and to disciple the older boys" (watoto.com)
The good thing about this model is that it is self-serving. It is produced by Ugandan people, to serve the Ugandan people. This is in contrast to missionary groups that come from places like the United States- missionary groups or adoption agencies typically aren't long-lasting, often because they are completely run by outsiders. Watoto also avoids the self-centeredness of outside missionaries; many white missionaries come to Africa for their own experience and benefit (missionary tourism rather than aid and social justice work). The involvement of white people in Africa has caused harm to its people for many years (see also: colonialism) and missionary groups are a part of that.
More than this, the Watoto villages provide structure and support all around needs and whole individuals. It doesn't provide for foreigners or anyone else. Watoto's website is watoto.com. You can donate to the ministry here, and sponsor a life here.
Ensuring Ethical International Adoption
1. Adopt from a Hague Convention country. Hague Convention is a documents signed by countries to ensure that the child's needs will be put first in adoption. Uganda is not a Hague Convention country.
2. Know that convention-complaint countries have long adoption wait times. It makes sure the child's needs are taken care of and everything is properly researched.
3. Research the history of a prospective adoptive child. Sometimes this can be telling about the child's background and what placed them for adoption (and whether it was ethical or not).
4. Spend time educating yourself thoroughly about the culture your child comes from.
5. Visit the country you are adopting from, and visit the orphanage or foster home the child resides in. Make sure you choose an adoption agency that spends a lot of time in that country.
6. Be wary of missionary work. Many want to adopt because of their religion, but almost all adoption agencies are affiliated with religion. Just look carefully at the work adoption agencies do.
7. Question everything.
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