6 results for month: 03/2008

FTIA-ROTIA-AAA and the Axis of Evil

On September 27, 2006, Families Thru International Adoption potentate Keith Wallace repeatedly testified, under oath, before the United States Congress that he "didn't have much information" about Masha Allen's adoption even though he had been "invited here today to provide the committee with all the information I have about the adoption of Mr. Mancuso." A close comparison of Wallace's spoken and written testimony, however, reveals that he left out a lot of unqualified praise for Jeannene Smith. Here's what Wallace says in his written testimony: FTIA's working relationship with Ms. Smith was interesting, to say the least. Ms. Smith is very indust...

Girl’s Little Daddy

In an apparently lighthearted attempt to bring some perspective to the multi-national adoption biz, the Indian Association for Promotion of Adoption and Child Welfare, with a little help from Ogilvy & Mather, created a series of freaky ads with blissful children cuddling needy parents. Finally, truth in advertising! Here's my favorite: After all, why should the daddy's do all the choosing? And it certainly beats the Adoption.com special edition print, From God's Hands, To My Hands, To Yours, which I blogged about in 2004: Madison Avenue is finally in da house. I can hardly wait to see what they do with the "rent-a-womb" outsourcing business. ...

Governing the Flesh Trade

By now almost everyone has heard about NY Governor Elliot Spitzer's participation in a high-end prostitution ring. The criminal enterprise responsible for the Emperors Club VIP was indicted in federal court under the same law which prohibits human trafficking. The Governor himself engaged in such trafficking when he ordered up a $2000/hour seven diamond rated prostitute, Kristen, from NYC for delivery to his hotel room in Washington in violation of the Mann Act. According to the New York Times: The official said the discussions were likely to focus not on prostitution, but on how it was paid for: Whether the payments from Mr. Spitzer to the service ...

Shopping for Change

Lest everyone think that we're all just a bunch of Communistic satanic haters over here, I share a bright spot amongst all the darkness. A big gold star to Lindsay Giambattista who leveraged her talent for shopping and teen fashion savvy into a place where foster kids can feel some love. Lindsay, age 17, oversees a boutique offering clothing to girls in foster care, handling $1 million worth of donated apparel last year from designers, retailers and people from as far away as Tokyo. The idea started snowballing after Lindsay looked at 10 trash bags filled with her own rejects and decided it wasn't enough. She reached out to friends and relatives, and ...

Something’s Rotten in the State of Pennsylvania

Don't take my word for it. Just ask Neils of the Pound Pup Legacy mega-adoption-website-blog. According to this crusading and data-driven site, Pennsylvania has a disproportionate number of adoption agencies compared to other states. Forget all that high-minded legalistic talk of "dealing in humanity," there's money to be made and many good Germans willing to look the other way. According to Neils With a total of 206 Pennsylvania has far more agencies than any other state. California, which is almost three times the size of Pennsylvania has 73 agencies less and Illinois which is very comparable in size to Pennsylvania has about half as many ...

Womb Outsourcing Threatens International Adoption

I guess it was only a matter of time before a simple straightforward technological solution was found to eliminate the abuses in international adoption. Today's New York Times highlights the Rent-a-Womb outsourcing movement in India. An enterprise known as reproductive outsourcing is a new but rapidly expanding business in India. Clinics that provide surrogate mothers for foreigners say they have recently been inundated with requests from the United States and Europe, as word spreads of India's mix of skilled medical professionals, relatively liberal laws and low prices. In 2003, I wrote about Sperm Donor Introductions for Lesbians and Snowflake ...