Adoption: An American Revolution Failed Documentary Project

Faces in Adoption

This film is increasingly getting my gander up.
On the website, they have a “Faces in Adoption” area where you can submit a picture.
( DEAD LINK NOW: http://www.adoptionfilm.org/faces_of_adoption.html) I keep on submitting, and they just won’t post it damnit. I just don’t think that this is going to be anything other that some fancy filmed happy adoption propaganda.

They have the dumb petition web-sight:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/182185809

And I swear to God, some of the people that post these things just are not too bright:

• have an older adopted sister. its not a big deal. so count me as one in three
• well my best friend and grandfather are adopted. if they did not come into my life, i would not be the same, and my todler sister would not be who she is.
• We adopted our most precious son in Mexico after the loss of our only biological child to SIDS. He needed parents and we needed a child. We are a whole family thanks to adoption.
• My life has definitely been enhanced by adoption. I have a cousin who was adopted and I truly cannot imagine my life without her! Also, my fiancee was adopted and I can’t imagine never having met or fallen in love with him!!! It is a wondrous thing and a beautiful gift!!! It should get more positive attention and also, be less expensive because anyone who can meet the criteria to make a great parent etc. should be entitled to adopt without fear of finances!
• im not adopted or anything. But i think adoption is the greatest thing.

Ok you get the idea. Take a peek, but be ready to get upset. There are some in there that really like to add in that we should all adopt puppies too! Makes you understand how Mr. Bush is the president again.

Now, I am not done with these silly film, because as I said..it really irks me. Like it is not a documentary is they only show one side of the story. And they can’t really be telling us to “celebrate” it is they know more than one side. So I took upon myself to write to the executive producer:

Dear Mr. Stange,

I understand that you are the senior producer for the proposed Adoption: An American Revolution for PBS. As a mother who surrendered her child into adoption over 18 years ago and a member of the internet adoption community dedicated to reform current adoption practices, I beg of you to not glance over the dark side of adoption.

For every happy couple whose family was made through adoption, there is a mother, frequently a father and other family members who grieve the continuous loss of their family member for the rest of their lives. I am one of those mothers, and I know many many more, and we have a story to tell too. Our perspective is just as true as those who rejoice and celebrate. Our voices ring just as clear to those who will listen to the truth. Our pain is just as real and is the foundation for every adoption story that you choose to celebrate.

I just cannot understand how you choose to call this a documentary if you will not also allow the natural mothers of loss to speak. I keep on submitting pictures to be on “The Faces of Adoption” web-sight, yet my pictures and words of loss are ignored and never posted. Why? Beautiful baby and pretty young mother, obvious love, needlessly separated.

Will you document the Mothers of the Baby Scoop Era who were lied to and forced to lose the children they so desperately wanted, or will you only show the few happy reunions of such broken women? Will you discuss the issues and problems of current adoption practices that do not really honor the bond between mother and child and how to make things better, or will you just show the smiling faces of the “happy good birthmother” and promote more adoptions for a 13 billion dollar industry? Will you celebrate the broken promises when the adoptive parents close an open adoption without warning leaving a mother to desperation? Will you discuss the real revolution happening in adoption today where even adoptive parents are saying that the system needs to be changed? Will you bring to all the American people the need for open records in all states so that our millions of adoptees are no longer treated like perpetual children in the eyes of the law and be given the same rights as all other adults?

If you choose, Mr Stange, to ignore the less than pretty side of adoption, the side that makes people think, the side that makes them wonder just how great it all is to everyone, then you are not making a documentary. Then all you are doing is creating a fancy form of propaganda that will just continue to allow America to turn a blind eye on the pain of so many of it’s fellow citizens. And it’s not the truth of adoption that you are celebrating, you are just perpetuating lies that hurt and cause pain and more loss.

Find us. We are not hiding. We have our truth to tell. To not tell the full story is doing a disservice to America in it’s entirety and will cause many a tear to shed in the future.

Sincerely,

CCS
mother of four, one lost to adoption in MA 1987
New York

His name is Eric Strenge and he can be reached here:
email@spypondproductions.com

and here is his film company
http://www.spypondproductions.com/whoweare.html

I would say that we need to be loud and clear that we are out here and have something to say too.
I urge you all to make your voices heard!!
You can copy and paste and edit my letter to death if you like…just say something!
As far as I know…they have not tried to talk to anyone of “us”.

Update I:
Ok so on the “feedback” on the actual film sight, I had filled out a Contact us form..and today I got back this:

Thank you so much for your interest in “Adoption: An American
Revolution” and for your suggestions of stories and topics we should include.
As we wrote on our Web site, in the “Our Goals” page, one of our key
aims is to reveal adoption as “a complex and deeply personal
experience…. filled with powerful emotional truths: love and grief, personal bonds
relinquished and others created.” With the help of our esteemed
advisory board, we are confident that this project will present many
perspectives on a complicated subject. And as always, WGBH will not cede
editorial control to those who contribute funding – this would violate
standard journalism practices and public television rules. However we are
pleased to hear suggestions and interest from the many people who have
been touched by adoption in their lives.

At this point, although we will be reading and reviewing with
thoughtful consideration all of the comments from visitors to our web site, our
focus has to be on fundraising – without funding, we’ll be unable to
move forward on the project. We’d be very grateful, therefore, if you
could help us by “spreading the word’ among your contacts in the adoption
community, by linking to our Web site at www.adoptionfilm.org, and by
generally encouraging interest in the “Adoption” project. We’re sure
you know many families as well as adoption professionals who would be
interested to learn about us, and we feel this kind of networking is going
to be crucial to our success. We’d also be grateful if you encouraged
them to contribute in whatever amount they can manage, and if you can,
please contribute as well. All contributions help get us towards our
goal so we can bring the project to air and to communities around the
country.

Thank you again for your note. We hope you’ll sign up for our monthly
e-newsletter to stay in touch with how our “Adoption” campaign is going.

Sincerely,
“Adoption: An American Revolution” Project Staff

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yeah yeah..OK so they still want cash..what makes me wonder is all the guidance from the “esteemed advisory board”..so I will have to do some digging on THAT!
Yeah..so can you imagine passing around a need for funds drive to have this be more Discovery Adoption Stories? No way I am backing anything until I know what kind of real product they are making. Tell me that you will show the real full truth from ALL perspectives..and then I will pass out cash!

ETA 11-2013: and 7 years later it is still  in devlopment? http://spypondproductions.com/indevelopment.html