Reading and Learning from Kathryn Joyce

I forget how many years ago I got the first email from Kathryn Joyce asking if she could interview me about adoption.  I replied favorably as I always do and if I recall correctly, I spent about 2 hours sitting in my back years of a warm evening talking to her.  I loved the article the resulted from. the interviews and research Kathryn did -at the time that resulted in….. It was clear to me then, that we had found a strong outside voice that understood and could convey so many of the complexities in adoption culture.

So it was with great anticipation that I waited for The Child Catchers. Sadly, while we can all blog, and self publish, and get memoirs going, the “non biased” pen of the non adoption affected if often needed to bring the anecdotal facts home for the general public.  It’s like they can’t believe “us”, probably because they do not want to,  and dismiss it as “your experience” believing us “too close” to see the full picture. Making Kathryn’s eyes, her words, like balm on the ever oozing wound.

Rye asked at one point, during my evening reading, if I was enjoying the book. I replied that in some ways, it was like a book version of my blog, but with more characters, more God. I delighted, over and over again, reading the stories I know all too well, hearing from many people I know and call friends, their words now etched as facts, their stories credentialed, their own selves cast as the experts that they are, in adoption, for all the word to read. We need more people like Kathryn!

Rave Reviews for The Child Catchers!

So an overall review of The Child Catchers- Rescue, Trafficking and the New Gospel of Adoption is that it is a wonderfully written book. While loaded with adoption research and documented facts, it is told in a way, interwoven with personal stories that brings it all home. So non-fiction, factual, yes, but dry and tedious? No. While many of us know much of what is said between the two covers, there were many new facts introduced to me especially revolving around the overt Christian view of “Orphan Saving“, so very educational.

The  Child Catchers- Rescue, Trafficking and the New Gospel of Adoption is a must read, must have on any adoption bookshelf.

But there is more, so much more to The Child Catchers than just my emotional response and the credibility it gives us as we fight corruption in adoption.  So, I’m going to just start writing now based on my many notes scribbled in the margins, and see where this goes. I have a feeling that we might have a few posts here about what I gleaned from it.

My Child Catcher Takeaways

Overall, I have three main points that I have picked up from the The Child Catchers:

1. The Adoption Community NEEDS the Churches.
2. The Christian Community has been reading the gospel and the messages of adoption in the scripture all wrong.
3. As activists and fighters in the US for Adoption justice, we should be paying MUCH more attention to what is working in Korea.

Each of these warrant their own posts, so essentially this is a four part series. Hence, if you click on one of the above links, they might not be ready yet.. so you’ll have to come on back!

In the meantime, there has been TONS of discussion regarding The Child Catchers both in Adoptionland (praise and thanks) and in the Christian Community (not as much praise, but there is some agreement).  So, here’s a “little” list of some of the reviews and discussions. I pulled up ALL of them that showed up in the first 50 or so results on Google so they are not all “us”, but the places that scream foul at Kathryn’s book are also good places to engage in conversations where the opinions of those who know the truth about adoption should be heard. Of course, feel free to add to the List, share or embed in your own post/review discussion.