Media Relishes Unusual Adoption Stories

I had a conversation yesterday with a friend who thought she
and her husband were "done" after giving birth to two children, but
now (9 years later) they’re considering adoption. She would like to adopt an
older child, but is worried about all the horrifying media reports she
constantly hears about adoption.

The media relishes the unusual – the bizarre. Why would they
publish a story about an Australian woman being too overweight to adopt – a
full 10 years after she tried to adopt – otherwise? (See previous entry for that story)

In my unscientific opinion, over 90 percent of all adoption
experiences are normal, run-of-the-mill (if there is such a thing when it comes
to adoption) experiences. Much too “boring” for media attention. I’m a
journalist and I admit that I often look for a story with an unusual twist. It
makes for more interesting reading. But when the media constantly publishes only unusual adoption stories, it makes
people wonder if all adoptions aren’t a little strange. Thus, the myth of
adoption being an unusual and highly risky form of family building continues to
be perpetuated.

My goal with this blog is to make adoption more real for
people – to tell the stories of everyday folks around the world whose lives are
touched by adoption. Sometimes that means covering the seedier side of
adoption…stories of adoption fraud, of adoptive parents who murder their
children, or even news about would-be parents who are considered too fat to
adopt.

It also means sharing stories of people who have reunited
with their birth families after 30+ years, of spreading the news that there are
millions of well-adjusted adopted kids out there who struggle with very few
issues, and of offering slices of life from an adoptive family in which open
adoption works beautifully.