First, a fine post by Daniel Larison on why it might time for conservative Christians to worry a little less about politics and a little more on the life of the Church. I will likely write more about this, but I just wanted to point it out.

Second, an old co-worker asked me yesterday what I thought about this situation. Well, honestly, my first reaction is that most celebrities are a few beans shy of a burrito, and that something like this is, at least in part, a grab at attention. That, however, does not get at the crux of the issue–intercultural adoption. First, I’ll say I don’t have any well-formulated (or even poorly-formulated) theories about this. But such activities worry me for several reason. There is a conceit among Westerners that our culture is the pinnacle of achievement, and therefore anyone living in a different culture is somehow “less fortunate.” Now, I do not deny that in many African nations, the combination of the AIDS epidemic, famine, and unstable politics have put the populations in situations where their basic needs cannot be met. This does not, however, justify simply plucking children out of the situation, as it does little to get at the root causes of the problems. Yes, it is good that at least one child is rescued from a (potentially) hopeless situation, but what of the one hundred others who aren’t? And, perhaps more importantly, what of the children in orphanages in your own town? Is there something about their plight that is somehow “better” than that of the children in Africa?

So am I ready to declare that anyone who has adopted a foreign-born child as Bad or Wrong? No. To each their own. I might ask them, however, why they didn’t chose to adopt from the agency in their town. Of course, perhaps they did, and they were unsuccessful. That happens, I suppose. But the latest cause celebre among the beautiful people (“let’s save Africa by adopting all the kids”) is problematic, primarily because it does little the solve the real problems there (and it might be noted that perhaps westerners have little business mucking about in the problems of other nations–Ivan Illich was notoriously against such efforts).

Posted on 18 October 2006