An Open Letter To Any Parent Cruelly Considering Rehoming Their Newly Adopted Child
TikToker karpoozy has taken it upon herself to out people that are literally trying to get rid of their adopted children on the internet. Some adoptive parents are actually looking to rehome their new child on Facebook as if they were simply a dog from the pound. I find both instances of 'rehoming' completely abhorrent, but let's talk for a minute about children in the foster care and adoption system.
A child that has already been through the devastating trauma of losing their parents, whether by natural causes, drug addiction, or any manner of horrible ways, has been through a LOT before they land in the arms of a new loving family. If they even do at all. Many children stay stuck in the system until they are 18 and on their own. People tend to want to adopt new babies, leaving so many wonderful kids behind in the system.
The idea that someone could bring home a child to love and care for, only to decide they just can't take care of them, years later, is sickening. I can't even imagine what that could be like for them to process. Meeting new parents, ready to shower them with love and happiness, a family they have always dreamed of, and then POOF! Returned to the hell in which they lived, the foster and adoption system. Another number. Another statistic. No more family Christmas. No more walking hand in hand to school with someone that has been trusted to love them for the rest of their lives.
My parents have 7 adopted children, meaning, I have 7 adopted siblings. My eldest brother and I were their only biological children and my mother always wanted more kids, but it just wasn't in the cards for her to have them herself. She started by adopted my younger brother when I was little, and then when I was a teenager, the adoption bug bit her again, and she took in a group of 4 sisters, in order to keep them all together. Next was another sister, and then another sister a few years later. Bringing the total to 7 adopted siblings in our home. My folks also give foster care for several children in town.
Love is behind all of this and I can't imagine my life without my adopted siblings. It would be a much darker place. Through thick and thin, PTSD, trauma, behavioral problems, and mental illness, my parents never once considered, and never would, giving up their children.
In recent years, I've found it frustrating for people to adopt children from other countries when there are thousands in the system locally in the United States. I know that any child that finds a loving home is lucky to be loved, but I've often equated adopting a child from another country to buying a fancy dog to show off to your friends, instead of grabbing the mutt from the pound that needs you just as much, if not more. I hate to compare children to dogs, they are very different from one another, and I do realize that, but if you pause to think about it for a second, you'll agree that rehoming a child is much more severe and disgusting.
The awful people I see giving up pets that they just can't care for on the internet make me cringe. But this? This is absurd.
This rehoming practice happens with children as well and there are truly Facebook groups out there for finding new homes for adopted children as if they were a litter of kittens. Children with real-life issues need real-life solutions, love, and to be shown kindness that they may have never known before. Not to be seen as a burden to their new parents. Not to be seen as something temporary. Love is eternal.
I would kindly ask you to think with your heart when you bring any living thing home to spend its life with you, especially a child. The panic, confusion, depression, and feelings of abandonment, run deep, especially in a human child. Children are important. They are the future. We have to do better than this. This is unforgivable, unnecessary, and downright cruel.
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