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GROUPS SEEK ACCURATE ADOPTION REPORTING
Accurate Adoption Reporting
2115 Ward Court, N.W., Dept. MF, Washington D.C. 20037
Press Release
Contact: Mike Feazel, 703-281-9188
Kathryn Creedy
GROUPS SEEK ACCURATE ADOPTION REPORTING
Washington, DC -- More than 100 adoption groups, professionals and
individuals have signed a letter to journalists around the country, urging
them to use accurate and sensitive language when reporting about adoption.
Among the key issues raised in the letter are that a person's adoption
should only be mentioned when it is directly related to the news story, and
the inappropriateness of using terms like abandoned and unwanted when
referring to children available for adoption.
"Through their word choices, even well-meaning journalists can and have
inadvertently conveyed the misconception that adoptive families are somehow
less genuine and permanent, and that people who were adopted -- and their
role in a family -- remain somehow different," said the letter to
journalists. "The reality is that adoption is as valid a way of joining a
family as birth. A stylebook entry on adoption would help journalists use
language that conveys the fact that adoptive families are just like any
other, both in law and in loving relationships."
Signatories felt the effort to convince journalists to use appropriate
language is important because at least six million people in the U.S. were
adopted into their families, and the number of Americans touched by adoption
exceeds 100 million. Currently, language used often conveys antiquated and
inaccurate attitudes about adoption that affects children and society.
The letter is being sent to the editor of the Associated Press Stylebook,
used by journalists throughout the country as their basic guide to writing
style, and to the editors of stylebooks used by a wide range of other
publications. The signers hope the letter will convince the stylebook
editors to add an entry on adoption in stylebooks, which would quickly
result in journalists nationwide using more appropriate language when
reporting about adoption. A copy of the suggested entry is attached.
The nationwide Accurate Adoption Reporting campaign already has received
widespread attention, including a feature in a major article in the Los
Angeles Times, one of the nation's largest and most-influential newspapers.
The article was reprinted in newspapers throughout the United States.
The letter has also generated significant support from prominent groups and
individuals within the adoption community. Among the groups and individuals
signing are Celebrate Adoption, the Center for Adoption Support & Education,
Families With Children from China, several authors and publishers of
adoption books, adoption agencies and social workers, celebrity adoptive
parents such as actor Joe Spano and CBS Senior Vice President Mitch Semel,
and dozens of individual adoptive parents.
The letter to editors said journalists need to describe adoption accurately
and objectively, but news and feature stories have often employe inaccurate,
even sensationalized, language about adoption. For example, many
obituaries of Maureen Reagan mentioned that her brother Michael was adopted.
The fact that he was adopted 50 years ago was as relevant as information
that someone else was born prematurely or by C-section, the letter said.
Coverage of the Tom Cruise-Nicole Kidman divorce typically described the
couple as having "two adopted children." Again, the fact they were adopted
is irrelevant. A spokesman for Cruise and Kidman said this kind of language
is insulting.
SUGGESTED ADOPTION STYLE
As in the case of race or gender, the fact a person was adopted should be
mentioned only if it's absolutely essential to the story. If it is
mentioned, the relevance must be clear in the context of the story.
Mentioning adoption when it's not relevant wrongly implies a separate
category of family relationship. A daughter who joined the family through
adoption is -- and should be described as -- simply a daughter. If it's
necessary to mention adoption, we suggest phrasing such as: "She was adopted
in 1997" rather than "she is adopted." Adoption is one of many events in a
person's life, not an immutable personal trait.
An adopted person's parents (those who are raising the child) should be
referred to simply as father, mother or parents. The man and woman who
shared in the child's conception can be referred to as the birth, genetic or
biological parents (not "real" or "natural" parents).
Writers should avoid terms such as "abandoned" or "given up," both for
accuracy and sensitivity reasons. It usually is inaccurate to refer to
children available for adoption as orphans. Often, the birth parents are
alive. These children also shouldn't be referred to as unwanted.
Sociological or legal factors often force birth parents to relinquish their
parental rights and make a child available for adoption -- which is very
different from abandoning them or "giving them up." In the interest of
accuracy, birth parents can be said to have placed the child for adoption,
made an adoption plan, made them available for adoption, or transferred
parental rights.
The reason why people adopt is not usually relevant to a story. Infertility
often plays a role, but so do other factors, and many adopt simply because
this is a joyful way to make a family. Language suggesting parents
"couldn't have a baby of their own" is inaccurate. These children are our
own by law and by love. Such language suggests adoption is second best, and
that can be hurtful. Also, the phrase "a child of their own" is an
inappropriate reference to birth children.
Stories should never imply that adoptive parents are unusually selfless or
otherwise saintly. In most cases, we adopted simply because we want to
parent children. We are no more saintly or selfless than any other parent.
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