A Reuters and NBC investigation revealed an Internet subculture in which parents "re-home" or give away adopted kids they no longer want.
Most of the time, but not all of the time, the adopted children were first adopted from foreign countries, and they typically range in age from 6-14.
Over a five-year period, Reuters found one child a week, on average, being "re-homed." What would drive parents to seek such a drastic measure?
The parents usually want to rid themselves of kids who came with unexpected behavioral issues, which the parents apparently can't deal with anymore.
The ads often sound like listings for unwanted pets. Wrote one "mother" (term used loosely), "I am totally ashamed to say it, but we do truly hate this boy!"
Others take a different, more positive approach to the same goal.
One more enticing ad read: "Born in October of 2000, this handsome boy 'Rick' was placed from India a year ago and is obedient and eager to please."
Through Yahoo and Facebook groups and other sites, parents and others advertise unwanted children, either with little government oversight or illegally.
It is a largely lawless marketplace where the needs of parents are often put ahead of the welfare of the orphans they brought to America in the first place.
One government official alerted child protection workers across the United States that the growing practice is “placing children in grave danger.â€
Even so, no laws specifically address “private re-homing,†a term typically used by owners seeking new homes for their pets, and no agency monitors the boards.
Not surprisingly, sometimes children end up in worse situations than before. Other times they are tracked down and returned to their adoptive parents.
Under the circumstances, it's hard to say if that's necessarily better.
Without question, adoption is a process involving a great deal of unknown variables, and requires immense emotional and psychological energy, and finances.
Still, doesn't anyone who signs up for it know that?
Whether you're having biological or adopted children - but especially with adopted children - you're not always in control and don't always get what you want.
Frustrating, sad and depressed as this might make you, letting a stranger on the Internet take a human being off your hands seems nothing short of insane.
Tell us, THGers: Have you ever heard of such a thing? Would you ever consider doing this? Do you know someone who has? Sound off in the comments.
The Hollywood Gossip
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