My email exchange with Scott Simon at NPR Radio
In mid-2004 radio host of an NPR syndicated program, Scott Simon, and his wife returned home after adopting a daughter from China. He subsequently broadcast a beautiful, lyrical, but finally China-critical commentary about the new life she would embrace in the US. I wrote to him and expressed my dismay that as a journalist he would choose to use his public platform to thumb his nose at the Chinese government after they had made it possible for him to become a father and expressed my fear that it might have an impact on waiting families (including us).
He wrote back immediately and lambasted me for being 'naive', saying that his remarks would have absolutely no impact on adoption policies.
Well, here we are three years later and I finally wrote him back:
Hello Scott:
You and I corresponded in 2004 when my husband and I were waiting for our China adoption referral. You were responding to my concerns that, as a public figure with a national platform, your commentary about your daughter’s new life could potentially embarrass the authorities who set the policies for international adoptions.
You responded immediately, and were quite passionate in your defense of these remarks saying that your opinions about the positive aspects of her future in the US versus what she might have faced in China were the truth as you saw them and you felt it would have absolutely no impact on future adoptions.
Here I am finally replying – it took three years but I do believe public comments like yours did have an impact and led to an eventual tipping point. Over the years the Chinese government has been bearing increasing negative public opinion around the world regarding their one-child policy and the social consequences of a male-skewed population (not to mention the abandonment of so many girls). Was this justified? No question. But public comments from adoptive parents like you about the ‘better life’ these transplanted children would have in their new countries was bound to add salt to the wound. Rightly or wrongly, this has, in my opinion, had consequences for the children in orphanages who are now being restricted from leaving China.
You may argue differently but at this stage no-one outside the Chinese government can say for certain what caused these changes. Although the CCN claims it is because less children are available for adoption this is not borne out by the figures of orphanage populations. Many questions remain as to the cause of this major shift in adoption policy.
And in an bit of final irony (or perhaps a prescient fear on my part), if had the new rules been implemented before our turn, we would have been ineligible to adopt. But we were lucky. As it was we traveled to Guangzhou in November of 2004 and came home with a beautiful, intelligent, healthy little girl. She is much-loved and truly one of life's treasures.
Our little family is made up of citizens of three different countries and because of this we feel that homelands (no matter how brief the occupancy) play an important part in our identity. We live the concept of a global community in our home and to that end we hope one day she will return as a visitor to appreciate and embrace the China of her future. Being as loved as she is we can only hope she will bring our values, our strengths, and our vision with her.
Valen Watson
He wrote back immediately and lambasted me for being 'naive', saying that his remarks would have absolutely no impact on adoption policies.
Well, here we are three years later and I finally wrote him back:
Hello Scott:
You and I corresponded in 2004 when my husband and I were waiting for our China adoption referral. You were responding to my concerns that, as a public figure with a national platform, your commentary about your daughter’s new life could potentially embarrass the authorities who set the policies for international adoptions.
You responded immediately, and were quite passionate in your defense of these remarks saying that your opinions about the positive aspects of her future in the US versus what she might have faced in China were the truth as you saw them and you felt it would have absolutely no impact on future adoptions.
Here I am finally replying – it took three years but I do believe public comments like yours did have an impact and led to an eventual tipping point. Over the years the Chinese government has been bearing increasing negative public opinion around the world regarding their one-child policy and the social consequences of a male-skewed population (not to mention the abandonment of so many girls). Was this justified? No question. But public comments from adoptive parents like you about the ‘better life’ these transplanted children would have in their new countries was bound to add salt to the wound. Rightly or wrongly, this has, in my opinion, had consequences for the children in orphanages who are now being restricted from leaving China.
You may argue differently but at this stage no-one outside the Chinese government can say for certain what caused these changes. Although the CCN claims it is because less children are available for adoption this is not borne out by the figures of orphanage populations. Many questions remain as to the cause of this major shift in adoption policy.
And in an bit of final irony (or perhaps a prescient fear on my part), if had the new rules been implemented before our turn, we would have been ineligible to adopt. But we were lucky. As it was we traveled to Guangzhou in November of 2004 and came home with a beautiful, intelligent, healthy little girl. She is much-loved and truly one of life's treasures.
Our little family is made up of citizens of three different countries and because of this we feel that homelands (no matter how brief the occupancy) play an important part in our identity. We live the concept of a global community in our home and to that end we hope one day she will return as a visitor to appreciate and embrace the China of her future. Being as loved as she is we can only hope she will bring our values, our strengths, and our vision with her.
Valen Watson
posted by vallie at 3:23 PM
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