Blogpost #12, option A

I thought all the presentations were great, and they further developed our understanding of the breath of ethical issues in adoption. The topic of parents’ mental health state added a new dimension to adoption ethics that we have not talked about. Some presentations took conflicting sides, such as closed or open adoption. I thought it was great to see the different perspectives, and I respect each point. I enjoyed hearing Michael’s presentation about how adoption is generally an oppressive act. I thought it sounded harsh at first, but I can see his point after his presentation. In the Iris Young reading, powerless is one of the five faces of oppression. Adoption does put the adoptee at a powerless state. They do not have a say whether or not they want to stay with their birth families, whether or not they want to be adopted or who they get to be adopted by. To say that adoption is bad is wrong, but I do believe it does bestow a sense of powerlessness on the adoptee. However, the powerlessness is inevitable. It is part the situation in which the adoptee is in. 

Powerless seemed to be a major ethical issue in adoption because it was brought up in many presentation. For example, the presentation on open versus closed adoption included this form of oppression as an ethical issue. Another presentation topic that included powerless was transracial adoption. Transracial adoption is such a big category. I liked how the students who covered it had different aspects.

Overall, the presentations really showed me that adoption is a very ethical issue. Prior to the class, I did not realize or think about adoption as being a heated topic. From our class readings and class discussion, I have been enlighten to see all the areas within adoption that are controversial. I have also realized that there are so many sides to every ethical issue, and the criteria used to judge the ethical aspects are different in every scenario. 

Blog Post #12, Option 2

I would like to write this post as a feedback to Michael's ethics research paper idea.

I think Michael has a very good starting idea but he needs to be careful where he takes it. As we mentioned in class, he really needs to be careful with the language he uses to explain his side of it. After listening to his presentation in class, his argument seemed to come down to the main point that all adoptees are oppressed by their adoptive parents whether or not their adoptive parents intend to do so. The main question I have then is how can we be sure that it is the adoptive parents that are the oppressors? If adoptive parents don't really have control over the oppression of their child, could that mean that there is a third factor that is actually causing the oppression? Or is there a better option that would cause less oppression than the actual act of adoption?

In my opinion, every child experiences some form of oppression at some point in their life, regardless of whether they were adopted or not. We have all been powerless to some extent until we reach a certain age. Now, that is not to say that adoptees don't experience a different form of powerlessness, because I know they do, but is that really to be blamed on the adoptive parents, or is it more the responsibility of the birth parents or adoption agency? I know that Eldridge gives the impression that it is the adoptive parents who are to blame for this lack of voice, but I think it is important to address that there are some things that adoptive parents can do to lessen this oppression. Adoption inevitably oppresses the child right from the beginning by instating that first form of loss and it is the job of the adoptive parents to learn how to reverse some of that oppression and introduce a warm and loving environment. I do think that some adoptive parents fail to do this and that certainly can cause more harm than good, but most adoptive parents try to figure out how they can help to the best of their abilities.

That said, I think Michael has a good intention with this paper, but he just needs to be careful with the wording he uses for the accusations he makes against the adoptive parents.