You cannot be held accountable for what the media chooses to do, and I hope that Guatadopt readers realize that. Some balance will be much better than what we are used to seeing, so thank you all so much for all that you have done to try to bring some truth and perspective to this show! I'm sure we will all be waiting in hopefully anticipation.

I will be interested to watch it.... I hope it will be balanced and show some of the positive in adoptions from guat! Especially in light of the current situation - the last thing guat adoptions need is another slam from the media!

Praying for all families in limbo........my heart goes out to you all and my family is praying!!

Gloria
mom to 5 Guatemalan blessings

I thank guatadopt (particularly Troy and his family and Kevin) for participating and cooperating with NBC and the producers of dateline. I, for one, am totally comfortable that you represented adoptive parents, children, and PAPs.

You can never trust the media, nor can you believe everything that they say as truth. HOWEVER; it seems as if Dateline has at least wanted to get their facts straight. I was truly saddened when I watched the Anderson Cooper 360 show on Guatemalan adoptions a few months back...I felt bad for the guy because I have never seen a reporter with their facts so badly misconstrued, he truly looked like a fool. Thank you Troy for your participation, and courage, going into this. We look forward to the story.

I was one of the people who gave Troy a hard time last year when he announced he was cooperating with Dateline. I have since come to understand and appreciate Troy's participation - and I think that no matter how the story ends up, his heart and intentions were in the right place. I am anxious, like everyone else, to see how it turns out. :)

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for the info. I know you can't tell us much, but I still have to ask-sorry.

Our child was at Felciano's Hogar when the show was taping there. Did they tape a lot of the children too or just the interview with him. Can you tell me if they have positive info on his place?

Many of our family have seen video's of our child there and heard us use Felciano's name, so I guess I'm just trying to be prepared.

Thanks for all you do!

Tape it because we might want to show our children when they are older later or do you mean tape so we can watch without them alone?

Groan, I am so tired of these stories. Just once I would like them to cover how all the same garbage and allegations were made in Romania and then go through the human rights records and trafficking issues before and after they closed ICA down there so they might think for one second of the "hot" story with Guatemala which is an old story really and is the same garbage politics with all of ICA. I'm tired of being treated like we victimized our children. I'm sure glad all those kids tied to cots in Romania and Russia aren't being victimized by american parents who just want to raise a child [sarcasm].

I can't imagine anyone being angry with you for participating. My only hope is there is at least a little balance if they interviewed you and that they get at least some of the figures right. It seems they are always quoting what APs do from nonAP sources. Seems if they wanted to know what we do they'd ask us.

Thank you for all you do. Whatever slant they want to put on it is in their hands. The sleezy slant of course is always the most appealing to viewers. Happy families are boring.

frankly, at this point I am much more interested in *accurate* than I am in 'positive'. Over the past 5+ years the 'bad and ugly stuff' has escalated dramatically as pressures on the system have mounted. Where we are today is the result, and more of us need to understand without denying the realities of what has happened and the possibilities of the truths of our children's adoptions. JMO. Lisa

The only thing that worries me is that so many more people watch Dateline and if Guatemalan adoptions are portrayed in a negative way then so many more people will believe that our children were either bought or stolen or both. People take what they hear on TV to be absolute fact. I feel like it is so many more people that we will have to defend our families to. But maybe they did do a good job and it will bring more attention to Guatemalan adoptions and the need to find children a home.

For the record, I (Kevin) do not appear in the story. Troy does. How much Guatadopt will be mentioned, I do not know but you can anticipate a wider range of readers after the show airs.

One more word of "caution"... NBC will run commercials for this segment. I am supposed to find out when those will begin to air. Being a marketing professional, I can safely assume that those promos will appear "sensationalized" to many of us. Those are designed to get people to tune in and controversy (or sex) do that well. I doubt there's any sex in this story so that means they will need to go controversy for the promos.

Lastly, know that nothing which appears in this piece will have any impact on the future of in-process or other adoptions. I've had enough experience with teh powers-that-be to know that these things don't influence them.

Kevvin
Guatadopt.com

The "promos" will likely start on the 14th, from my information. We were forewarned that "our" producer has little influence on the "promos." We did insist that our family NOT be shown in any background or in any way that portrayed "baby buying," "stealing," etc....

We shall see.

Troy

what I am wondering if posting on the web site on Dateline will help or hurt our cases.

Nice timing. Right when major U.S. media coverage seems to have died down, Dateline goes for it. Now our families and friend's doubts can be validated. Adopting a homeless child from Guatemala is not a good thing because we forced an impoverished mother to give up her baby for money, or to give birth to a baby for money. I resent that the DOS have allowed PAPs to take the blame. Our government had the opportunity to stop allowing adoptions from Guatemala, but knew that doing so would put an already impoverished nation of children at greater risk. So they continued to let us adopt, but publicly placed blame on their citizens through their warnings. These media sensations are a discredit and degrading to women. Okay, so yes, problems should have been fixed a long time ago, but please don't blame the birth mothers or the prospective parents. Our governments are to blame.

Just a question: I am new to this forum and have missed a lot. My prospective child is at Feliciano's Hogar Nuevo Amanacer, which I saw mentioned above. What is the connection here to the TV program? Is his the only hogar that was taped for the show? Are we expecting something bad in particular with Feliciano's hogar, or only just by association with the whole story?

DonnaG!
I totally agree with you. The way both of our goverments have been acting is awfull. Also after tomorrow the Bergers will be sailing into the sunset without ever being able to answer to all of this mess.

Glad to hear the authorities are not swayed much by the press either. Shows how much credibility they have.

What really angers me about this whole thing is there is an anti-ICA adoption deal out there. We all know it. Why didn't you adopt at home. So people would LOVE to have another story slurring our families. The media is happy to comply and our children and families have to live with the perceptions and accusations afterwards. Do they realize fueling anti-adoption sentiments reduces the number of people who would be willing to go this route? They would if they cared.

The truth noone wants to confess to is noone cared about the kids or thought about the kids until we started bringing them home. Then they ask where did these children come from? The simple answer is oh the APs must be creating them. Remove the market and no more unwanted kids in this world. Unicef wants them to do what they did in Romania. Then no more children show up so everyone can go back to their burger commercials and not ever ask or question what happened to the other kids and whether there is still a problem.

In regards to Feliciano's, I highly doubt there is much. I would suspect there will be more about our pick-up trip on Dateline's website than on the actual program. With all the filming that took place (with us alone), I imagine we are only a small part of the program.

I look for more stuff from my actual interview to be aired than anything else. I'm guessing that may be the only part of the program where someone is attempting to "stand up" for the children, biomothers, and adoptive families caught up in the media frenzy.

There is NO way everything will make it on the program - simply impossible. And, look for the promos to be upsetting. Prepare for the worst and hope for the best.

In the big scheme of things, the program will have little effect on much. No one, and I mean NO ONE can make me feel like less a person or parent because we chose to adopt from Guatemala. Our three daughters will grow up strong, healthy, intelligent, and quite honestly "sassy" about who they are, and their mom and dad will be right there "in their corner" the entire time!!

Troy,
Love that attitude! You must be an awesome Dad!
Hey, you never posted the news about your third pick-up and where are the photos! Or did I miss it?

As far as Dateline, they will do what they will do, and I will deal with whatever comes. I am really hoping that they will keep their word and provide some balance.

About the promos, I thank you for the warnings. I hadn't thought of that. We rarely watch TV in our house so we likely will miss them, but I will use extra caution this week.

Troy, Kevin, Kelly, and all involved to try to get balance in this piece, thanks so much for your efforts. It is now in their hands about whether or not they act responsibly, and none of you are responsible if the outcome is negative.

Lizzie

#3 is home, and our house is in total chaos! 8) Alexia has been home since first week of Nov. Whoever told me that adding a third is just a matter of "feeding another mouth" - was NUTS!

I'll post in the near future with more detail - with pics.

tw

Is this the only segment airing during this show? Is it going to be a FULL HOUR of Guat. adoptions? Not looking forward to this...

Nice to see that you're all jumping on the "blame the media" bandwagon before you even see the report. The ONLY things you know so far, from this post, are that Troy was interviewed and there will be a bad story there. You do NOT know if the other families who were interviewed were good or bad stories, you don't know if they ALSO tried to "stand up for the children, biomothers, and adoptive families caught up in the media frenzy." It's quite possible that someone had a bad story and STILL believes that many adoptions took place without the bribes and lies that marked their own case.

Please remember that the GOVERNMENTS are the ones who are stopping adoptions, NOT the media. And remember that the governments are merely responding to the concern about the unethical practices used in some cases. What's become most astounding to me is that every time a change is made to protect the adoptive families, the birth families, and the children, it's only the US adoptive parents that are crying out "It's not FAIR!!!!" Yes, it might take me more time to bring a child home, but frankly I'm more concerned with doing it RIGHT than doing it FAST. If you don't feel the same way, that's fine by me. But please don't berate me for wanting, make that DEMANDING, an ethical adoption process.

I really have never met or conversed with an adoptive family that supported unethical adoptions. That is not to say they did not get caught up in a system that lacked ethical oversight in their situations.

The other "parts" of the story, which are 100% Guatemalan adoption, are left to perception. The families involved are no doubt for ethical adoptions and their stance on their situations I'm sure are quite clear. But, as "media" goes, there will be "slants" intended to draw a wider audience than those of us that frequent guatadopt.

I tried to sell them on the idea of showing an entire hour of "the good" in international adoption, and how the majority of adoptions are indeed legal and ethical. You know how far that went!! 8)

troy

There's just no point (except ratings) in Dateline airing this story right now, assuming they're following the same old format (Anderson Cooper style). Major changes have been made to the adoption process, and no one really knows how it's all going to pan out - it's not like we need Dateline to prove that changes need to be made. Now, they *could* do a show about how Guatemalan children are basically in crisis, adoption meets the needs of a few, unfortunately a small percentage of adoptions involve corrupt actions, governments are trying to change the situation, but are they acting in the best interest of the children, and what can we do for the children left behind.... those are some high-level issues that should be covered in the show, but probably won't be.
Why devote so much air time to negative adoption stories when 50% of Guatemalan children have their growth stunted due to severe malnutrition? Why are people more shocked by a few scandalous adoption stories than by the plight of thousands of malnourished children? If NO ONE was doing anything to "fix" adoption, then yes - media attention is deserved. But changes are in fact being made, no thanks to the media.
I totally agree with lisa2 above that many people love to see stories slamming adoptive parents. We're seen as rich, white, successful, do-gooders - it's tempting to want to knock us down a peg or two!
Just wanted to add that I am very grateful to Troy and his family for appearing on this show and working so hard to help Dateline get it right!

Anonymous,
Did not see anyone berate you here for feeling that way.

I agree with Troy that I do not know any adoptive parents or PAPs that support or agree with unethical practices.

I am guessing that you are not currently in process and are not enduring this current situation which on most days is close to unbearable.

Short adoptions?
Have you heard of any lately? Certainly has not been the norm or the average since about a year ago.
I know at least 50 families currently in process or who have brought children homw in this past year. None were younger than 10 mo. old and most were in the 15-20 month range. I also know seral that are at or above the 2 year mark. Why? Mostly due to additional scrutiny, and the rest due to politics and the thirs due to the fact that my lawyer will not pay bribes or participate in unethical actions. Seems like you are going by old information if you really believe Guatemala adoptions are still going fast.

Governments get a lot of help from the press and other propaganda, don't kid yourself.

Also anonymous
waiting for a child almost 14 months now with no end in sight.

I'm okay with blaming the media. Not for the whole thing but certainly for their play in things. The media is very influencial on the general public. The governments have to respond to their public. So if the media prints constant reports about adoptive parents murdering their children or "speedy adoptions" or prints hearsay from various parties it quickly becomes truth, upsets people who demand action from their governments, then the governments typically have to do something to make it appear they are doing their jobs. I take back what I said about glad to hear the governments are not influenced by the media. Not directly but eventually it comes full circle.

And yes Im one who takes for granted that the dateline piece will stoop to the level of all the news agencies. Better than many maybe. But they have to sell too.

Anonymous,

FYI ... I work in the TV industry. Thankfully on the technical side of things, and not on the production end of it all. I thankfully don't have to decide what gets on air and what doesn't. By the way the media does put a certain slant on situations. It's all about ratings and showing human interest stories, often stories where somehow somewhere people are suffering. I'm sure the show won't show all in process families suffering to bring their babies home. The show should see how much we love our children and how lucky we feel to become parents to these beautiful children.. Yes the governments are the ones to hinder adoptions but the media does love the drama as well. UNFORTUNATELY.

Rebecca

Anonymous,

Everyone wants an ethical adoption process. And I would think that everyone wants their child to come home as soon as possible. The younger the better. There's nothing wrong with that. The system should work as quick and as ethical as possible. That's what is best for the children, to be with their forever family as soon as it is legally possible.

It's already starting off badly:
http://insidedateline.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2008/01/14/577517.aspx

Though I do like Troy's comment!

Well, I just went to the MSNBC / Dateline page and wrote my story and submitted a picture. I hope I won't live to regret it, but since my story is kinda boring they probably won't use it anyway! I think we had a smooth, quick, scandal-free adoption and to this day don't see how anything unethical could have happened in the course of it. If what our birthmother put on the paperwork is to be believed, then she just simply couldn't care for another child and saw adoption as a way for him to be cared for and loved by a family in America. I really don't think I'm in denial, or overlooking some key fact that would show how she was cooerced into selling her baby. If something like that ever surfaced I would fall over from the shock of it, but truly our adoption was so smooth I was suprized. It only took 9 months from referal to pick up. Of course, we had previously suffered through a long 2 year battle with a chinese adoption that ended with us finally being rejected because my husband is in a wheelchair, so anything was going to seem easy in comparrison!