Free The Child Catchers: Rescue, Trafficking, and the New Gospel of Adoption by Kathryn Joyce Page B

the adoptive parents and the children. Because the government, not hosting programs, controls adoptions, US families hosting children may be preparing to adopt children who aren’t actually available. * But the greater danger is for the children, who are often all too aware that the trip may be an opportunity for adoption, having seen their friends undergo the process before. For those not chosen by host families, the repercussions can be severe, as the children feel rejected and face an increased risk for suicide.
    In other words, there’s a reason for all the rules that Benz breezily dismisses as bureaucracy. But because of these legal requirements, Benz said,“When you go on our website you’ll see very little about adoption. It’s for that reason.”
    But on the ground it’s all about adoption. Tom estimates that he spends four Sundays out of five speaking at churches to enlarge the circle of volunteers, prospective adoptive parents, and donors, including a local state senator who donated $25,000 to bring one group of children over. And behind the scenes in Ukraine it’s about adoption too, as Benz and his Ukrainian staff work with orphanage directors to select children who are available for adoption to come to Alabama and meet potential parents.
    “These kids are not told it’s about adoption,” Benz said with a boyish smirk, “because in Ukraine, it’s not about adoption. But the kids all know. . . . They’re all smarter than the government.” Many orphanage kids have seen their friends go abroad, then get adopted shortly after their return. Adoptees sometimes call or Skype back to the orphanage to stay in touch with friends and tell them about their life in a new country. So when the orphan groups come to Alabama looking for families, Benz said, some kids will “suck up” to a family they like or petition the adoption coordinator, Natasha, to allow them to spend more time with a particular set of potential parents.
    Acknowledging this seemed to spark some doubt in Benz as he reflected on the August 2011 group that came, a group of preteen and teenage boys who had generated the fewest requests for adoption (possibly because girls are often favored in adoption). “The worst thing about these groups is sending them home,” admitted Benz. Recalling their departure at the airport with sadness, he said, “I never got so many manly handshakes and manly hugs.” But when the boys got through security, he continued, “they were bawling like babies,” asking Larissa, “‘What if I’m not adopted? What if I’m not adopted?’” Benz grew somber for a moment, thinking. “We’re not supposed to talk about it, but some of them found out anyway.”
    BENZ ISN’T ONE of the bad guys in this book. On the contrary, he seems like a genuinely nice man with a sincere love of children. But Benz’s type of eager, well-meaning naiveté is, in many respects, more dangerous for appearing so benign. Besides the fact that Benz’s Haiti plans fell through before he could implement them and that he seems like such a nicer person, how much did his scheme differ from that of Laura Silsby? And how different is the strategy he eventually implemented in Ukraine, similarly misleading two governments as a result of his own confidence that getting children to America justifies bending the rules and the truth?
    Benz’s plans are an illustration of how temporary the lessons from Haiti can be, how common its ethical scandals are to other countries, and how supportive advocates nonetheless remain of adoption projects established as rescue operations. Tom Benz is undeniably a more sympathetic representative of the Christian adoption cause, giving voice to an urge to help children, an urge that many could share. However, his approach to adoption, whether from Haiti or Ukraine, was undertaken with the same beginners’ zeal and faith that drove Laura Silsby: that his good intentions outweigh other countries’ laws. It’s a faith