Author Janine reviews Roelie Post’s book, Romania for Export Only: the Untold Story of the Romanian ‘Orphans’.

Roelie Post‘s book, Romania for Export Only: the Untold Story of the Romanian ‘Orphans’, exposes the formation of an unjust legalized system called inter-country adoption, in which children are taken from their families and sent to foreigners.

By reading the book, I was given insights into how adoption lobbyists forcefully and subtly manipulate their agenda into countries—one country at a time. This particular book focuses on Romania. The author does not tell the reader what to believe, but rather we get to form our own opinion as we follow her experiences in the effort to protect the Romanian children between 1999 and 2006.

Roelie writes the book in a diary format, which starts on the first day of her new position for the European Commission.

Diary entries document and demonstrate how the adoption lobbyists infiltrated Romania, and as a result –just like in Asia and now in parts of Africa– created a “child protection” mess that Human Rights Activists and adult adopted people are currently trying to clean up. Her book is informative, suspenseful, and shines a light on the adoption corruption that has intentionally been kept hidden from the mainstream.

Because I was labeled an “orphan” by an American-owned adoption agency and then sent overseas in 1972, I am motivated to investigate the inter-country adoption underworld.

I am able to recognize how Roelie’s attempt to protect the Romanian children correlates with my attempt to find my Korean family. The diary entries confirm the feelings I’ve had as an adult adoptee, but have been unacknowledged and resisted by those who profit from the industry. I applaud Roelie for having the courage to detail her time, working on Romania’s child protection efforts.

After researching adoption and participating in adult adoptee groups and discussions for years, I have watched the concerned voices of adult adoptees be ignored, demeaned, insulted, and attacked by zealous adoption lobbyists and facilitators.

In the global effort to “save” children under the veneer of love and protection, inter-country adoption has exploded into an operation that finds homes for children who already have families. It is not about the abandonment of children, but shaming and deserting vulnerable mothers, fathers, family units, and communities.

By the time I had finished Romania for Export Only, Roelie had earned my respect.

I admire the author’s empathy for the children and her ability to stay focused and tenacious throughout the story–especially when faced with adversaries. Readers will understand how challenging it was for the Romanian Team to protect the children against an intentional, strategic, and determined force. We all know that when history is ignored, it is bound to repeat itself. And it has. Adoption profiteers have spanned their web into every continent on earth.  Let us not ignore this account.

Roelie Post, founder of Against Child Trafficking.

This organization is vital in the movement to protect the family and recognize the crimes committed. Against Child Trafficking promotes the UNCRC (United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child), which first and foremost gives children the right to be cared for by their families and to stay within their original communities. In order to end inter-country adoption abuses—also deemed “glorified” child trafficking by many adults adopted people and survivors—we must follow the money and hold the guilty accountable. Governments are being deceived. Families are being coerced and manipulated. Child trafficking is a crime. It is time for the voice of the severed families and our advocates to be heard. It is time to take action.

Romania for Export Only: the Untold Story of the Romanian ‘Orphans’ is a must-read. 

Thank you for your consideration in this matter,

Janine Vance, author of The Search for Mother Missing: A Peek Inside International Adoption, Adoptionland: From Orphans to Activists, Adoption: What You Should Know & Co-Founder of Adoption Truth and Transparency Worldwide Information Network. 

P.S. How do we resolve the adoption trafficking crisis? Education is key. Knowledge plus action equals power. The power is with the people. 

If you would like to know more about my childhood personal experiences, my childhood memories are told in the book Twins Found in a Box and The Search for Mother Missing, under the name VANCE available on Amazon.

 

The Intersection Between Child Trafficking and International Adoption