Showing posts with label adoption coercion. Show all posts
Showing posts with label adoption coercion. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
What The Man Said
"It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his job depends on not understanding it." - Upton Sinclair
Monday, July 7, 2008
More Light Reading
From the Marsh Law Blog : The International Best Interests of the Child and US Child Welfare Industry Hypocrisy
http://www.childlaw.us/2008/07/the-international-best-interes.html
H/T to BL for bringing to our attention these next two essays on how the words we choose to use when speaking about interpersonal violence work to reframe and conceal that violence. The relevance of this topic will be clear to those of us whose children were taken away by force, against our will.
http://www.yaletownfamilytherapy.com/tcpapers/allanwade03.doc
Language and Violence:
Analysis of Four Discursive Operations
Linda Coates and Allan Wade
http://www.yaletownfamilytherapy.com/tcpapers/allanwade01.doc
Despair, Resistance, Hope:
Response-Based Therapy with Victims of Violence
Allan Wade, Ph.D.
Barb, for myself
http://www.childlaw.us/2008/07/the-international-best-interes.html
H/T to BL for bringing to our attention these next two essays on how the words we choose to use when speaking about interpersonal violence work to reframe and conceal that violence. The relevance of this topic will be clear to those of us whose children were taken away by force, against our will.
http://www.yaletownfamilytherapy.com/tcpapers/allanwade03.doc
Language and Violence:
Analysis of Four Discursive Operations
Linda Coates and Allan Wade
http://www.yaletownfamilytherapy.com/tcpapers/allanwade01.doc
Despair, Resistance, Hope:
Response-Based Therapy with Victims of Violence
Allan Wade, Ph.D.
Barb, for myself
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
You Do The Math
Please bookmark this paper: http://www.econ.ucla.edu/hotz/working_papers/teen.pdf
I am not going to comment on this. I simply want to going to bring this paper to your attention. Everything you read is a direct quote from the paper.
Teenage Childbearing and Its Life Cycle Consequences:Exploiting a Natural Experiment*
Abstract
"We exploit a “natural experiment” associated with human reproduction to identify the causal effect of teen childbearing on the socioeconomic attainment of teen mothers. We exploit the fact that some women who become pregnant experience a miscarriage and do not have a live birth. Using miscarriages an instrumental variable, we estimate the effect of teen mothers not delaying their childbearing on their subsequent attainment. We find that many of the negative consequences of teenage childbearing are much smaller than those found in previous studies. For most outcomes, the adverse consequences of early childbearing are short-lived. Finally, for annual hours of work and earnings, we find that a teen mother would have lower levels of each at older ages if they had delayed their childbearing."
V. Joseph Hotz
Department of Economics
UCLA
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Susan Williams McElroy
School of Social Sciences
University of Texas at Dallas
Richardson, TX 75083
Seth G. Sanders
Department of Economics
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
"Our major finding is that many of the apparent negative consequences of teenage child bearing on the subsequent socioeconomic attainment of teen mothers are much smaller than those found in studies that use alternative methodologies to identify the causal effects of teenage childbearing. We also find evidence that teenage mothers earn more in the labor market at older ages than they would have earned if they had delayed their births. Comparing our IV estimates with estimates based on ordinary least squares (OLS) regression methods that control for observable characteristics, we find that the apparent negative consequences previously attributed to teenage childbearing appear to be the result of the failure to account for other, unobservable factors. "(pg.5)
V. Conclusion "In this study, we have used an alternative and innovative strategy to estimate the causal effects associated with teenage childbearing in the U.S. In particular, we have focused on women who first become pregnant as teenagers and employ a natural experiment to obtain a more comparable,and plausible, comparison group with which to derive estimates of counterfactual outcomes for teen mothers. Our results suggest that much of the “concern” that has been registered regarding teenage childbearing is misplaced, at least based on its consequences for the subsequent educational and economic attainment of teen mothers. In particular, our estimates imply that the “poor” outcomes attained by such women cannot be attributed, in a causal sense, primarily to their decision to begin their childbearing at an early age. Rather, it appears that these outcomes are more the result of social and economic circumstances than they are the result of the early childbearing of these women.Furthermore, our estimates suggest that simply delaying their childbearing would not greatly enhance their educational attainment or subsequent earnings or affect their family structure. " (pg.28)
"Taken together, the results presented in this article call into question the view that teenage childbearing is one of the nation’s most serious social problems, at least when one measures its severity in terms of the potential financial gains to these women and to taxpayers of having allteen mothers delay their childbearing until they are older. At the same time, we caution the reader not to generalize from these findings. We have considered only selected potential consequences of teenage childbearing. Furthermore, the findings from one study cannot be considered as conclusive. However, for many of the socioeconomic outcomes considered in this article, our findings are consistent with the estimated effects of teenage childbearing found in the work of Geronimus and Korenman (1992) and Grogger and Bronars (1993). Our work, along with these earlier studies, raises serious doubts about the extent and nature of teenage childbearing as a “social problem” in the U.S. More importantly, our research casts doubt on the view that postponing childbearing will improve the socioeconomic attainment of teen mothers in any substantial way. " (pg. 29)
I am not going to comment on this. I simply want to going to bring this paper to your attention. Everything you read is a direct quote from the paper.
Teenage Childbearing and Its Life Cycle Consequences:Exploiting a Natural Experiment*
Abstract
"We exploit a “natural experiment” associated with human reproduction to identify the causal effect of teen childbearing on the socioeconomic attainment of teen mothers. We exploit the fact that some women who become pregnant experience a miscarriage and do not have a live birth. Using miscarriages an instrumental variable, we estimate the effect of teen mothers not delaying their childbearing on their subsequent attainment. We find that many of the negative consequences of teenage childbearing are much smaller than those found in previous studies. For most outcomes, the adverse consequences of early childbearing are short-lived. Finally, for annual hours of work and earnings, we find that a teen mother would have lower levels of each at older ages if they had delayed their childbearing."
V. Joseph Hotz
Department of Economics
UCLA
Los Angeles, CA 90095
Susan Williams McElroy
School of Social Sciences
University of Texas at Dallas
Richardson, TX 75083
Seth G. Sanders
Department of Economics
University of Maryland
College Park, MD 20742
"Our major finding is that many of the apparent negative consequences of teenage child bearing on the subsequent socioeconomic attainment of teen mothers are much smaller than those found in studies that use alternative methodologies to identify the causal effects of teenage childbearing. We also find evidence that teenage mothers earn more in the labor market at older ages than they would have earned if they had delayed their births. Comparing our IV estimates with estimates based on ordinary least squares (OLS) regression methods that control for observable characteristics, we find that the apparent negative consequences previously attributed to teenage childbearing appear to be the result of the failure to account for other, unobservable factors. "(pg.5)
V. Conclusion "In this study, we have used an alternative and innovative strategy to estimate the causal effects associated with teenage childbearing in the U.S. In particular, we have focused on women who first become pregnant as teenagers and employ a natural experiment to obtain a more comparable,and plausible, comparison group with which to derive estimates of counterfactual outcomes for teen mothers. Our results suggest that much of the “concern” that has been registered regarding teenage childbearing is misplaced, at least based on its consequences for the subsequent educational and economic attainment of teen mothers. In particular, our estimates imply that the “poor” outcomes attained by such women cannot be attributed, in a causal sense, primarily to their decision to begin their childbearing at an early age. Rather, it appears that these outcomes are more the result of social and economic circumstances than they are the result of the early childbearing of these women.Furthermore, our estimates suggest that simply delaying their childbearing would not greatly enhance their educational attainment or subsequent earnings or affect their family structure. " (pg.28)
"Taken together, the results presented in this article call into question the view that teenage childbearing is one of the nation’s most serious social problems, at least when one measures its severity in terms of the potential financial gains to these women and to taxpayers of having allteen mothers delay their childbearing until they are older. At the same time, we caution the reader not to generalize from these findings. We have considered only selected potential consequences of teenage childbearing. Furthermore, the findings from one study cannot be considered as conclusive. However, for many of the socioeconomic outcomes considered in this article, our findings are consistent with the estimated effects of teenage childbearing found in the work of Geronimus and Korenman (1992) and Grogger and Bronars (1993). Our work, along with these earlier studies, raises serious doubts about the extent and nature of teenage childbearing as a “social problem” in the U.S. More importantly, our research casts doubt on the view that postponing childbearing will improve the socioeconomic attainment of teen mothers in any substantial way. " (pg. 29)
Sunday, June 15, 2008
Can't We All Just Get Along?
Since you asked....
No.
Here's why.
1) You, with your dollars, continue to support an industry that exploits women so abjectly poor that they lose their children. Lose their children. With some support, these families could remain intact. That means that many of these adoptions are unnecessary. Unnecessary adoption is an evil in the way that unnecessary war is an evil. This is because adoption is war. War on poor women.
2) You continue to demonize, dehumanize, marginalize and otherwise project your own personal flaws on to pregnant women who are so poor that they find theselves faced with the prospect of losing their child to adoption. You use these projections to rationalize your actions. You want to maintain the charade of rationalization by making nice with your victim once you get what you want. You want her to be a good little girl , smile, and pop another bun out of the oven for you. You want her to tell you how wonderful you are when you're done emptying her womb. You want, demand, extort, cajole her to verbalize gratitude for her exploitation. You want to use language and social convention to conceal the fact that separation of mother and child by adoption is violent. This is violence done to her and her child for the sake of the dollars you provide. You fund this violence, this war, but you want to conceal that fact. In other words, you want her to make nice to support you in your denial.
Hasn't she already done enough for you?
You want more, more, more?
You need therapy, not adoption.
3) You continue to regard yourselves as some sort of saint, when in point of plain fact, the statistics say that your infertility is most likely the result of a lifestyle choice you made.
4) The injustices of the past have never been addressed. The exploitations of the present continue unabated.
No justice, no peace.
Barb, for myself
No.
Here's why.
1) You, with your dollars, continue to support an industry that exploits women so abjectly poor that they lose their children. Lose their children. With some support, these families could remain intact. That means that many of these adoptions are unnecessary. Unnecessary adoption is an evil in the way that unnecessary war is an evil. This is because adoption is war. War on poor women.
2) You continue to demonize, dehumanize, marginalize and otherwise project your own personal flaws on to pregnant women who are so poor that they find theselves faced with the prospect of losing their child to adoption. You use these projections to rationalize your actions. You want to maintain the charade of rationalization by making nice with your victim once you get what you want. You want her to be a good little girl , smile, and pop another bun out of the oven for you. You want her to tell you how wonderful you are when you're done emptying her womb. You want, demand, extort, cajole her to verbalize gratitude for her exploitation. You want to use language and social convention to conceal the fact that separation of mother and child by adoption is violent. This is violence done to her and her child for the sake of the dollars you provide. You fund this violence, this war, but you want to conceal that fact. In other words, you want her to make nice to support you in your denial.
Hasn't she already done enough for you?
You want more, more, more?
You need therapy, not adoption.
3) You continue to regard yourselves as some sort of saint, when in point of plain fact, the statistics say that your infertility is most likely the result of a lifestyle choice you made.
4) The injustices of the past have never been addressed. The exploitations of the present continue unabated.
No justice, no peace.
Barb, for myself
Monday, December 31, 2007
Wandering Adoption IV
Empress
There are people who are gate keepers, and there are people who are enforcers. The Empress is both, and more. She is Crowned Head, Potentate, Supreme Ruler, Baroness, Autocrat, Despot, Killer Queen, Goddess, Ecdysiast, Bearer of the Regal Whip, Grande Poobess, Queen Sneer, Friend and Lover, Respecter of None. She fearsomely berates others for their strong convictions. She will behead a person for an errant thought. All her lines are bright. If you cross one, you risk abuse well-honed by decades of active practice.
Age has not mellowed her.
Everyone, no matter which side of the caterwauling they may be on, fears the Empress. She has no friends but other users.
BUT she is useful. Her abuse is potent, even lethal, to people who are still recovering from past abuses. Her fire breathing has caused relapses on more than one occasion. She is useful to maintain a failing power structure. Once respected, once the last best hope of people who had been ruthlessely exploited, once an oasis in the wasteland that is life after adoption for so many suffering people, it's now rotting at its core. Irrelevant, useless, failed...
Decades ago, she helped build it. Time, technology, and changes in social culture have resulted in obsolesence. Even the rats left long ago. Only a few die hards are left; they are mainly people the system has deeply harmed, who have just become aware of the loss they have suffered; and the professional hangers-on and obscurantists who peddle bogus philosophy, useless books and cheap jewelry.
She is the shock troop to be used against her own, the brownshirt who can be counted upon to infiltrate the places where the newly aware congregate -- to gently guide and instruct them, and failing that, to keep them in their place.
Barb, for myself
There are people who are gate keepers, and there are people who are enforcers. The Empress is both, and more. She is Crowned Head, Potentate, Supreme Ruler, Baroness, Autocrat, Despot, Killer Queen, Goddess, Ecdysiast, Bearer of the Regal Whip, Grande Poobess, Queen Sneer, Friend and Lover, Respecter of None. She fearsomely berates others for their strong convictions. She will behead a person for an errant thought. All her lines are bright. If you cross one, you risk abuse well-honed by decades of active practice.
Age has not mellowed her.
Everyone, no matter which side of the caterwauling they may be on, fears the Empress. She has no friends but other users.
BUT she is useful. Her abuse is potent, even lethal, to people who are still recovering from past abuses. Her fire breathing has caused relapses on more than one occasion. She is useful to maintain a failing power structure. Once respected, once the last best hope of people who had been ruthlessely exploited, once an oasis in the wasteland that is life after adoption for so many suffering people, it's now rotting at its core. Irrelevant, useless, failed...
Decades ago, she helped build it. Time, technology, and changes in social culture have resulted in obsolesence. Even the rats left long ago. Only a few die hards are left; they are mainly people the system has deeply harmed, who have just become aware of the loss they have suffered; and the professional hangers-on and obscurantists who peddle bogus philosophy, useless books and cheap jewelry.
She is the shock troop to be used against her own, the brownshirt who can be counted upon to infiltrate the places where the newly aware congregate -- to gently guide and instruct them, and failing that, to keep them in their place.
Barb, for myself
Wandering Adoption III
Mondo Cane
Those who can, do ...and the rest slip into pack behavior.
Chasing adoption ambulances is fun. I've done it. I know that inside that careening vehicle with its lights and siren, is another victim of hype, marketing, good intent, desperate longing and sheer abandonment.
She's bleeding to death from the wound in her heart. She's not long for this world. Soon the woman she was will fade into the ether and a new being, a being made of pain, will emerge in her place. It's a death. It is. For once, let's call it what it is.
The sociological causes of this death are poverty, lack of education, weak families.
The political cause of this death is the legacy of centuries of powerlessness.
The psychological causes of this death are misogyny and self loathing.
The economic cause of this death is the bottom line.
(And there's some rebellion, gullibility, denial, mendacity and sheer, stubborn stupidity in the mix as well.)
These are not really problems that can be solved by engaging in pack behavior.
BUT, chasing ambulances is fun. It is. There is a real rush associated with the hunt and that old familiar smell of blood.
AND it can temporarily relieve the stress of unaddressed losses and serious trauma without resorting to booze or drugs. It gives people a chance to feel not quite so powerless. To be someone important instead of someone gullible or rebellious.
AND therapy is expensive, but joining the pack...not so much.
AND every so often you get to hang with the big dogs... maybe even lick the Massa's hand.
SO, hey, it's the end of the year...throw tho$e dog$ $ome bone$.
Woof.
Barb, for myself
Those who can, do ...and the rest slip into pack behavior.
Chasing adoption ambulances is fun. I've done it. I know that inside that careening vehicle with its lights and siren, is another victim of hype, marketing, good intent, desperate longing and sheer abandonment.
She's bleeding to death from the wound in her heart. She's not long for this world. Soon the woman she was will fade into the ether and a new being, a being made of pain, will emerge in her place. It's a death. It is. For once, let's call it what it is.
The sociological causes of this death are poverty, lack of education, weak families.
The political cause of this death is the legacy of centuries of powerlessness.
The psychological causes of this death are misogyny and self loathing.
The economic cause of this death is the bottom line.
(And there's some rebellion, gullibility, denial, mendacity and sheer, stubborn stupidity in the mix as well.)
These are not really problems that can be solved by engaging in pack behavior.
BUT, chasing ambulances is fun. It is. There is a real rush associated with the hunt and that old familiar smell of blood.
AND it can temporarily relieve the stress of unaddressed losses and serious trauma without resorting to booze or drugs. It gives people a chance to feel not quite so powerless. To be someone important instead of someone gullible or rebellious.
AND therapy is expensive, but joining the pack...not so much.
AND every so often you get to hang with the big dogs... maybe even lick the Massa's hand.
SO, hey, it's the end of the year...throw tho$e dog$ $ome bone$.
Woof.
Barb, for myself
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Wandering Adoption II
The Stick Lady
Sometimes she pokes. Sometimes she stirs. Whatever she does, she does with a smile. She simply does not understand why people snarl at her, since she's smart, kind and always right.
The sincerity of her voice erases any doubt she may have motives of her own. She only wishes to enlighten. Minimization, shallow and incomplete analysis, irrelevant/inapplicable analogies, and sometimes just plain lying are her preferred method of guiding conversations towards the end she seeks. Polymarginalized individuals often have few intellectual options, and little way to combat her learned assuredness.
Polished professsional style can be cultivated with practice: It can hide a multitude of motives. Any resume, even a paltry one, looks like a resplendent battle banner to the peasants who wage war ceaselessely in the fields of her ambition.
Some people call her a troll.
Some people call her a user.
Some people call her a leader.
Some people call her a pirate.
Some people call her a liar.
Barb
Sometimes she pokes. Sometimes she stirs. Whatever she does, she does with a smile. She simply does not understand why people snarl at her, since she's smart, kind and always right.
The sincerity of her voice erases any doubt she may have motives of her own. She only wishes to enlighten. Minimization, shallow and incomplete analysis, irrelevant/inapplicable analogies, and sometimes just plain lying are her preferred method of guiding conversations towards the end she seeks. Polymarginalized individuals often have few intellectual options, and little way to combat her learned assuredness.
Polished professsional style can be cultivated with practice: It can hide a multitude of motives. Any resume, even a paltry one, looks like a resplendent battle banner to the peasants who wage war ceaselessely in the fields of her ambition.
Some people call her a troll.
Some people call her a user.
Some people call her a leader.
Some people call her a pirate.
Some people call her a liar.
Barb
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