As If Kids Mattered

Patricia Fenton is chair of the Adoption Council of Ontario.

“An attack on a system out of tune with the times and with the urgent
needs of children.” That’s what Marlene Webber promises in her
introduction and that’s what the reader gets in this passionate,
thorough, and long-overdue study of North America’s adoption
system—a system in which “what’s good is hit and miss and what’s
wrong, widespread.”

Webber begins by telling how her own foray into adopting resulted in
her obsessive interest in understanding the “low visibility world”
of adoption. Drawing upon the experiences of others as well, she vividly
describes the barriers faced by families who have tried to adopt within
North America. Most disturbing for Webber is our society’s preference
for biological families over adoptive families, however dysfunctional
the former. It is a preference that sometimes facilitates the
victimization of children, even to the point of death.

Open adoption, transracial adoption (including Native adoptions), as
well as single-parent and same-sex-couple adoptions are discussed.
Arguments for and against international adoption are also presented. A
couple of minor inaccuracies in no way detract from the book, which
includes constructive suggestions for improving the system.

Highly recommended for anyone contemplating adoption, As If Kids
Mattered is essential reading for policymakers and professionals working
in the child-welfare system.