in what appears to be a clear loophole in the policies and guidelines in place, most states allow individuals to unofficially give away their adopted children to others in a process known as “rehoming.”
The practice is highly controversial, and occurs when parents or individuals give custody of their adoptive children to others without the careful—albeit sometimes flawed—vetting process child protective services agencies use to determine whether people are suited to be taking care of children. The term “rehoming” comes from the world of animal adoption; it’s when an owner gives away his or her pet to be taken care of by someone else.
Despite fervent objections to the practice, which adoption activist John M. Simmons calls “a monstrous act,” the practice is legal to the extent that it is not expressly prohibited. Many states like Wisconsin, Florida, Louisiana, and Colorado have begun passing laws to address the rehousing of adopted children. A previous alarming investigative report by Reuters and NBC News has explored the underground online world of rehoming as a feeding ground for sexual predators. Many of the rehomed children investigated were internationally adopted, had mental or physical disabilities, or had been abused.
In October 2006, five-year-old Moses Gilbert left his home in Castlegar, B.C., to go on a trip with his adoptive dad.
Twenty-four hours later, Moses was given away to a Texas woman his parents had found on the internet but never met in person, according to an investigation by CBC's the fifth estate.
Moses's experience highlights the contentious and continuing issue of "adoption rehoming," which one leading child advocate calls "a fancy way… of saying 'trafficking in children.'"
Moses was an international adoption, brought from the rubble of the Liberian civil war to Canada as a four-and-a-half-year-old in late 2005.
Ian Johnson and his wife, Carol, were looking to adopt a third child, so Ian spent a month in western Africa before bringing Moses home from an orphanage.
The Johnsons initially reported that Moses was thriving in his new home. In an interview with Focus on Adoption magazine in the spring of 2006, they said he was "fundamentally a gentle child."
But as the months passed, Moses became too much to handle, according to the Johnsons. In notes obtained by CBC’s the fifth estate, social workers at the B.C. Ministry of Children and Family Development detail just what the Johnsons were saying.
The couple said Moses was destructive and played with knives and that he'd admitted choking a child to death back in Liberia. The Johnsons also claimed he tried to drown another child in a local swimming pool in Castlegar.
All this from a boy who had yet to turn five.
The Johnsons came to the conclusion that Moses had been a child soldier during the fighting in Liberia. But at the time the war ended, Moses was just two years old.
In the summer of 2006, the Johnsons took Moses to a group in Vancouver that helps victims of torture.
Health professionals soon determined the problem was not with Moses but may have been with how the Johnsons viewed him.
The couple came up with a dramatic solution to their problems with Moses. Carol started going on internet forums and chat rooms, where she found a community of people posting ads about adoptions gone wrong.
WHAT TRASH those people are. At least seek help from professionals (ask them to look after him a while and see that he's alright), don't give him away like a gift.
WHAT TRASH those people are. At least seek help from professionals (ask them to look after him a while and see that he's alright), don't give him away like a gift.
they interviewed them and they looked a walmart family teas mess, poor child
the father said the child at 5 was hiding knives under his bed then he said it was a mistake to give him away, so stupid. These people treat children like pets
If someone says this is proof we need abortion legal I will literally lose it
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This is SO beyond vile. Just giving them away like some unwanted Christmas gift of something like That is not how adoption works and it needs to be stopped
then he said it was a mistake to give him away, so stupid. These people treat children like pets 