Correspondence
Correspondence STALIN'S SHADOW WHY ARE HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS in North America not taught about the crimes of the ex-Soviet Union? This question springs to mind when reading Melana Zyla Vickers's...
...Bellamy then adds that given all this, "the U.N...
...Adoption," April 28) was both glaringly wrong and misguided...
...Indeed, because the children were in such a difficult situation, the local officials were enthusiastic about the possibility of out-of-country adoption...
...Nor will most of the population have pondered the consequences of the emergence of what amounts to a new requirement that all judicial appointees must express a liberal point of view if they wish to be confirmed...
...It is up to the readers of THE WEEKLY STANDARD to judge which of us is "misguided...
...Far worse, however, is that people are not even taught that such horrific crimes occurred...
...Even when children have been truly orphaned or abandoned by their parents, they are often taken in by other relatives...
...In a poor, war-torn country such options are scarce...
...First, we believe that as long as the fate of any child's parents or relatives is not determined, at least two years should be invested in attempting to reunite children with adult relatives...
...Lindsey wrote all this in order to take a shot at UNICEF's work in Iraq...
...In addition, the decorum and politeness of Republicans, in contrast with the angry and emotional response of Democrats, means this nomination will probably sink without most of the population even knowing the issue existed...
...undertook no more than any nation would want: We could not and would not assume the authority to send Kosovo's children abroad...
...Bellamy and UNICEF apparently part company not only with us, but with most developmental specialists on whether it is in the best interest of any child to be left in limbo, outside a family structure, for at least two years...
...Even children who are relatively well cared for in an institutional setting during a long period in their early formative years often suffer some form of developmental impairment...
...So, in our case, family reunification was not an issue, nor was any desire for a "local option...
...The Red Cross and the Save the Children Alliance operate on the same principle...
...And his story says little of the impossible situation in Kosovo at the time...
...However, I have provided her contact information to the editorial staff of The Weekly Standard so that they might independently verify my claims...
...Bellamy and I differ on whether international adoption or multi-year searches for relatives and local options are better for a child...
...Contrary to Bellamy's assertion, the State Department does not support the position that "at least two years should be invested in attempting to reunite children with adult relatives...
...Like our own children, such youngsters have the right to grow to adulthood within the culture and community of their birth...
...In such an environment, the U.N...
...and UNICEF whose authority blocked Benjamin and Elizabeth from being adopted by us...
...And they don't want anyone else to have it either...
...Since the United Nations funds some of the charitable organizations she works for, she asked that we not print her name...
...But as the UNICEF worker on the case made clear, no out-of-country adoptions were going to occur as long as she was involved—regardless of the facts...
...The Americans who generously support UNICEF (they make up about 12 percent of UNICEF's non-government donations) expect us to live by just such principles...
...We do not believe that orphanages are good for children, but we do believe caring, home-grown solutions can and should be sought...
...A recent UNICEF publication advertised on the UNICEF website speaks of children as the most vulnerable population hit by "the worsening poverty and homelessness, huge increases in mortality rates, erosion of many socialist-era achievements [sic...
...Moreover, I reconfirmed crucial details in the piece for accuracy with the person who assisted my wife and me with the adoption process...
...Lindsey has a lot to learn about the true humanitarian grit of UNICEF and its experienced, caring, and unbelievably committed people...
...The murder of literally tens of millions is simply not mentioned in high schools...
...Staying with relatives in extended family units is generally a better solution than uprooting the child completely...
...I regret that Lindsey had a difficult time getting clear information from UNICEF during his effort to adopt two children from Kosovo in 1998...
...Many societies revolve around extended families, and in the first instance UNICEF supports local communities that embrace orphaned children...
...He probably doesn't know that UNICEF's national staff remained in the country throughout the war, taking great risks to protect Iraqi children and save lives by fixing water stations, delivering medicines and food, and organizing campaigns to keep kids away from mine fields...
...The local Kosovar leaders and hospital doctors confirmed this...
...The threat of child trafficking was rampant—as it always is in the aftermath of war...
...Vickers makes a very good point in saying that there is not enough recrimination of those culpable of the crimes committed in the ex-Soviet Union...
...There is one area where I agree wholeheartedly with Bellamy...
...But let's get the facts straight: UNICEF does not run orphanages and does not set any nation's rules as to how to handle international adoptions...
...There was a complete collapse of administrative structure, uncertainty about the law, struggling social services, and the absence of any national body to monitor the appropriateness of irreversible international adoptions...
...adoption agencies, makes similar points in relation to adoption from Afghanistan...
...My wife and I have adopted three children from Eastern Europe...
...It was UNICEF's authority, and Bellamy is proud of what they did...
...Why aren't books like Gulag Archipelago, Ivan Denisovich, Robert Conquest's Harvest of Sorrow, or even Martin Amis's recent Koba the Dread compulsory high school reading...
...We do, however, embrace some sensible principles on the subject...
...Is this description of the state of affairs really consistent with the notion that local options are both preferable and available...
...It is almost taboo to be a Communist, but the fact of the matter is that almost no one knows what the Communists did...
...Principles based on experience, research, caring, law, and on respect for the children and nations we serve...
...The State Department also supports this stance...
...It can be extremely difficult to determine if children whose parents are missing are truly orphans...
...We also promote the straightforward principle that even when a child is conclusively determined to be an orphan, local options should be exhausted before international adoption comes into play...
...That does not make either of us "glaringly wrong...
...There is no disagreement on the facts...
...Rather than simply repeating a mantra of "democracy is great," students should be taught about the outcomes of totalitarian states...
...No one I know would ever want to separate a child from his or her family...
...Bellamy herself speaks of "the impossible situation in Kosovo at the time" with a "collapse of administrative structure" and "struggling social services...
...CAROL BELLAMY Executive Director, UNICEF New York, NY LAWRENCE B. LINDSEY RESPONDS: After reviewing Carol Bellamy's letter, I stand by everything I wrote in my piece...
...They do not want "the power of the purse" over UNICEF, as Lindsey craven-ly suggests...
...In each case, State Department officials in the local consulates assisted us in processing the necessary paperwork...
...Family reunification was not possible, however, in the case of the children that my wife and I tried to adopt, Benjamin and Elizabeth...
...And what better way to teach young people how fortunate they are to live in countries with freedom and democracy than to acquaint them with the alternative...
...It seems therefore that Bellamy is inconsistent by claiming that I was "glaringly wrong and misguided" to have stated that it was the U.N...
...We do this because it is every child's right to remain with family members—who, in the chaos that follows war, are often desperately searching for them...
...I wager that not one in 1,000 Republicans even knows the name of the latest embattled nominee...
...In all cases they were helpful, even supportive, particularly in the case of Thomas, whose mother left Kosovo for Macedonia, thus allowing him to be adopted...
...It's clear this was the only responsible course to take...
...R. BERLONI |Montreal, Canada APPOINTMENT APATHY THE PROBLEM with Bush's judicial nominations lies not so much in Democratic opposition as described in James L. Swanson's "The Democrats' Preemptive War" (May 19), but in public apathy...
...Its website states that "adopting children from this region [former Yugoslavia] is not a feasible way to assist them...
...Indeed, I stress in my piece that many, if not most, war orphans in Kosovo and in Iraq could and should be reunited with their extended families...
...The ban caused harm to African-American children in particular, and the ban was eventually struck down in a bipartisan move to prohibit the practice in the 1990s...
...Among those they tried to look out for especially closely during the war: the children in Iraq's many orphanages...
...We can find an echo of Bellamy's views in America's past ban on cross-racial adoptions...
...Instead we worked to get the territory back on its feet and supported the rebuilding of social and legal systems designed to protect children and give the people of Kosovo the opportunity to manage their own affairs...
...It is not uncommon in a hostile situation for parents to send their children out of the area, or to become separated during an evacuation...
...The Joint Council on International Children's Services, an umbrella group for dozens of U.S...
...But it is interesting that he still refers to them with made-up names, not as the human beings they are, but as props in his own story of frustration...
...CAROLINE MIRANDA North Hollywood, CA KOSOVO KIDS THE WEEKLY STANDARD'S readers need to know that Lawrence B. Lindsey's column on the U.N...
...and international adoptions ("The U.N...
...That brings us to "Benjamin and Elizabeth...
...We do not sit in judgment of Lindsey's intentions, which surely were grounded in genuine love and compassion...
...undertook no more than any nation would want: We could not and would not assume the authority to send Kosovo's children abroad...
...This question springs to mind when reading Melana Zyla Vickers's "Why We Must Remember the Gulag" (May 19...
...We also part company with Bellamy on the idea that children should wait in an institution, even after the two-year wait for family members to show up, while all "local options" are exhausted...
...None even hinted that a two-year waiting period was either official policy or appropriate...
...The State Department policy springs from an interest in child welfare...
Vol. 8 • June 2003 • No. 37
