I’m working on a couple other things tonight. In the process of looking up something I found by accident Glenn Beck’s adoption story.
Back in 2004 you see, Glenn and his second wife Tania were trying to have a baby when Glenn had a revelation from God: we’re supposed to adopt. Tania wanted to experience the joy of pregnancy, though, and had to be convinced. After a temple trip and lots of prayer, as good Mormons do, the Becks ended up at their local L-d-S agency. Glenn announced their “adoption plan” on the radio. A few weeks later he received an email from a woman informing him her 14-year old daughter is “carrying your baby.”
This is a pretty long story, and you can read it here : Families Supporting Adoption: Glen [sic] and Tania Beck’s Adoption Journey. But I need to share this with you:
Glenn
Well, Chris, unbeknownst to us, checked it out for a couple of weeks. Talked to the family and made sure it wasn’t insane. And so we flew down to Texas, and we met the family, and we met with Hannah, and she said always, always, every step of the way to Tania, “I’m carrying your baby.” She just knew it. With everything in her, that baby was supposed to come to her, to Tania. She felt strongly about it. So did we. Well, so a week after we had decided, a little baby boy rushed to our arms as promised.
Tania
We were blessed to be right there in the delivery room and had him from the moment he was born, and he is just one of the joys of my life. And we know that he chose us. He just needed a different channel to get to us. The bravery and courage that that young woman had—I don’t know that I would be able to do the same thing that she did to put him first, and the great love that she had for him to place him with us so that we could raise him. He’s such a blessing in our lives. It’s like I gave birth to him; he’s my son. It doesn’t matter where the body comes from; it’s the spirit that is important, and that was connected to us and had to get to us. He just had to find another way. He was sealed to us on July 23rd of 2005, and he’s part of our family for all eternity.
Glenn
This little girl [natural mother] was a hero. She was a remarkable superhero. Raphe doesn’t need Spiderman or Superman; he’s got his natural mother as an example of what real superheroes do. Real superheroes don’t think about themselves. Real superheroes don’t make their life all about them. Real superheroes do the hard thing, and I can’t imagine anything tougher than giving birth to a child and giving that child away and then wondering your whole life what’s happening in his day.
To Glenn’s credit he seems rather horrified at the harshness of the L-d-S relinquishment papers shoved under Hannah’s nose, (I guess they wanted her to know how serious they are about sealing), but not enough to say hey maybe you should think about this!
How curious that Glen and Tania’s baby should have been placed by god in this 14-year-old receptacle. I know it means they get to feel like sooper-mondo-baby-saviors-chosen-by-god, but it makes for such a crowded delivery room.
I would like to state for the record that this adoptee, for one, did not CHOOSE anything. A fetus chose Glen Beck and his wife? What horseshit is that? Doesn’t matter how you get your kid’s body? Then kidnap one! Oh wait, it does matter.
Note that the Becks also weren’t concerned enough about those horrible papers to consent to an open adoption. No, “Raphe’s” mother has to “wonder [her] whole life what’s happening in his day.” (And really, “Raphe”? IS that anything like Ralph FFS?)
This “god wanted us to adopt” crap always puts me in mind of Susan B. Anthony, who said “I distrust those people who know so well what God wants them to do, because I notice it always coincides with their own desires.”
Laurel
Awful. Worse than awful. And she was 14? Banish the a-parents from the delivery room. Banish Glen, period.
What a great quote from Susan B!!! I have always thought that myself. One thing that always pisses me off is that God predestines adoptions. You know, the Rosie “wrong tummy” story, that Beck seems to have taken to new depths.
The first thing I thought about the mother calling Beck to tell him that her 14 year old daughter was having his baby is, hmmmmmmm….where was Mr. Beck when that child was conceived?
LDS adoption is extra-sick because of the Temple Sealing, “for time and all eternity”, which means the birthmother does not even get to know her kid in the afterlife!Some dimwit Mormons even believe it magically changes the adoptee’s DNA to that of the adoptive family!
Poor kid. Hope he finds the truth and grows up to be an ex-mormon.
Check out exmormon.org for many horror stories of that nutty cult.
So the guy and wifie buys into the LDS BS? And is as well as a flaming right wing asshole? Why am I not surprised? (Oh, I know I’m supposed to use nice language like I ask for over at firstmotherforum, but really this makes me want to puke…
Speaking of our favorite “well-known adoption policy” institute, the National Council FOR Adoption, they are the ones who perpetuate this kind of inane insane bullshit. And it’s because…they want your babies, young women, they only want your babies.
I, too, am horrified by the sanctimonious dribble that the a-parents are saying. If there can be a small glimmer of light in this situation, the b-mom KNOWS who the a-parents are and it seems they are not likely to go to ground. Papers or not, the child would not be hard to find and the b-mom will likely be able to make herself easy for the child to find in the future.
I’m afraid I can’t give Mr. Beck any credit for his response to the papers with which Hannah was confronted. His concern appears to have been that she wouldn’t sign it:
“We were told to come in and look at the Texas contract. It is in bold font, parts of it, and it says, ‘You have no right to this child. You may never see this child again. You have no claims,’ and it is page after page of horrifying stuff. It all needs to be there, but it is horrifying. I said to Kim, who is with LDS Family Services, “Is there a softer way to put this?” I knew Hannah wouldn’t sign it.”
He was right:
“Kim said, “You guys should leave and go have dinner, ’cause I’m going to take this in to her now and have her sign it.” We’re coming up on 72 hours. She went in. Hannah went through the contract, and she said, “No, I’m not giving my child away. I won’t do it.” It was just then, unbeknownst to us again, that after she had chased everybody out of the room, she was in the room holding Raphe, crying, when a nurse walked in. The nurse later told me, “I don’t know what prompted me to do this. I don’t know why I did this; I’ve never done it before, but I was pushed into that room, and I lay down next to Hannah, and I held her.” She said, “I honestly don’t even remember what I said, because the words didn’t come from me. But after we spoke for a few minutes and I held her and we cried, Hannah said, ‘Bring everybody back in. I want to give Raphe to his parents.’ ” And so she did.”
UGH
Ive read the story. (Glen and Tanias Adoption story)
I tried to be more articulate, but all I could come up with was
UGH
Triggering part for me was when “mother” of girl called and said “her” daughter was carrying “their”
baby. wtf
sickening mother its almost like she wanted the adoption because it was a ‘celeb’ and she had the
goods to give them after all it wasn’t her baby to
give. Seems her young daughter seems to have
more thoughts about surrender but was talked into
the final sig by the kind nurse? Kind, coercive with her getting into bed with young women, is more like it
there is no happiness for this young woman she will be forever be in the place she was forced into by surrendering her baby. She knew it was wrong, and tried to fight but needless to say she knew she was doomed.
“I know that we stood around and we were honored when that soul looked at us and said, “I want you as my dad, and I want you as my mom. Somehow or another we’ll find each other.”
It’s not just getting any child. It’s sometimes waiting for that soul who is trying desperately to fulfill their side of the bargain and to fulfill what you guys set out to do in the first place and to be reunited with his family for time and all eternity.”
Batshit insane is right on the mark.
Sigh I had to comment more. WTF is this “sealing” that the LDS are all about ? Funny just as I wrote LDS I was thinking wow I wrote L S D as in the psycho drug. Kinda figures huh !
Both out there psycho just with the letters around a different way!
Anyway back to sealing, so is that something like “Sealing your fate” “Sealing for Eternity” kinda the same as damming ?
Why do LDS feel the need to not only remove the birthright but also seal it ? Doesnt that go against some sort of doctrine that they have as well ?
Mind you massive cover up, lies, deceit is not really a suprise for far out religious groups now is it ?
Where is it that people actually see these groups as *normal* ? or a *good thing* ?
But as I read his story I see that he was a down and outer, addicted to drugs, in desperate need t ohold on to something. No doubt his wife to be was also missing something in her lif, and so off they went and hunted for a *church* and lucked upon LSD…And got sucked in.
My belief is that any *church* that instills radical restrictions is not a good church. Church & religion should be about be able to talk to god and fellow community members in a happy and non restrictive manner. Not being commanded around by some one person. Why dont people see that ?
It makes me so sad that people are so damaged and desperate that they will fall for these so called *religions* and worse then start trying to rope others in !
The concept of the natural mother as brood mare for the “more deserving” is alive and well, especially in the unhallowed halls of the LDS. I wonder how God feels about becoming a convenient excuse for coveting the child of another? Well, Gee, I don’t think She’d like it very much.
IMO Glen Beck is and always has been the putrid pimple on the arsehole of a cockroach….or should I tell you how I really feel?
If you think the concept of “sealing for time and all eternity” is weird, check out the requirement of wearing “temple underwear” (Google it and you’ll be amazed – and entertained).
Not so entertaining, however, are the accounts of birthmothers who have been scammed out of their babies by LDSFS in ways that should be considered criminal, one by drugging, the other by misrepresentation of authority of ‘social worker.’ You can read about them here:
http://safstanstory.blogspot.com/
http://renaudstory.blogspot.com/
The account of Hawaii resident Camira Bailey is compelling, as well, but there’s a gag order on it while her lawsuit is in progress.
An article published in the Boston Globe, August 26, 1994, tells of relinquishment pressure put on a young, single mother by Mitt Romney, representing the Mormon Church. Here’s a quote:
A single mother from Watertown claims Mitt Romney warned her a decade ago that she faced excommunication from the Mormon Church if she failed to follow his advice to give her newborn baby up for adoption through a church agency.
Romney, a Republican candidate for US Senate who has portrayed himself as a social moderate, acknowledges he urged the mother to give her baby up for adoption but strongly denies threatening to throw her out of the church if she did not follow his advice. He notes the woman did not heed his advice and was not excommunicated.
Yet Peggie Hayes, 34, said Romney, then a lay counselor for the local church, came to her home in 1984 shortly after she gave birth to her son, Dane. At the time, Hayes was divorced and had a 4-year-old daughter.
“He told me it was really important to give the baby up,” Hayes said. ”He told me he was a representative of the church and by refusing I was failing to comply with the church’s wishes and I could be excommunicated.”
Hayes said that, though she was shaken by the incident, she rejected Romney’s advice and eventually dropped out of the church.
For another revelation, read the story first published in the Baltimore Sun, reprinted on this website:
http://www.dailypress.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.shefik03nov03,0,531436.story
The story: A few years ago, a horrendous baby trade operation took Marshall Island pregnant women out of their country to give birth in Hawaii or even Utah to bypass normal international adoption and naturalization processes. After the disgusting mess was cleaned up by the Marshall Islands government and most agencies pulled out, LDSFS was one of two remaining agencies. The other? A for-profit corporation, Noah’s Ark, run by a woman who had “come under investigation by the state of Utah for running an unlicensed adoption agency” (previous to Noah’s Ark).
This adoption behemoth (LDSFS) is the second largest member agency of NCFA. Its board chair and at least one other board member are affiliated with the Mormon church. We may, indeed, be dealing with a cult here, as the LDS organization is defined by many, but its influence in even secular society is considerable. Knowing the enemy is only part of the battle. Educating the naive public about its atrocities as part of its efforts to maintain the cloak of secrecy is, I feel, key to eventually unlocking the vaults.
Is Glen Beck the missing link I’m seeing
Halfway between ape and human being?
http://www.CitizenPoet.com
to you and all your commenters,
first off, if you think it is LDS adoption agencies that write the adoption laws, that write the forms for the birthparents to sign, that set the rules about relinquishment, you really need to do some more research. you think it was glenn beck that wrote the rules on his adoption? you think it was a ‘crazy’ lds person? seriously, get a clue.
secondly, who are you to say whether or not someone can get personal feelings from god, also known as personal revelation, as to what to do with their life? have you never made a decision that you felt was bigger than yourself? do you think that glenn beck is the only adoptive father who was contacted by a birthmother who felt their baby was meant to be in that adoptive family? let’s talk about ‘teen mom’ on MTV for instance. as far from LDS as you want to be- they ‘felt’ like their baby belonged in the family they placed her into. they made a decision that was RIGHT for THEM at THAT POINT in their lives. what more do you want? who are YOU to tell birthmothers what they can and cannot do? how they can and cannot feel? how to live their lives?
we have a very open relationship with our daughter’s birthmother. no secrecy. no trying to keep her out of our lives. SHE found US, SHE spent nine months praying about whether or not we were the right family, and whether or not ADOPTION WAS RIGHT FOR HER AND HER BABY, and yes, SHE made the decision. oh, did i mention that she was 23 at the time? that she wasn’t a teenager that was coerced by a mormon? that the papers she signed were the LAW, not religion?
the person i love most in this world is not related to me by blood. he is my husband, and i believe we were destined to be together. i cannot imagine my life without him. there are some amazing things that happened in our life to put us together. amazing.
the second most important person in my life is also not related to me by blood. she is my daughter, and we found each other through amazing events. amazing.
she was 14? oh good heavens, yes, she should have kept the baby and raised him on her own. that would have been a much better idea. because NO adoptive parent can love some one that is not related to them by blood.
oh wait.
someday i hope you can open your eyes and see all the good that adoption can be. it isn’t always. sometimes it is ugly and painful. but SO IS LIFE. it is beautiful and wonderful, but it can be ugly and painful. it’s call life. it’s call reality. it’s called doing what YOU feel is best at that SPECIFIC time in your life.
we all make decisions on a daily basis. quit bashing glenn and his child’s birthmother for making decisions for themselves.
and do some research- adopted children fair BETTER, overall, than those raised by single parents. why don’t you start bashing all those parents who decide to get DIVORCED? that is hurting their children MORE than ADOPTION. how dare they get divorced.
like or don’t like glenn beck for his politics. but lay off adoption, or at least get your facts straight before forming an opinion.
p.s. funny underwear, really? ever heard of the things that jewish people wear? why don’t you make fun of them too? it must suck not to believe in something bigger than yourself.
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