RETURN FROM THE HEART OF DARKNESS

Bastardette has been remiss in checking-in since her return from the Heart of Darkness last week. So much to tell, so little time. Unfortunately, she has been trapped in a Neverland of domestic duties which preclude rational thought at the moment.

Oops! See what I mean! I’m not thinking straight at all. Rational thought and adoption? We may as well be mixing calico and rococo.

If you don’t believe me, just ask “the right brain” marketing folks at Kenny & Associates. Commissioned some time back by the National Council for Adoption and The Family Research Council to develop innovative ways to talk recalcitrant women out of their babies, Kenny interviewed 30 birth mothers to learn why they placed their babies for adoption. The result, according to a Kenny consumer psychologist at a recent NCFA presentation on the subject, is that “rational thought” needs to be broken down and the debris restructured in an heroic self-narrative that empowers potential birth mothers to give the gift of love (their kid) to the desperate and deserving, who in grateful reciprocation will shelter him or her from the horrors of illegitimacy, a single parent home, and a chronically depressed–and no doubt dangerous–mom. All this, of course will be accomplished under the guidance of friendly “counselors” usually found lurking in crisis pregnancy centers and adoption agencies who have been schooled in the Kenny School of Mind Control. In other words: Break something that works, and then “fix” it. To which Bastardette asks, “Why fix it if it’s not broken?” But I think we all know the answer to that one.

The report, due to be published soon, promises to be Missing Piece on steroids.

This and other tales of adoption industry pain and triumph will continue over the next few weeks, but be advised, courtesy of Marlow: “is not a pretty thing when you look into it too much.”