I’m no fan of Barrack Obama but I really like this.
Last Friday, Rick Santorum pimped his hopeless campaign at the University of Northern Iowa in a speech sponsored by NIU and Iowa Public Radio. It was all pretty ho-um and predictable until the Q & A. I’ll let Linh Ta, government reporter from the Northern Iowan in Santorum argues for government to return to past ways, take it from there:.
…Another audience member questioned the candidate about Santorum awarding former Penn State assistant coach Jerry Sandusky with the Angels in Adoption Award.
Santorum explained that he lacked knowledge of the situation at the time and noted that the award has since been withdrawn.
In response to his explanation, the audience member asked, “So we shouldn’t trust Obama with our kids, but we can trust you?”
It was no news to me that Santorum had sponsored Jerry Sandusky glad-hand award from the Congressional Coalition for Adoption (Even Bill Pierce found the award self-serving an referred to it the industrialist winners, in a private correspondence with me, as “the hoity-toits”. who like to get their pictures taken with government big shots), I’m thrilled, nonethetless, that someone in Iowa–an adoptee perchance–had the presence of mind to call out Santorum on what to a lot of people, might consider a “minor” Santorum issue. After all he has so many. to choose from..
I know that other Angels in Adoption recipients have been caught with their pants down, too, or their hand in the til’ or their hot sauce at the ready or whatever these people do, but I don’t have time tonight to research it.. If anyone has any stories, feel free to post them here. We have our own Demons in Adoption Awards, but it’s also “fun” to expose these hypocrites whenever we can.
Thanks to Will Grigg for the tip.
Faith Allen remains an Angel in Adoption in good standing. At least she was until I inquired and the entire list of past recipients disappeared from the Angels in Adoption website. Alas the photo of the happy recipeint lives on, proudly archived here on Rep. Phil Gingrey’s website.
I guess there’s still a lot of purging to do.
Thanks so much. I’d forgotten about that one. We are clearly living in the Theatre of the Absurd.
Straight from the horses . . .
“Faith Allen is a shining example of the selfless love adoptive parents give their children,” said Gingrey. “Faith is more than just Masha’s adoptive mother; she is her pillar of support, providing encouragement as Masha bravely shares her story. Everyone who spends time with Faith and Masha feels the warmth and kindness that make Faith an Angel in Adoption.”
“Faith Allen, who adopted her daughter, Masha, last year, is a truly amazing woman who embodies the spirit of the Angels in Adoptions program,” Isakson said. “Masha’s story is heartbreaking, but it is also hopeful for orphans everywhere. After a lifetime of unimaginable hardships, Masha now has a safe home filled with compassion and love thanks to her Angel in Adoption, Faith Allen.”
And didn’t Gingery drop her like the proverbial hot potato when the truth came out? Or even before?
Just the opposite. From PoundPupLegacy.org:
Cong. Gingery’s office
As the point of contact between Masha’s team and Mr. Gingery’s office I want to further clarify Michael’s comments, which are on point.
Mr. Gingery, who is was a licensed physician in Georgia when Masha’s case began to play out, was held as a professional to an extremely high ethical standard on the issue of mandatory reporting of alleged child abuse or neglect. However, to the extent he was aware of Masha’s issues and problems as is the case with most elected officials he was entirely dependent on staff. When I contacted Mr. Gingery’s office to bring them into the loop on the developments of the previous 24 hours during which the allegations of abuse and neglect by Faith Allen were surfaced, I was angrily confronted by his staffer who had already been in touch with Faith and her erstwhile attorney who provided rather alarming safe harbor for Faith (despite her position as a nurse/attorney who should have recognized a child in danger rather than simple a parent whose rights were under siege.) Rather than objectively sort out the issues, putting the best interests of the child in the forefront as the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act dictates, Gingery’s staff immediately defaulted to the defense of Faith’s parental rights and most especially the acceptability of her discretion to engage “faith based” interventions rather than conventional mental health treatments. This is especially curious since the staffer in question was slavishly dependent on our input in order to further “protect” Masha’s interests during their eager promotion, and their involvement therein, of Masha’s Law.
Here’s the rest of the comment:
What was particularly curious at the time was that his young, single, unmarried, childless staffer with no particular expertise on the issues – someone who had been completely dependent on me and Mr. Marsh to put forth important federal legislation to create a new cause of action against child predators who have accepted at face value the word of a parent accused of child abuse by a high profile child victim over the insights and expertise of a team of well known, well respected child welfare experts with nearly 100 years of collective experience in the field. This is especially curious, not because the outside counsel was so expert but because there had been on going discussion between Mr. Gingery’s office and the outside experts for MONTHS that Faith had not been able, for whatever reasons most obviously financial, to meet Masha’s needs and that the family was in crisis. Gingery’s staffer, furthermore, knew a.) that Masha had been hospitalized at least once for a suicide attempt and that the clinicians involved had questioned Faith’s parenting and b.) Faith had “paraded” Masha on the Oprah Winfrey show against advice of all outside counsel, again creating psychological stress for a vulnerable child.
The moment that Mr. Gingery’s staffer began her angry screed directed at both Mr. Marsh and myself, the tipping point of this case against Masha’s interests was achieved. If anyone had been able to put this case into a “fair and balanced” position in which all the issues on both sides of the case could be sorted out in an objective and responsible fashion, it was Mr. Gingery. As doctor, Mr. Gingery was in fact uniquely positioned to both understand and sort out the desperate needs of this family and most especially a vulnerable child whose interests he had purported to defend. Unfortunately, the staffing he received was horrendous. Worse yet, Mr. Gingery evidently did little or no independent research, a particularly curious turn of events since by then Masha was hospitalized. If anyone could have protected Masha, it was Phil Gingery, and not necessarily in a way that was terribly destructive for Faith, to the extent he someone perceived her as a “good” parent for this child.
I have staffed hundreds of Members of Congress in matters related to constituents in crisis, many of whom were adoptive families dealing with the extremely complex and special needs abused and neglected children often have. In almost every case, the Member has immediately defaulted to advocating for the child FIRST, while the issues are vetted, diagnosed and addressed. In over thirty years of political consulting, I can’t recall a greater abdication of responsibility between a Member of Congress and a vulnerable constituent. Indeed, even Faith was obviously in extremis whether you agree with her actions or not. To defend the indefensible, to allow a vulnerable child whose needs were well know not just to the Member but to the entire world to go unmet in what was by then an obviously life threatening situation is not just curious, it’s an outrage.
Recalling the events of that September afternoon in 2006 I am reminded of my favorite Mark Twain quote which I rarely use because I actually do respect the body and the many wonderful, dedicated Member who have done so much for kids. “Readers, suppose you were an idiot. Suppose you were a Member of Congress. But then, I repeat myself.” If Phil Gingery is not an idiot for defending Faith’s parental rights so aggressively at Masha’s expense, he’s an idiot for letting his staff throw him under the bus. Unfortunately, that’s not just his problem now but Masha’s as well.
Here’s the link to the full post.