South Korean adoptee faces deportation

Jane

With few restrictions on who can adopt internationally, children from abroad may be subjected to abandonment, abuse and even death at the hands of their adoptive parents. No one knows this better than Adam Crapser who was not only excised from his "forever family" and abused in foster care, but now faces deportation.

Adam and his sister were adopted from South Korea by an Oregon family* in 1978 when he was three. The family did not apply for citizenship for Adam. The adoption disrupted when he was ten and the children were separated. Adam was placed in a series of foster and
group homes, ending up with Thomas and Dolly Crapser who abused him over the next four years. They also did not apply to make Adam a U.S. citizen. Eventually the Crapsers were convicted of abuse.

Adam Crapser with youngest daughter

Adam's life spiraled downhill. He became homeless, and was convicted of burglary and assault. With a record and without a green card, it was difficult for him to get a job. Because he could run a business without a green card and immigration papers, he opened a barber shop and an upholstery business. He married and had children. When he attempted to obtain a green card in 2012, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Service commenced deportation proceedings because of his criminal record.

Adam, 39, who lives in Vancouver, Washington, had a hearing on April 2; another hearing is scheduled for June. The government must prove that his criminal convictions demand his deportation. If the government succeeds, Adam may be eligible for asylum because he was abused at the hands of his adoptive parents.

In 2000, Congress made citizenship automatic for intercountry adoptees under 18, but the law was not retroactive, and did not apply to Adam. Oregon Senator Jeff Merkley and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar** have introduced a bill granting automatic citizenship for adoptees like Adam. We encourage our readers to write to their senators and ask them to support this bill.--jane
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*Although the media reports didn't say how Crapser's adoption was arranged, it seems likely that the much heralded Holt International Children's Services had something to do with it. Holt, founded by Oregon farmers Harry and Bertha Holt in the 1950's, is one of the largest intercountry adoption agencies, and has placed many children in Oregon.

**Not coincidentally, Minnesota is home of Lutheran Social Services, another large intercountry adoption agency. While FMF commends Senators Merkley and Klobuchar for their effort on behalf of Adam Claper and other adoptees, FMF notes that Sen. Klobuchar is an ardent advocate of intercountry adoption. She has sponsored numerous bills to increase the number of children brought to the U.S. for adoption, including the god-awful Children in Families First Act which would require countries to make children available for adoption in the U.S. to be eligible for aid. Thankfully, this bill is dead for now. The fact is that intercountry adoption does little to truly help needy children, but often results in kidnapping, corruption, and abuse. For a perspective from a mother who almost adopted a child from a poor country, read the review from Amazon below to Kathryn Joyce's eye-opening book, The Child Catchers: Rescue, Trafficking, and the New Gospel of Adoption.

Jane's review: The Child Catchers exposes the stench of international adoption--and domestic adoption too

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Adoptee from South Korea faces deportation
Deportation hearing begins
Deportation of Adam Crapser
Sen. Amy Klobuchar

FROM FMF
The Child Catcher exposes the stench of international adoption--and domestic adoption too
'Re-homing': Dumping Unwanted Kids
Senate bill encourages more international adoption
Good New Intercountry adoption down again
The Baby Sellers portrays the dark side of international adoption

TO READ

The Child Catchers: Rescue, Trafficking, and the New Gospel of Adoption
By Kathryn Joyce

"I am one of those right-wing, Evangelical Christians that the author seems to not care for...so this may be interesting! I am mom to biological sons and often thought about adopting a daughter from China. I started to research and found out a lot of information about children being kidnapped from their parents in China and was SO disturbed because I had NO idea that this was going on. I don't think most Americans understand that when you pay to adopt of a child in a 3rd world country that you are inadvertently, supporting child trafficking. Whenever a lot of money is involved and there is a demand, regardless of what the demand is for...corruption always comes....and the end does not justify the means. 

"As a Compassion International sponsor to children in Ethiopia, I started to research adoption in Ethiopia, as well as, the orphan crisis and street children there. I went with Compassion Int to Ethiopia to meet my sponsor kids and also met boys at an orphanage. I became a mom to 4 boys at an orphanage. I have been back several times to visit them. I am their mother in every sense except that I am not physically with them all of the time. As I learned more about adoption and met more and more people that had adopted.........I was SHOCKED...the first time...an adoptive parent sitting on my couch in my house said.........."when, I met her mother." When you met her mother?? She has a mother?? YES, but she is very poor and cannot take care of her. SO........you spent 30,000 to take her away from her mother instead of helping the mother keep her own child? I thought it was an isolated incident but I heard it OVER and OVER again! As a Christian, I cannot believe that my fellow Christians do not have a HUGE problem with this."--a reviewer at Amazon

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