Celebrities Make It Look So Easy: Couple Detained In Ghana While Trying To Adopt Four Children

June 28th, 2012 - By Alissa Henry
"Moghadam Family"

Source: CNN.com

Ghana certainly didn’t make it easy for one California couple trying to adopt four children in their country and bring them to the United States. After Sol and Christine Moghadam traveled to Ghana earlier this month with their two biological children and adopted four Ghanian children, they were detained by officials who were suspicious of illegal activity.

CNN reports:

They adopted the children on June 14, but officials in the nation questioned the legality of their adoption, leading to their detention over the weekend, according to Victoria Nuland, a spokeswoman for the State Department.

“Ghana was concerned that some of the documents they had weren’t filled out properly or were forged,” said Hank Fortener, founder of AdoptTogether, an advocacy group that provides a platform for prospective parents to raise funds. The couple used the group’s website to raise funds.

Though they are still in the nation, Ghanaian officials have since determined their documents are legitimate, according to Fortener.

A bond has been posted for their release and they were reunited with their biological children Monday, Nuland said this week.

“We are emotionally exhausted and traumatized from the entire incident but we are thankful to have support and prayers from friends and family worldwide,” the Moghadams said on their blog, Our adoption journey to Africa.

“Our case is not complete yet, but our chief officer from the Ghana police department has apologized for their overreaction and stated that our detainment was a mistake on their part. ”

The Moghadams initially planned to adopt a child in Ethiopia in 2010, but decided on Ghana after they saw the four siblings on the waiting list of an adoption agency.

Africa has seen a surge of adoptions in the past eight years, according to adoption expert Peter Selman from Newcastle University in Britain.

A new report from The African Child Policy Forum entitled “Africa: The New Frontier for Intercountry Adoption” says prospective adoptive parents are turning “en masse” to the continent as other countries toughen their laws.

Most children adopted from Africa go to the United States or France, two of the world’s biggest receiving countries, Selman said.

Some people may wonder why this couple would go through all of that drama to adopt children from overseas when there are children in need of parents right here in the United States. On her blog, Christine explains that her husband grew up in poverty in Iran and would see pictures of starving kids in Ethiopia and have compassion for them. She says she grew up in the United States, but visited India once and was heartbroken by the poor conditions. When they married, they both knew they wanted to adopt children from overseas and settled on Ethiopia because it was the only African country open to their adoption agency. Later, they came across the four children in Ghana on the agency’s waiting list and decided to adopt them instead.

It’s common knowledge that foreign adoptions are still easier than domestic; however, as this couple discovered, officials worldwide are starting to make the process harder. Despite celebrities toting their foreign babies in supermarket tabloids, Peter Selman told Fox News Latino that the number of orphans being adopted by foreign parents dropped from a high of 45,000 in 2004 to an estimated 25,000 in 2009.

He says the reason is attributed largely to baby-selling crackdowns, a sputtering world economy and countries that are putting more effort into placing children with domestic families.

In addition, human trafficking is a large concern because there are sickos who adopt children in foreign countries and sell them into the sex trade here in the United States. And there are countries whose officials will kidnap children from their parents and put them up for adoption. U.S. families, not knowing the child was kidnapped, then pay to adopt the child from the country and the biological family never sees their child again.

Despite these horror stories, what happened to this couple certainly seems uncalled for and it’s hard to tell if the detainment was about protecting the children or extorting money from the couple. I say that because why did they have to post bond if it turned out that their papers were official? Christine, who undoubtedly knows all about the good, bad and ugly concerning foreign adoptions, said she wasn’t too upset about the detainment because of the many human trafficking cases that have been going under the radar.

I’d like to believe that the interests of the children were at heart when the Ghana officials arrested them, but, though you can’t tell everything about a couple from reading their blog, theirs certainly makes you believe this is a couple who truly has a heart for adopting children. I hope the eight of them make it home safely soon.

What do you think about foreign adoptions?

Alissa Henry is a freelance writer living in Columbus, OH. Follow her on Twitter @AlissaInPink

More on Madame Noire!

 

Tags:

, , , , ,
More from StyleBlazer
More from MommyNoire

Comment Disclaimer

Comments that contain profane or derogatory language, video links or exceed 200 words will require approval by a moderator before appearing in the comment section. XOXO-MN

  • Pingback: Couple Detained in Ghana While Trying to Adopt Four Children … | Child Adoption Process

  • Trisha_B

    This is horrible. I understand the concern, but let them give those 4 kids a new life. They aren’t 4 separate children, they were siblings. Most families looking to adopt wouldn’t adopt all four, they usually only want 1. So those kids would have been broken up. This family was gonna keep them together. Plus this is a couple that aren’t American. They know the struggle in other countries. But i can see why the Ghanaian officials were concerned. Russia has stopped foreign adoption since that lady sent the kid she adopted back on a plane w/ a note saying he’s bad

    • Trisha_B

      *plus this is a couple that aren’t WHITE american

  • Kaay

    I’m glad they were detained. I don’t care if Ghanaian officials had their own agendas in stopping this couple. Four children leaving the country under the guise of adoption SHOULD BE alarming to any emigration official. I really hope this surge of adoptions from Africa is not like the trend it seeming to be. Black people face far more social hurdles than any other race. Most non-black people in America and Europe are unaware of the extent. I don’t think “pity” is a reason to pluck any child from his or her native land either. That poor child won’t be pulling at your pity string when they “sass” you as a typical teen or young adult. If these desperate parents really want to make a difference, why not donate to the orphanage supporting these children; donate to their education. Give these children the seeds of humanitarianism that will one day encourage them to better their country.

  • Kaay

    I’m glad they were detained. I don’t care if Ghanaian officials had their own agendas in stopping this couple. Four children leaving the country under the guise of adoption SHOULD BE alarming to any emigration official. I really hope this surge of adoptions from Africa is not like the trend it seeming to be. Black people face far more social hurdles than any other race. Most non-black people in America and Europe are unaware of the extent. I don’t think “pity” is a reason to pluck any child from his or her native land either. That poor child won’t be pulling at your pity string when they “sass” you as a typical teen or young adult. If these desperate parents really want to make a difference, why not donate to the orphanage supporting these children; donate to their education. Give these children the seeds of humanitarianism that will one day encourage them to better their country.

    • Lola

      What you suggest is ideal – donate money to the orphanage that houses the kids – but reality of the matter is the donation will most likely end up in the deep pockets of a corrupt overseer.

  • ieshapatterson

    whatever happened to getting a black kid(s) from america?? it’s great to see them help children of other countries,but there are children right here,that could use a good home.

    • Nina Dashotta

      I couldn’t agree with you more but I believe the reason why people are getting these children from other countries is for the simple fact they don’t want to deal with the emotion burden these American orphans carry. They will have to deal with back talk, violent outbursts and possibly back and forth juvenile detention bail outs. Take a look, the age their getting these abroad orphans can go from newborns to kindergarteners. If they do they with American children, 9 times out of 10 the infant will have some sort of medical problem. I don’t know if u feel me with it (fingers getting tired on the iPhone) but that’s just my generalization on why no one is adopting American kids in droves like abroad orphans

      • Trisha_B

        I think w/ American adoption, if you want a new born you have to deal w/ the parent changing their mind. Mariska Hargitay said before she got her little girl she adopted, she had got a new born baby girl. They brought her home, named her & everything. then the mom changed her mind and asked for the baby back. That’s heart breaking. So i guess most people do foreign adoption b/c they don’t have to deal w/ a parent changing their mind & them getting their hopes up.