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Severance Magazine
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September 2024

    AdoptionArticles

    A Call to Action

    by bkjax September 22, 2024

    By Cindy Shultz

    Dakota “Levi” Stevens deserved a long life. He had a family that loved him and wanted him. In April 2024, he was suffocated in his foster home. No charges have been filed, and Levi’s family is calling for change in a petition. The state of Indiana failed Levi and his family. The Indiana Department of Child Services claims that prospective foster families go through “intensive training and education,” yet Levi’s death is not an isolated incident.

    Throughout our country a crisis is unfolding that demands our immediate attention. It’s a crisis that sees our most vulnerable—our children—subjected to unthinkable horrors. The torture and murder of foster and adopted children is ongoing. These children are more than just victims; they’re human beings who deserve love, care, and protection, not death.

    A few current murder cases include those of 4-year-old Bryan Boyer (FL), 11-year-old Arabella McCormack (CA), 6-year-old Isabella Kalua (HI), 3-year-old Sherin Mathews (TX), 14-year-old Grace Packer (PA), and 6-week-old Lucas Birchim (NC). The stories of Asunta Fong Yang and Aundria Bowman—both murdered adoptees—are garnering attention in two different Netflix series: The Asunta Case and Into the Fire: The Lost Daughter, respectively. These stories are horrifying but not unique and stand as irrefutable evidence of an industry failing children and their families. Can you imagine losing custody of your children because a government agency says you are a danger to them only to find out they were victims of torture and murder under watch from that same agency?

    According to a 2019 study, children in foster care have a mortality rate 42% higher than that other children.  This number is not just a statistic; these are real human beings, real children, real lives, and real suffering. Imagine the fear and confusion a child must feel when the very people who are legally responsible for protecting them become their abusers.  These children, already vulnerable due to their adoptive and foster care placements, are further victimized by a system that fails to safeguard their lives.

    One study shows children tend to fare better in their biological environments than out-of-home care despite minimal intervention in the biological home. Therefore, we must prioritize family preservation by maximizing resources in the biological home. This includes providing in-home counseling and support, affordable health care, affordable daycare, helping families overcome crises, and protecting parents from the fraud, coercion, and exploitation that permanently severs them from their children.

    It’s time to abolish the current child welfare system. Our moral and legal obligation is to protect the most vulnerable members of our society to ensure their safety and well-being. How is it happening that these children are being murdered in their foster placements? We need to ask this question of our government agencies and politicians. Write to your politicians demanding answers and sign this petition to hold the Department of Children and Family Services accountable. It’s up to all of us to prevent more children from being tortured and murdered. 

    Cindy Shultz works to help the systemically oppressed members of her community in crisis without proper housing. As a young pregnant mother who faced the same issues as those she serves, Catholic Charities convinced her that her baby would be better off with someone else. Without an emotional or social support system of her own, she lost her son to an unnecessary adoption. As a volunteer for Saving Our Sisters she has begun educating her community on the corruption within the adoption industry while advocating for family preservation.

     

    September 22, 2024 0 comments
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http://www.reckoningwiththeprimalwound.com

What’s New on Severance

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After a DNA Surprise: 10 Things No One Wants to Hear

https://www.righttoknow.us

Call Right To Know’s resource hotline to talk with another MPE be paired with a mentor, get resources, or just talk.

Original Birth Certificates to California Born Adoptees

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erHylYLHqXg&t=4s

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Recommended Reading

The Lost Family: How DNA is Upending Who We Are, by Libby Copeland. Check our News & Reviews section for a review of this excellent book about the impact on the culture of direct-to-consumer DNA testing.

What Happens When Parents Wait to Tell a Child He’s Adopted

“A new study suggests that learning about one’s adoption after a certain age could lead to lower life satisfaction in the future.”

Janine Vance Searches for the Truth About Korean Adoptees

“Imagine for a minute that you don’t know who your mother is. Now imagine that you are that mother, and you don’t know what became of your daughter.”

Who’s Your Daddy? The Twisty History of Paternity Testing

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What Separation from Parents Does to Children: ‘The Effect is Catastrophic”

“This is what happens inside children when they are forcibly separated from their parents.”

Truth: A Love Story

“A scientist discovers his own family’s secret.”

Dear Therapist: The Child My Daughter Put Up for Adoption is Now Rejecting Her

“She thought that her daughter would want to meet her one day. Twenty-five years later, that’s not true.”

I’m Adopted and Pro-Choice. Stop Using My Story for the Anti-Abortion Agenda. Stephanie Drenka’s essay for the Huffington Post looks at the way adoptees have made unwilling participants in conversations about abortion.

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@2019 - Severance Magazine

Severance Magazine
  • About
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Severance Magazine
  • About
    • About Severance
    • From the Editor
    • Submission Guidelines: How to Contribute
    • Contact Us
  • Articles
    • abandonment
    • Adoption
    • Advocacy
    • DNA & Genetic Genealogy
    • DNA Surprises
    • Donor Conception
    • Family Secrets
    • Genetics & Heredity
    • Interviews & Profiles
    • Late Discovery Adoptees
    • Psychology & Therapy
    • NPEs/MPEs
    • Search & Reunion
  • Essays & Fiction
    • abandonment
    • Adoption
    • DNA surprises
    • Donor Conception
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  • Self Care & Coping
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  • Speak Out
    • Micro-Memoirs
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    • DNA & Genetic Genealogy
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    • NPEs (Not parent expected) & MPEs (Misattributed parentage experience)
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@2019 - Severance Magazine