On St. Patrick’s Day, we watched a family film about Patrick’s early life and his years in Ireland, as a slave and then a missionary. After the scene where Patrick is captured from his family’s town in Britain and taken to Ireland, seven-year-old Regina ran to my husband and asked if Patrick was being adopted!
I was, of course, horrified. Unable to hear the rest of their brief conversation, I asked my husband later. He’s great with kids but can be a little frustrating when describing detail, so I’m not sure exactly what they said. Later he calmly told me,
“Well, being taken out of your country and into another country, you can see how that, to her, is similar to adoption.”
Okay, I can see that one similarity, but—does the scene of a struggling kid being thrown into a boat by guys wielding battle axes really bring the thought “adoption” to her mind? And if so, what do I do about it?
I had talked with both girls earlier while watching a Little House on the Prairie episode. In those days kids were literally “put up for adoption”–that is, they were stood up in front of the populace for prospective parents to review. Sometimes an effort was made to ensure the adoptive parents’ financial stability, but nothing like a modern homestudy where one’s references and reasons for wanting children, child care plans, and health are reviewed.
“You do know that’s not how adoption works now, right?” I asked the girls (ages 7 and 10) for the umpteenth time.
“Yes, Mom!” chorused exasperated voices.
“You have to fill out lots of forms,” said Regina.
After the St. Patrick’s film, I talked with Regina the next day in the car. I asked whether she had thought Patrick was being adopted. She said yes, and when I asked her why she said because he left a home in one country and went to another one.
I explained that in adoption, a child isn’t taken from his mother and father; the parents can’t take care of the child and agree to the adoption, and the agency make sure the new parents can take good care of the child.
“I know,” she replied, “you have to fill out lots of forms.”
“Yes, and in those forms we had to promise to love you forever, and give you food and clothes and a place to stay, and educate you, just like we take care of Patrick (her older brother, who is our biological son).
“ In the movie, the bad guys took Patrick from his parents so he could work for them. The people who take care of the babies make sure the new parents want a baby to love forever.”
“Right,” said Regina cheerfully, “and now I have a question.”
“Yes?” I said nervously–
“Did you put an extra cookie in my lunch?”
Please see this related blog:
Adoption on Little House on the Prairie: The TV Series