[devotedadoptee]

Wow! I'm posting this article from my local newspaper. I'm not sure I want to watch this Monday night, but I'm going to give it a try...

Adoption advocates worried by 'Daddy' program
By EMILY BERRY
Anderson Independent-Mail
December 31, 2004

One adopted woman and her father might be the only ones in the adoption community pleased with the show "Who’s Your Daddy." For the adoptive parents, adopted children and their biological parents who are not on television, the program crosses the line from tasteless to insulting.

The program sets up a woman adopted as an infant to choose between a field of men claiming to be her biological father. One of them is her father, and if she chooses him, she wins $100,000. If she chooses incorrectly, the chosen imposter pockets the money.

Either way, daughter and biological father are reunited at the end.

Judging by the letters and e-mails circulating on the Internet, every person touched by adoption has a different reason to reject "Who’s Your Daddy."

Despite those protests and pleas to keep the show off the air, the half reality, half game show special remains scheduled for a 90-minute airing Monday night on FOX.

Anna Filippeti, director of Greenville-based Southeastern Exchange, recruits adoptive families for special needs and minority children from seven states.

"I’m not fond of (the idea) at all. I think it’s very insulting," she said. "I think that if FOX had done a little more research with this kind of thing and seen what it’s like for these children, I think they would understand it was insulting."

From the title on, she said, the show’s premise brings to mind the worst misconceptions about adoption.

"Any kid that’s adopted, especially in foster care — ‘Who’s your Daddy?’ That’s just going to make them feel awful," she said. "I hope none of them see it."

For Kristen Crenshaw of Powdersville, the show is a slap in the face. Now 24 years old, she was adopted at 3 days old and knows nothing of her biological parents.

"They’re glorifying it — adoption’s a good thing, but it’s not the easiest thing, and there’s a lot of people out there that would love to find their parents," she said. "You want to know where you came from, who you look like. I don’t get to; I don’t have the money to, so it’s not fair."

Steve Eargle is executive director of the Anderson adoption agency Cherished Children International. The agency matches orphaned children from several different countries with adoptive families.

Mr. Eargle, who also is the father of six adopted children, said he worried the show would set up unrealistic expectations for people who have been adopted.

"In my experience, those who have that reunification, it usually is not quite what they thought it would be," he said.
Still, Mr. Eargle said, the show is only one of many he’d rather weren’t broadcast.

"I can think of a lot worse," he said.

Carri Uram, an adoptive parent and director of Greenville adoption agency Special Link, said she is very much in favor of open adoptions and of the rights of birth parents, but that people need to be aware that an adoptive parent is the "real" parent.

The "Who’s your Daddy?" title alone suggests the adopted woman on the show is looking for her "real" father rather than for merely her biological one, she said.

"DNA doesn’t make a daddy. If she was raised by a loving adoptive daddy, that’s her father," she said. "Their choice in terminology is disturbing."

Ms. Uram and fellow adoptive mother J. Lynne Wilson Jenkins of Simpsonville said everything they had seen about the show was distressing, but were waiting to see the whole thing before condemning it.

"I’m definitely going to watch it," Ms. Jenkins said. "It will raise awareness, that’s for sure. I have to reserve the final judgement. I don’t know if it will convey how wonderful adoption is."

[blankenb4]

Hi,

I have heard that this show is going to be cancelled.

Barbara