U.S. Adoption: Anti-Catholicism and Eugenics

Sister Irene Fitzgibbons, New York Foundling Hospital

I like to pretend that it would be no problem for me to live and survive in a little house on the prairie.  I fancy myself as one who can whip up gravy from nothing and keep that fire stoked like any-ole-man could.  I have heroines from our early American days including Laura Ingalls Wilder and Sister Irene, seen in this photograph.  In 1869, Sister Irene rented a house,  put a white wicker cradle outside the door and waited to take in unwanted babies.  The first month she had 45 abandoned children.

By 1879, Sister Irene and a Protestant minister (with anti-Catholic motives) helped relocate thousands of orphans via the "Orphan Train", where children were transported from New York City to parts west.  These children were not adopted but were indentured...servants like those adopted in ancient Rome, India and China.  President Theodore Roosevelt stepped in to declare, in 1909, that "the nuclear family represented the highest and finest product of civilization and is best able to serve as primary caretaker for the abandoned and orphaned."  Still there were fears.  Fears about the genetic quality of illegitimate and indigent children (((and the Catholic faith))) were common as eugenics was popular during this "Progressive" time in the United States.  (((This attitude changed only when the US population was forced to reject Hitler's own eugenic policies.)))  

The new idea for adoption laws included strict consideration of what was in the "best interests of the child", and even stricter still, the secrecy clause.  The fears here were again poverty and Catholicism. Would poor, trashy, criminal, Catholics,  come to reclaim their children from their adoptive homes?  Thanks to the Horrible War,  the years between 1945 and 1970 were fast-rising adoption years.  The stigma lessened more and more until the Great Adoption Peak in 1970.  (((of course the decline was rapid and permanent thanks to the Birth Control Pill and Abortion on Demand.)))

I hate the secrecy clause the most.  My dear adopted dad was born before the clause.  He had the golden ticket to find his mother.  He never did and regretted it.  I am the Adopted in Secret Generation.  Now, most may choose Open or Closed Adoption.  What about those of us who dwell in between?  Some states have changed their laws about unsealing adoption records.  In the state of my birth, Michigan, I may submit my name as wishing to be contacted if anyone is searching for me but that is all I get.  Oh. Except for the letter.  I requested non-identifying information on my birth mother and natural father.  I was hoping for medical information.  All I got was a very long letter, the contents of which was a very sorrowful soap opera-type story.  Yay for me.  Yet another reason for sarcasm. (((Oh, and no one IS looking for me.)))

So, while Sister Irene is my hero, in my opinion the adoption laws in our country are horrible.  What began well has ended badly.  I don't wonder why there are a disproportionate number of adoptees my age who are in therapy.  Perhaps I'll include my own messed up adoption on my list for my shrink.  Wait! I forgot I dumped him for not liking me defining my own crazy.  For sure I will finally blog one day about Being Adopted.  (((Waiting for more sarcasm and irony to invade the topic.)))