I confess to not being very literate on the topic of Haiti's history and economic past, so I've been trying to get myself educated. Here are some of the links I've been following.
A blogpost by LJ user Browngirl
A massive linkdump from blogger Unusualmusic, at ABW.com
On the issue of adopting Haitian orphans, from Racialicious' guest contributor Atlasien
Henry Louis Gates Jr. on Thomas Jefferson and Haiti (h/t Ta-Nehisi Coates at TheAtlantic.com)
I totally agree with the adopting Haitian orphans blog post.
Sidetrack: It did remind me of something that I wrote about awhile ago:
http://tishalro.livejournal.com/198444.html
It's a hard situation all around, and it's hard to develop a system that can account for every individual's nuanced situation.
Wow. Somehow i missed that post of yours.Yeah, what a hard decision.
From where I sit, un-emotionally involved, I think the birth parents and the court had it right. I don't think it's *impossible* for a white family to adopt a child from a very different culture, but I think those parents who do decide to adopt outside their own cultures have an imperative to raise that child as completely immersed in that culture as they can. And I'd say that any kid that came from a Spanish-speaking household deserves to be brought up in an adoptive home where Spanish is spoken -- otherwise she will lose a very tangible, important link to not only her culture, but her parents as well.
That doesn't stop the hurting on the part of your aunt though -- but I suppose if adoption is about the child's welfare first, then the feelings of the adoptive parents have to be subject to that, as devastating as it may be.