August 23, 2012

Pat Robertson’s Weird Theory

Televangelist Pat Robertson recently stirred the adoption pot (in the world and on our Facebook page) with a slew of offensive comments about his perspective on undesirable adoption situations.

While appearing on the 700 Club he said that people should not adopt children they know had been sexually abused or deprived of food, because they might grow up to be “weird.

He also stated that it’s not wrong for a man to not want to date a woman who has multiple adopted daughters from different countries.

“A man doesn’t want to take on the United Nations, and a woman has all these various children, blended family, what is it – you don’t know what problems there are. I’m serious. I’ve got a dear friend, an adopted son, a little kid from an orphanage down in Columbia. Child had brain damage, grew up weird. And you just never know what’s been done to a child before you get that child. What kind of sexual abuse has been, what kind of cruelty, what kind of food deprivation, etc. etc.” the televangelist said.

He advised that people don’t need to take on other people’s problems, and that adoption is a form of that – taking on someone else’s problem.

Luckily, his unbelievable comments have been lambasted by the media and people all around the country – Christians, non-Christians, the adoption industry, bloggers. In a time where anyone on TV or a public platform can make such outrageous claims like rape can’t get you pregnant, or AIDS can’t be transmitted through heterosexual sex, or children who were malnourished in an orphanage will be a “weird” burden for their adoptive families, it’s important to keep your head about you and stand up for what you know is right.

We’re proud to be a part of the adoption community, and we support any individual who wants to adopt any child and as many children as they choose. There is nothing weird about that.