International outrage
December 14, 2007 
The news of the Dutch diplomat and his wife relinqishing their seven year old daughter has hit the mainstream news media, big time. There’s more details coming out, including this gem from the Times of London:
the couple have now surrendered Jade to the Hong Kong social welfare department for readoption, reportedly because the child could not adapt to Dutch culture.
In their defense, the diplomat claims their daughter has attachment issues:
They had embarked on family therapy, but without success. “To our great disappointment, things didn’t get better, they got worse, and the rest of the family began to suffer hugely from that,” he said.
These claims are counterbalenced by a former nannies and babysitters who have come forward to say little Jade was rarely cared for by her mother. And I am still bothered by the the diplomat’s claims that it was an “administrative oversight” that they never got their daughter Dutch citizenship. Clearly there are many sides to this story, but I just can’t get past the fact that these parents gave away their seven year old daughter. My heart just aches for her, and I pray she finds a family where she is loved and feels safe to return that love.
My heart aches for her and the many, many others like her. Look at this site and just try not to cry:
http://www.achildswaiting.com/adoptive_parents/adoption_disruption/disruption_children.php
This whole story is so sad. That poor little girl. Gawd.
It is very sad!
The additional coverage certainly isn’t doing the diplomat any favors, is it? I don’t care how many facets of the story are revealed- I don’t see how he and his wife will be able to come out of this looking like anything other than heartless monsters. Then again, I may be feeling just a wee bit judgmental about this whole thing… Ya think? That poor girl.
There is just no way to spin this story to make it look better. It’s very disturbing.
[...] I read the recent story of a diplomat and his wife abandoning their 7 year old daughter and reacted by saying “That is so awful. How could anyone do such a thing?” Paula [...]