baby steps

I had CNN on as I cleaned the kitchen a while ago and they announced a feature coming up about the death of "Steven Chapman's daughter". Well, what do you know...I think this event coverage is possibly the first time I have ever heard the news refer to an adopted child without the "adopted" qualifier. Just "Steven Chapman's daughter". Throughout the news coverage of this event, which is several months old, I have consistently seen and heard this, and it is encouraging.


Before we ever gave much serious thought to adoption, I remember reading Bob Hope's obituary and wondering why they felt the need to tell us that he was survived by his "adopted" children. They were his children. Period. It is not necessary or desirable to qualify the relationship. The news media is notorious for doing this and it is nice to hear them not doing it for once. There is nothing wrong with adoption or being adopted, but I don't think it is right to follow a child through life referring to them as "that adopted kid"...or "her adopted son". I'm not going to walk around saying "my adopted daughter wants to take ballet" or "my adopted son wore me out yesterday with his terrible twos". My children will be my children. No extra labels or qualifiers needed.



For those who don't know, Steven Curtis Chapman is a Christian singer who lost his daughter in a tragic accident earlier this year. Chapman is an advocate of adoption and has written at least one song popular in the adoption community. I don't listen to Chapman's music, so I might never have heard it except that it is sometimes featured in You Tube videos of Gotcha Days.



For more news coverage of their loss, click here.



And if you want to hear the song, here is a China adoption video on You Tube. I recommend having Kleenex nearby.... click here.