It kind of sounds like someone may have misled him. There are often people in orphanages who benefit from convincing people to give their kids for adoption. Maybe they lied to him or didn't tell him everything he really needed to know.

Maybe he willingly gave her up so she would be safe. The states have better living conditions and anything donated to Ethopia never arrives to them anyway.

What If she cannot help when she get older? No Guarantees in America dreams.

Omg

There are organizations out there who are against removing children from their parents and their culture. They feel that it is a crime, that people are taking advantage of the poverty of those people in order to adopt a child. And there are more than enough adoption agencies who go that route. In my opinion it could be done, but differently and only if both parties are fully informed and consent to the terms. If a parent of family feels, they want to give one or more children a better life, let them get the kid(s) get adopted. But it should be an open adoption, where both parties exchange information and stay in contact.

i feel your deal for justice and truth but he actually did say that. he said, "what is the use giving them away if the kids don't come back and help me." "Lost in translation" is in my mind. smiles : )

tata kitcho They are not a Christian entity. They are frauds using Christianity to gain trust and scam innocent Christians.

Thank you so much for clarifying that.

She meant she plays a lost child in the class play, Peter Pan.

She can go find that herself when she grows older if she so chooses.

Sophia Kim there are Ethiopians who are born and raised here by their families and don't speak their language either so she will be fine

You can take back to Ethiopia

I noted that the lady doing her hair was Ethiopian, plus she is clearly aware of her roots and family. Ultimately it will be up to her whether she wants to know more. I hear Google is a wonderful tool. I don't get the impression that her culture is hidden from her either. Plus, in time when she is old enough, she can pay her kin a visit. I may be wrong but I am guessing she will opt to return to the US but with a new found appreciation of the culture of her birth country. In time.

Sophia Kim really Ethiopia is Rich.where did u live.open your channel then study about Ethiopia.

But that isn't always possible. A lot of the kids are orphans. Would you rather they remain orphans and go unloved? If that's the case you're a monster.

Princess Ama I totally agree with you.

@@roypullin2155 What I'm saying is that a family in the native country should be found first before a child is adopted overseas. If there are absolutely no families available, then international adoption could be an option.

Roy Pullin do you understand the unseen damage done to children when they’re adopted internationally? Some go into sex trafficking or adopted as human slaves especially in European countries. The children are most times not ever going to reconcile with their biological families. I’m very happy Ethiopia decided to not accept any foreign adoptions. I hope Ethiopia becomes more wealthy, where they are able to care for their people more economically.

Your comment is relevant now more than ever considering all the racial tension going on. I wonder how this family is making out now and how the girl's parents explained race to her.

Not a bad idea but when you live in such desperate circumstances, one ought to consider not procreating multiple times. It's not fair to the kids and is burdensome for the providers. They should not have that many kids, keep having more, then look to the same kids or others to take pity on them and help. People will help because no one wants to see kids suffer but at the same time, the parents need to recognise their dire situation and take a decision to stop having kids. Nobody wins because being desperately poor often results in poor education and nutrition, with many kids having to assist with family income very early in life, so the kids suffer ultimately.

it really is! there is a lot of trauma that these children later face from that displacement, and also there is a massive industry that exploits families for financial gain through these international adoptions. this is why the Ethiopian government has since banned international adoptions.

Imo it’s a bad idea. Charity never works. You can’t know what the parents are doing with that money you’re giving them. I’m from a third world country originally and trust me, while colonialism and internal conflict/politics played a role in said country’s downfall, mindsets of the people are a HUGE part of why progress is stagnant. Now bear with me, things are going to get VERY politically incorrect from here. Trust me when I say, give third worlders money for charity and most of them won’t know what to do with it. They’ll spend it on booze, jewelry, food (until they run out, then who’s gonna feed them? They gonna live off handouts???) at least with foreign adoption the adopter is vetted and checked and goes through the effort of getting the child to said developed country. They have direct control over where the kid’s life goes and imo that’s way better than just throwing money at a poor family

@@MsCabral13surely not as bad as the trauma they’d face starving daily surrounded by deadly diseases though. And pretty much every financial system set in place has some kind of criminal element looking to cash in on it so this isn’t specific to foreign adoption

It does appear suspicious but based on multiple comments on here, it is apparent that the piece was poorly translated. I suspected as much when it was stated that he sent her away with the expectation that she would take care of him, yet closer to the end he says that he was told that she would only be gone for 3 years and that he was expecting her to return soon because it was 3 years at the time of the documentary. Doesn't add up.

@@kokocaballero8440when he was asked, would you send your other kids, he said, no. What is the point if they can just go and disappear. A lot of family got mislead about giving up their children. The agency who are giving children away gets paid thousands of dollars per child. While the parents of the children gets nothing. How is that fair. Family wants to know how their kids are doing? Picture doesn't tell everything. They want to talk to their kids in person. A lot of children got adopted, and forced into sex trafficking, drugs and homelessness. A lot of abuse. Children dying from starvation. This is why the government stopped international adoption. I support adoption, but open adoption.

What is he actually saying? If someone can understand the language and give a better translation, it would be interesting to know.

+junbh2 he doesn't ask for any financial gain

Shame on WSJ.

Lavish Dream And at least they kept her Ethiopian name as her first name. There are many families who take their kid's Ethiopian names away, so they can "Americanize" them, and that really pisses me off.

Lavish Dream I haven't read the comments yet, but you are right. And I don't think they watched the video. She knows about her heritage they obviously have spoken to her about it. Keeping her first name.

tata kitcho man you are a sad and miserable human being.

Better life here

Jade Brown, yes, it is possible to sponser a family. We do it for more than 15 years. World Vision is looking for people who wants to support families and their villages.

Your comment is relevant now more than ever considering all the racial tension going on. I wonder how this family is making out now and how the girl's parents explained race to her.

that part!!! its way to easy to romaticize these sorts of adoptions. but people forget adoption is traumatic act in many cases, and there are way too many stories of this trauma resurfacing later on in life

Maybe she just goes by Mel cuz she thought Melasech would b 2 hard 4 most ppl 2 remember.

Ruth Habtamu in school we call her mel

Based on what I saw in the piece, she has photos of them.and they have multiple photos of her. The adoptive parents did not sever her from her roots.

amen amen amennnnnnnn GOD protect these defenseless kids

Who said that? She has photos of them and they have multiple photos of her. She is also aware of where she is from and her family make up. She spoke to those things. I also noted that the lady doing her hair is Ethiopian, so I strongly suspect that she knows about her culture. Then with the wonderful tool known as Google, she can find out a whole lot more when she is ready. We shouldn't watch a short documentary/report and try to fill in the blanks, where things are not explicitly stated. Moreover, based on multiple comments, the piece was poorly translated, apparently to slant the piece for more sensationalism. For instance, I noted that the father said in one instance that he sent her away with the expectation that she will eventually take care of him and essentially help him out of his dire impoverished situation and then to also say that he agreed to her being away for only 3 years and was expecting her to return home at the time of filming of the documentary, as it was then 3 years, says a lot. It doesn't make sense that the same person would have such conflicting understanding regarding her being adopted. How could a child so young help them out of their poverty after 3 years? With the stir that this documentary/report has caused, if I were her adopted family, I would not make her return until she is a teen, where she can better appreciate her culture in person and take any decision regarding her future, as there is no telling whether the father will cause a scene. Further, no one can say whether the adopted parent(s) are yet financially able for them to visit Ethiopia. A visit to a foreign country with poor infrastructure means that you'll have to not only consider plane tickets and accommodation but most importantly, transportation because that village seems to be very remote. The adopted parents cannot be blamed if fraud was committed in this case. It'd be squarely on the agency.

I so wish everyone on here commenting could see your post before posting their comments. Several persons, I suspect other Ethiopians, have commented that the piece was poorly translated. It is apparent that it was deliberately done for sensationalism or some other motive. I have no idea what the father is saying but based purely on the translation, it makes no sense because it translates to him making conflicting statements about his appreciation of the process and his expectations. Thank you for taking the time to comment.

What language were they speaking btw?

@@kokocaballero8440 Amharic.

She can find it when she's older and if she chooses.

There are poor parts in every country, they're just focusing on where the girl grew up.

Africa is a continent, not a country.

+CPTWIL Alon It's disturbing for me as I'm from north Africa and I'm African.... so what are we supposed to do with north Africa, attach it to Europe or Asia???

From somebody who has spent a lot of time in Ethiopia. I can say with confidence that it is definitely a very poor and impover country.

Rebecca Cottrell then could you please translate this then?!

I didn't think it made Ethiopia look bad, personally.

I think it's misleading to say someone 'doesn't have a cultural identity'. That's kind of like not having a personality, it's not really logically possible! What people usually mean is that their cultural identity isn't neatly defined, or isn't strongly linked to who their ancestors are or to a particular country or group, or is more complex in some way. But if you're human and you live in a web of human relationships like any human, then you have a cultural identity whether you know how to explain it or have a name for it or not. Sometimes it's only when you travel that you start to realize how much your own culture is different from other people's...

Same with Somalia

***** I guess it depends if by cultural identity you mean pride and attachment to your culture, or just having one. When people feel like they don't have one, it usually just means they see the way they act and the things they do and how they see things as 'normal' or 'neutral' so they don't quite realize that they have values and ways of seeing the world that are distinct, too. Like when someone says 'I don't have any accent', which always makes me laugh.

tata kitcho I understand how someone could object to african children being adopted and losing their connection to their first family and country, but I don't agree with what you're saying at all. It seems very insulting to people who have actually been forced to live as slaves to compare them to a happy, healthy, child with a family who loves her and is happy for her to be their daughter, who goes to school and plays with friends and has the same life as every other child. Even if you do think it would have been much better for her to NOT be adopted, or if you think her first family was mistreated, it's still very very different from slavery.

Why you think he give his own daughter to someone ?? He has 5 kids left by him self and his poor guy .. he really need money for that .

aucourant, the idea of the new parents to send him the photos of his daughter was not very good. He lives in such a poverty and now sees how the world could be. An international adoption costs between 8000 and 16.000 Dollars. It would be better to support families in their countries, so they could feed their children and send them to schools. This man never got money for his child but others earned a lot of money with selling children.... called adoption. Go into this countries , to feel how life is..... then and only then judge about a person!

Typical Stupid and Ignorant Comment .. .. The American agencies are making Stacks of money .. They Lie ,Kidnap , mislead to get their hand on children to sell them to these BIBLE bashing women .. Typical cost: $20,000 to $40,000, including the homestudy, counseling for potential birth parents and prospective adoptive parents, medical expenses, and foster care, if needed. 80% Profit .

Taylor Productions, I hope everything is fine :)

she is fine she doesn't worry about anything at school

how is she ?

It appears she is fully aware of her family. She had photos and they had photos, plus she was able to speak to the circumstances under which she was adopted, including the fact that her birth mother died. It is clear that the adoptive family has not hidden her roots from her, plus I also noted that the lady doing her hair was Ethiopian, so I suspect that the family encourages her connection to her birth culture though she is an American now. Whether she helps them is a decision she will have to make on her own when she becomes an adult, as that is not something someone can be forced to do. It would be nice of her but ultimately it will be her choice, as she is under no obligation to do so.

Do you guys have social media?

Molly Jones if they are CHRIST Followers they need to send money to her family..End of Story.

No one stole her from her family. She was adopted. The father was fully aware that she was going overseas and agreed to it. Whether he didn't understand is a whole other thing but either way, he gave her up for her to have a better life. Hopefully he is done having children with the extent of their impoverished circumstances. The lady wanted a child to adopt as her own and not an entire family to sponsor. 2 different scenarios altogether. I do hope that their circumstances will improve but he agreed for her to go overseas.

They should help the the man to stop producing any more babies that he cannot afford to take care. Get him FIXED for good. No more sperm

Based on multiple posts, the report/documentary was poorly translated. Did you also note that he said he agreed for her to be adopted so that she could essentially help him (out of poverty I presume), yet at the same time, later in the piece he said that he was expecting her to return 3 years after being adopted. She would've still been a very young child. How could she possibly help him in any meaningful way? Farming alongside him in the village? Doesn't make sense for the same person to make such conflicting statements. The piece was apparently translated for sensationalism. That aside, I don't think anyone should (not saying you did) blame the adopted parents if it is that fraud was perpetrated. It would be squarely on the agency. The adopted parents did nothing wrong, plus the child is clearly aware of her roots and her biological family.