Adoption Group Opposes ‘Orphan’ Movie
An adoption advocacy group whose vice president is a Church of God missionary in the Philippines, issues a relase about a Warner Brothers picture due out this weekend.
By Robert Requintina
The Philippine adoption community is strongly united in expressing its displeasure and opposition to the showing of the movie “Orphan,” set to debut in cinemas on July 29.
Lawyer Gwen Pimentel-Gana, president of the Association of Child Caring Agencies of the Philippines (ACCAP). As the country’s leading network of residential care and pre-adoption service providers, ACCAP’s member agencies are terribly offended and appalled by the movie’s negative story line featuring an orphan little girl character as the villain.
“It is insensitive and incorrect to portray orphan children in this manner and reinforces damaging stereotypes, which I fear will only harm children without families even more,” says Atty Gana. “Further more, it is an insult to the positive and productive work that the adoption community, including ACCAP, including the DSWD and Inter-country Adoption Board (ICAB), does for Filipino orphans.”
Last March 12, 2009, President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo signed into law RA 9523, known as An Act Requiring the Certification of the DSWD to Declare a Child Legally Available for Adoption. This law not only provides shorter and simplified adoption procedures but also changes the nature of the proceedings from judicial to administrative. “It is unimaginable that in the midst of such positive developments, a movie like Orphan would be allowed and much less patronized in the country,” stated ACCAP Vice President for Internal Affairs Marc Morris.
The Philippine adoption community has been working extremely hard to improve the quality of residential care and processes to place children in permanent families. On August 18 – 22, the Association, along with DSWD and ICAB, will be coordinating an international adoption conference at the Makati Dusit Hotel. Many foreign adoption agencies will also be attending this meeting to review and discuss the various programs related to the system of adoptions.
The movie “Orphan” delivers a detrimental message about ‘waiting’ children in need of a “forever family.” The trailer was deemed so offensive to some communities in America that the line “It must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own” was removed. Adoptions advocate Kim Michelle Richardson (USA) said the movie’s byline, “There is Something Wrong With Esther” should be applied to the production company: “There Is Something Wrong With Warner Bros.”
Maybe the MTRCB before allowing movies like these should be more sensitive to issues that affect the plight of orphaned, abandoned, neglected and dependent children.
For more information about ACCAP and legitimate adoptions, please call 02-3766940.
