Wednesday, August 29, 2007

#6 Question adoptive parents hear

Q: How much did they cost?

A1: How about I ask how much it cost you or your insurance to birth your child. Or, how much money did you make last you… do you have any credit card debt, how often do you have sex?

A2: Well, he's bigger so it cost a little more, but we got a steal on the little one.

A3: It was buy two get one free that week, so it turned out to be more affordable than we thought.

A4: (Smile politely) We used a not for profit agency, and the attorney charged reasonable fees for the paperwork.

Again, this is a real life question we get (regularly)... notice the bold word... this is the actual statement. Now just think for a few moments about how this could be worded slightly different and would be less offensive to the parent (and child standing there). The they, that is being referred to is not the agency... the reference is to the child[ren]... they cost nothing, what I'm paying for is the labor in order to adopt them... the social worker's time, the attorney's time, the court's time.

3 comments:

Michelle said...

What bothers me most is when people don't have the sensitivity to at least ask the questions out of the children's hearing.

One question I'll never forget: Did they come with accessories? Excuse me? Ah, no, they came completely naked like they day they were born!

MommaLlama said...

Accessories... oh my, I would have been tempted to say... 'oh yes, Fisher Price sent all the latest add ons for them, but we are still waiting to hear if ToyRus has the upgrade for the little one's power source'.

Michelle said...

LOL! I really had to bite my tongue not to say anything sarcastic.