To anyone out there who’s wishing they weren’t parenting, if you don’t want your kids, we know plenty of folks who long to be a mom and dad.
We were, frankly, appalled to read a Golf Monthly article entitled “1 in 50 Americans Would Put a Child Up For Adoption To Play Augusta: National Survey” by journalist Jeff Kimber.
Kimber alleges that in a survey of 1047 American golfers, 2% of respondents would give up their kids to play a round of golf at the home of the Augusta National.
What, exactly, are we to derive from this article? It certainly doesn’t make golfers look good. And it raises serious questions about the journalistic integrity of Golf Monthly, as well.
Some Thoughts for Golf Monthly
We hope this is merely a horribly-misguided April Fool’s joke, but given that it was published the day before, we’re not sure? Either way, though, it’s a vile and offensive headline, and if true, a largely unsourced report with absolutely no redeeming social value to anyone, at best.
At worst, it’s hurtful and disrespectful towards countless Americans who have either been adopted, placed a child for adoption or adopted a child (as well as those who long to do so.)
We’re grateful to know any number of adoptive parents within our adoption community who are avid golfers and who would never dream of trading their beloved child/ren for a chance to play The Masters course at Augusta. They do, however, share our umbrage at this insensitive headline published by a magazine that should have surely used better editorial judgement.
(Feel free to contact Golf Monthly at golfmonthly@futurenet.com to let this publication know if you found this piece offensive, and why?)
Don’t Want Your Kids? We Know Someone That Would
For every one baby voluntarily placed for adoption in the US, there are more than 50 homestudy-ready adoptive couples waiting, like Abrazo’s hopeful parents-in-waiting. There are thousands of older children in state foster care who are already free for adoption and awaiting loving homes on national sites like the Heart Gallery.
For any parent out there (whether a golfer or not) who needs to know this: if you don’t want your kids anymore, there are agencies like Abrazo that will gladly help finding loving and safe adoptive homes for children who need them— although we cannot guarantee you a tee time at the Augusta (nor give you anything of value in exchange for placement.)
We can, however, arrange an open adoption so that the child/ren you no longer wish to parent can grow up with the opportunity to remain in contact with their birthfamily, something that is very important to most adoptees. We can find them parents who have waited for years for the privilege of becoming someone’s mom and dad, and who will promise to do all they can to meet their every need. And Abrazo’s services are free and confidential for placing parents.
Good Parenting Matters More Than Golf. (And Nearly Anything Else.)
Parenting is, normally, a lifelong commitment, but the truth is this: there’s more than one way of being a good parent. Some of the best parents we know are folks who knew when they couldn’t be the parents their child/ren needed most, no matter how hard they tried.
Adoption should always be an option of last resort, not a punchline for a joke, an attention-grabber used as a cheap headline, nor a heartless ploy to put parental past-times ahead of children’s needs.
Adoptees, birthparents and adoptive parents know all too well what a life-changing process this can be, and they deserve far more respect than is implied by that offensive Golf Monthly story.
