Family Forum / Parenting / Adoption / July 2009

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31966443/ns/entertainment-movies/

Adoption groups decry film with evil orphan
Warner Bros. hears concerns, says virtually every film offends someone

NEW YORK - Often divided over policy and practice, America's adoption
community has unified in dismay over "Orphan," a horror movie opening
next week that its critics say will fuel negative attitudes toward
real-life orphans.

Some adoption advocates are urging a boycott of the movie, which opens
July 24. A coalition of prominent national adoption and foster care
groups, while not joining the boycott call, has asked for a meeting
with Warner Bros. CEO Barry Meyer to discuss their concerns.

"We are concerned that in addition to its intended entertainment
value, this film will have the unintended effect of skewing public
opinion against children awaiting families both in the United States
and abroad," said a letter to Meyer from the Congressional Coalition
on Adoption Institute.

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Warner Bros. said it has taken the concerns seriously. Spokesman Scott
Rowe told The Associated Press the company is considering adding a pro-
adoption message at the end of the film when it comes out in DVD form.

Trailers for the film, shown nationwide for two months, make the basic
plot clear without revealing the twist at the end. A couple mourning
the loss of an unborn baby decide to adopt a girl from a local
orphanage — and their hopes for happiness give way to unease and fear
as the new family member turns out to be far different from what they
expected.

The trailer itself prompted outrage from many adoption advocates and
adoptive families, and Warner Bros. responded by removing a much-
criticized line from it in which the orphan, Esther, says, "It must be
hard to love an adopted child as much as your own."

Rowe, while noting that virtually every film Warner Bros. makes
offends someone, has stressed that "Orphan" is a make-believe story.

"It is not a depiction of any real-life events or situations and has
never been portrayed as anything but an entirely fictional story," he
said. "We apologize if we appeared insensitive with the initial
trailer, as it's never our intent to offend anyone with our products."

Rowe said he'd not yet seen the letter from the adoption coalition
requesting to meet with Meyer.

The letter, co-signed by leaders of 11 adoption and child-welfare
groups, noted that an estimated 129,000 children are in U.S. foster
care system waiting to be adopted, and that millions of children
abroad also need adoptive families.

The letter said the film "may impede recruitment efforts by feeding
into the unconscious fears of potential foster and adoptive families
that orphaned children are psychotic and unable to heal from the
wounds of abuse, neglect, and abandonment."

Among those signing the letter were leaders of the Dave Thomas
Foundation for Adoption, the National Council for Adoption, and the
American Academy of Adoption Attorneys.

Another signatory was Jedd Medefind of the Christian Alliance for
Orphans. His group has launched a Web site — OrphansDeserveBetter.org
— featuring a petition urging Warner Bros. to add a pro-adoption
message at the end of the film and to donate a portion of box office
receipts to aid orphans.

The Web site also asks individuals and families to share real-life
stories, pictures and videos about their own experiences with
adoption.

The film "seems to suggest that orphans are damaged goods, and that
adoption could destroy a life," Medefind said. "We need truer
stories."

Adam Pertman, executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption
Institute, suggested that Warner Bros. could improve matters by
helping produce educational materials about the value of adoption.

"It has been a long time since a movie caused this much angst and
worry in the adoption, foster care and orphan care communities, even
before its release," Pertman said.

Not every adoption-related group shared the angst.

"The moral panic 'Orphan' has induced is more entertaining than the
film itself, which will pass into oblivion and DVD a month after
release," wrote Marley Greiner, a leader of the adoptees-rights group
Bastard Nation, in her blog.

"The 'outrage' is an opportunistic moment for drum banging and fund
raising," Greiner wrote. "What better way is there to make publicity
and $$$$$ for yourself than to create a victim where none exists?"