Duggars are "praying" about adoption (MERGED)

[PennySycamore]

I hate to tell Mullet this, but it is almost impossible to adopt an infant from China now. Most of the children that are adopted by foreigners are toddlers and preschoolers. It may be that infant adoptions are domestic ones which I do know have dramatically increased in the past few years.

[m0drnmoonlight]

From the above article:

So let me get this straight, it never occurred to her before the trip? Like maybe 16 pregnancies ago or so? Why now?

Didn't she say the same thing after they went to El Salvador? They're just changing the country's name and saying it again for more attention.

And I highly doubt they're going to adopt. Michelle's baby addiction is only surpassed by her pregnancy addiction. If anything, she and Boob are indulging in lots of sweet fellowship (sorry for the images *offers brain bleach*) to see if they can squeeze out the magic #20.

Edited for riffle

[gilora]

They won't adopt. Jim Bob is too proud of his large biological family and Michelle likes being able to say she delivered every one of them.

[Gil]

My guess is that Jim Bob wants to do it as a publicity stunt/to coax TLC into another season and Michelle doesn't want to do it at all because she really only likes being pregnant (and the resulting attention), not having kids.

[Dandruff]

They wouldn't have to change the intro much: "...for a grand total of twenty, yes twenty, and I delivered all but one of them!".

[Rainytown]

I apologize in advance to anyone this may offend:

EHRMAGERD. What else will Mullet and Jim Boob do to keep their mugs on television, FFS? "The kids are pushing us" towards adoption? Hey, Mullet, will you say that under oath? How about hooked up to a polygraph?

I thought lying was a SIN!

As others have already said, they can't qualify for an international adoption; they'd never pass the home test. I can't imagine what private entity would allow an adoption to parents who've demonstrated on hundreds and hundreds of hours of video they do not take care of their own children; they make their daughters do it instead.

The only thing keeping me from an epic head explosion right now is the fact one of the ebil gossip sites I love to read calls People magazine "Kneepads". After all, they get their "stories" from publicists. TLC's trying to get the ratings up, IMHO.

[FloraDoraDolly]

There are very, very few countries these days who still allow international adoptions, it costs at least $20-$30K, and nobody gives healthy infants to couples in their late forties who already have 19 bio kids. So yeah, I agree with those who say the adopted kid would have to come from some messed up pregnant fundie girl who is staying in one of those Christian homes for unwed mothers. Then after a year or so, Jim Bob and Michelle will get tired of that baby and look for another one. They could keep this up for several years, as long as they have enough money.

[sugarloaf]

At least they'd be working against some of the "pro-life" hypocrisy and putting their money where their mouths are. "Don't abort, there are so many families willing to adopt!" :roll:

[Buzzard]

You beat me to it. Some leghumper or Christian girl who never received adequate sex education will be purposed/encouraged/called/whatever to give their baby to the family.

I honestly don't think that JB and Michelle are parenting. Holding each others' hands while their older daughters do the parenting is a disgrace. They brought their 19 children into the world, and they should parent all 19. It's clear from the Asia specials that the SOTDTR is lacking too - kids who received that 'education' should not be 'educating' their siblings. There is no way I would want to give the Duggars another child to be raised by their sister-moms.

And so much for God opening and closing wombs and embracing the next season of life and all that crap that's been espoused. This is child collecting in its most lurid form.

Let me just go ahead and write the ridiculous email some leghumper will unfortuantely send them in a fucked up attempt at teen mom meets the Duggars stardom:

Dear Mrs. Duggar,

This morning I was going to murder my baby. I found out 2 days ago that I was pregnant and I am only 1X. I live with my parents who do not know about my sin or even my boyfriend. I have no one to turn to so I decided that I would kill my baby and go on with my life. As I was getting dressed early this morning my dog/cat/sibling/pet ghost changed the channel to TLC and there was your smiling face saying "children are a blessing from the lord" and I knew I had to write to you. I stood there and watched the whole episode, crying, and GOD laid it on my heart that the child within me is yours. I know now that all things happen for a reason and would be honored if you would contact my father to arrange things. I hope that you will attend the birth of my perfectly white and healthy child and possibly film it.

There, they can just cut and paste.

[ILoveJellybeans]

Do you think that would work the other way round as well, and if I tell her that God called me to adopt Jordyn as I watched the show and saw her sad little neglected face and felt sorry for her, she would let me?

[Buzzard]

Do you think that would work the other way round as well, and if I tell her that God called me to adopt Jordyn as I watched the show and saw her sad little neglected face and felt sorry for her, she would let me?

So long as you bring her back for filming...

[doggie]

If they adopted the show would need to be called 19 plus adopted and counting. We know the adopted child would only be a job to make into a Christian. Not a real child part if the family.

[chaotic life]

They CANNOT adopt from China. They would require too many waivers for the adoption requirements and there's just NO WAY China would approve this family on all of thoe waivers.

I cannot even imagine that they could pass foster licensing to do a foster-adoption. For one thing, EVERY state has requirements on age differences of siblings sharing a room that they violate, not to mention that most states have family size restrictions AND they could never, ever, EVER demonstrate that they are capable of handling the issues that come from having survived the fostercare system.

I suspect they would not pass Immigration approval for an international adoption. You are required to not only pass a homestudy in your state, but you must have your homestudy scrutized by Immigratio officials who deem whether you pass muster. It doesn't happen *that* often that USCIS falls someone on their homestudy, but when it does the most common reason is housing size compared to family size. I've known at least one immigration official who refused to approve a petition because they would NOT authorize more than 3 children in a bedroom together. In addition to having an Immigration official approve your homestudy, you have to demonstrate a family income of at least 125% of poverty level for your family size. They aren't going to accept the children's income for that so JimBob would have to show he generates 125% of poverty level of the entire family living under his roof, including Grandma.

If by some miracle they can pass a homestudy and they can pass immigration approval, both of which I doubt, they then have to meet the adoption requirements for any country they are adopting FROM. Off the top of my head, I think perhap a few African countries with tiny, renegade programs don't have family size restrictions. However, even those countries are going to notice a family of this size. The way families this large pass approval from countries is by demonstrating that they KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING, that they have experience with these types of kids, that they can totally manage special needs and therefore their large family size will not be a negative for the child in question.

However, that brings up the reality that in order to apply for waivers in almost all country programs, you MUST consider special needs children. The Duggars would not get approval for special needs adoptions. There are several problems they cannot overcome. First, they have NO experience with special needs. Two, not one of their children is adopted so they have NO experience with adoptees in general. Three, you have to have HEALTH INSURANCE to adopt special needs children. That requirement come from Immigration. If you seek an adoption of a medical needs child, you have to apply for a waiver from the US embassy that states you know about the child's medical condition, you can demonstrate your ability to address that medical condition AND you have health insurance to cover the financial costs of that child's medical condition. Faith based cost sharing programs do NOT count as medical insurance. So, I do not see them capable of adopting a special needs child, and without the ability to adopt a special needs child, I do not see this family being approved to complete ANY international adoption.

All that said, they could accomplish a private adoption. Arkansas only requires you be 21-55 years old and if married then have been married for at least 2 years. They would still have to pass a homestudy. However, I think it's concievable for them to convince a faith-based adoption agency that they are solvent and special and approve them for a homestudy. They are still going to have a very hard time getting a birthmother to choose them, but it's probably their only option. Most birthmothers pretty commonly search for infertile couples. It's pretty rare for large families to get birthmothers to choose them to adopt. Given that again they have never adopted, I think the odds of any woman choosing them for her child are pretty slim. However, a domestic private adoption is not impossible. IF the Duggars were serious about a pursuit of adoption, they would have no other viable choice but to go with a domestic, private, infant adoption.

Given that the Duggars say they need to be "certain" God is calling them to adopt, I do not see them putting forth the efforth, energy and finances to adopt. Rather, this is NOT the first time they have said they are considering adoption. Like a good attention whore, J'chelle trumps this conversation starter up everytime her DIL is expecting another grandchild. She cannot STAND not having the attention anymore. Also, I think adoption is a very common question people ask them as in--if you wanted SO MANY children why not ADOPT children in need instead of selfishly having biological children to this level. Saying they are contemplating adoption gets all the news outlets to give J'chelle attention again. It makes her look like a righteous do-gooder. And, it silences the "should have adopted" critics.

Frankly, if the Duggars actually adopt a child, I will eat my own shorts. I don't think they are at all serious and merely want the attention saying it brings them. I know far too many people who say it for attention that it makes sense J'chelle would parade it out when Anna is pregnant again. I just don't think she has any real intention of actually attempting an adoption, and if she should change her tune, the odds of her succeeding in adopting are even slimmer.

[bananacat]

I agree that adoption is unlikely for many reasons, but on the off-chance the money-lust won over and they did adopt kid, I would bet any amount of money that it would be a girl and they would name her Jubilee.

[PennySycamore]

Chaotic life, thank you for your brilliant post about why international adoption for the Duggars is impossible.

The Duggars just made Andy Cohen's Jackhole of the Day for saying they wanted to adopt on "Watch What Happens Live" tonight on Bravo. Andy went on to say that they'd run out of J names and any future kids would be named Jury Duty. He mentioned another name. Jail Bait maybe?

Btw, there's an ex-Amish woman on Millionaire Matchmaker. She is going out with Adam Gaynor, formerly of Matchbox Twenty.

[miffy]

They could adopt from one of the old soviet countries which hasn't done so well. Pay the right bribe & you're in. Plus it would be a white child, which I can see being preferred by certain members of the family.

Michelle should focus on marrying off the older children & secretly hiring a nanny & cleaner to fill their role. She could have 30+ grandchildren in a decade if she did that.

[Hisey]

Not sure if anyone else has seen this, but didn't see a post and it popped up in my Facebook feed, so thought I'd share.

http://www.people.com/people/tablet/art ... 75,00.html (not breaking since it's People)

Please God do not let anyone approve them, please. Doesn't Gothard preach against adoption? I'm all for them following him in that.

Do you know what the future holds for girls in Chinese orphanages? The prostitution or dangerous factory jobs with 24-hour shifts. I don't like the Duggars anymore than you do, but come on. . . prostitution is worse.

With that said, it's unlikely the Chinese government would allow this. I believe they have a restriction on the number of kids allowed in a home.

[wild little fox]

Michelle's baby addiction is really a pregnancy addiction. She probably likes newborns because she sees breast feeding as a continuation of the childbirth process.

I hate to be a cynical bitch but these people deserve it. The only reason they would adopt is to keep the show going another season and to finally change the name to "20 Kids and Counting". It also gives them an excuse to keep the older daughters around as their buddies become more self-sufficient.

Speaking of older daughters, I wonder how Jana, Jessa and Jinger feel about the prospect of more blessings just when they thought they could see the light at the end of the tunnel.

QFT. This sums up my thoughts 100%.

The Duggard have little choice but to adopt to keep the TLC checks rolling in. I was really wondering why they went to Asia. It just seemed to me to be an odd place for the family to visit and adoption explains it.

[Miggy]

So long as you bring her back for filming...

My first thought when I saw the thread title ... are they praying about adopting a child themselves or putting their own children up for adoption? ILoveJellyBeans, I grant you full custody of Jordyn. I grant myself custody of Jennifer and James. I think that I could offer Jennifer the time and attention she needs and I could offer James the stability and routine he needs.

[VeryNikeSeamstress]

It rumoured that they have

adopted a little girl named

Journey"

"Don't stop Believing. Just hold on to that Feeling..." :dance:

If the Duggars adopt, I imagine the newest 'blessing' would feel very alone. They would be singled out as the child that Jichelle didn't deliver, and if they're from another country or of a different ethnicity, they would really stand out. On one hand I could see them adopting as a publicity stunt, but on the other, I think Jichelle only values children who are the fruit of her woman (and only when they're under 6 months old)

[AVENues]

The only reason they would adopt is to keep the show going another season and to finally change the name to "20 Kids and Counting".

That's everything I wanted to say.

[DuggarsTheEndIsNear]

I haven't read the whole thread so I don't know if its been said, but they won't be able to adopt domestically. One of the requirements to pass a home study for either private or from foster care is that each child must have his or her own bed. That doesn't happen in the Duggar house hold. Period.

Plus, they wouldn't be allowed to pimp out the child until the adoption was finalized. Which could be years depending on the status of the child's birth parent's rights. Most foster care adoptions are foster then adopt. And children are prepared for adoptions before they're legally free.

Finally, I'm sure the home study would include not only watching the show but also delving into all those thousands of hours of cutting room floor footage. I doubt anyone running a home study would say "oh we have all this footage showing you in all kinds of situations, but we'll ignore it."

[August]

If they adopted the show would need to be called 19 plus adopted and counting. We know the adopted child would only be a job to make into a Christian. Not a real child part if the family.

20 children, and 19 of them are mine!

[AVENues]

20 children, and 19 of them are mine!

"Mine. MINE. MIIIIIIIINEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.....!!!" :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

This is how I picture it :))

[August]

My first thought when I saw the thread title ... are they praying about adopting a child themselves or putting their own children up for adoption? ILoveJellyBeans, I god grant you full custody of Jordyn. I grant myself god grants me custody of Jennifer and James. I think god has laid it upon my heart that I could offer Jennifer the time and attention she needs and I could offer James the stability and routine he needs.

Fixed that for ya