Bergey Family - 8 kids and living in an RV

[blessalessi]

The "orphanage training" is a course run by a bible institute though, so there's that.

I haven't seen anyone on thee mmissionary websites talk about childcare and child development qualifications, overseas development experience, residential care management, or ANYTHING remotely useful that might complement their "heart for orphans".

Deputation apparently llasts on average 2.8 years.  Imagine the skills that could be learned in that same time, not to mention the savings that could be built up if you weren't driving 10 people around the country in a gas-guzzling RV.

It makes no sense at all. None.

Brent, get back to work instead of egging Selina on in this ridiculous baby-grabbing scheme.

Selina, get some help before you screw up those children even more.  And I don't mean help with the laundry.

[ladyaudley]

 

In the event, the pregnancy that Selina announced in August was not for Titus.  He wasn't born until August 2014.  

 

it's not a pregnancy announcement - it's a "we're going to adopt" announcement. They've got their heart-handshape around the congo and then they talk about another adoption journey. 

[blessalessi]

it's not a pregnancy announcement - it's a "we're going to adopt" announcement. They've got their heart-handshape around the congo and then they talk about another adoption journey. 

Good catch, I was totally misreading and got it wrong there, sorry everyone. Mea culpa. 

[ladyaudley]

no worries  easy mistake to make. 

[FunFunFundie]

"We went from four to seven children in nine months...and we are hoping to add more!" makes my stomach hurt.  

[iweartanktops]

"We went from four to seven children in nine months...and we are hoping to add more!" makes my stomach hurt.  

I agree. This also, in my opinion, is not something to brag about! She's basically collecting children who likely need much more attention than the average child, and telling us clearly that she will not be giving them the attention they need and deserve. 

Sorry for the run-on sentence 

[nobleandstrong]

Has anyone else commented on how sick it is to call a child adopted from China a "laundry girl" when the US has a history of calling early laundry/dry-cleaning businesses, run by Asian-Americans, "Chinese laundries"? 

[pnwgypsy]

Has anyone else commented on how sick it is to call a child adopted from China a "laundry girl" when the US has a history of calling early laundry/dry-cleaning businesses, run by Asian-Americans, "Chinese laundries"? 

No, but I was thinking it. Somehow considering Selina wrote they went to "where the blacks live" in SA makes me think she has no idea that calling her Chinese daughter laundry girl is a doubly bad choice.

[imokit]

Or giving laundry as a main identifier to anyone.  There are other more important things people should be defined by.  The fact you aren't defining your kid by one, shows your skewy priorities and your neglect in not helping her find other talents.

[ofDany]

Has anyone else commented on how sick it is to call a child adopted from China a "laundry girl" when the US has a history of calling early laundry/dry-cleaning businesses, run by Asian-Americans, "Chinese laundries"? 

She mentioned in one place that she was home schooled (& that she home schools her kids). She probably doesn't even know about it...

 

I apologize for the wonky formatting, but I can't seem to fix it from my phone.

Also, FYI, if you manually change the month and year in one of the archived links you can read a lot more of her scrubbed blog posts. I fell down that rabbit hole today at work.

[Walking Cat Bed]

From the blog excerpt that @blessalessi posted:

Pretend regression? PRETEND regression? I don't think this woman knows the first thing about raising children, much less children with special needs. Trauma and PTSD don't manifest themselves in "meaningful" or "logical" ways, you hateful cow.
 

Sissy tried to pull some pretend regression the first two days, but instead of regressing about meaningful things, she tried to moan and groan about wanting to use QQ, not about missing the people in China who she loves. She was obviously relieved that I stood my ground, feeling very secure that night as I tucked her in.

 

[laPapessaGiovanna]

From the blog excerpt that @blessalessi posted:

Pretend regression? PRETEND regression? I don't think this woman knows the first thing about raising children, much less children with special needs. Trauma and PTSD don't manifest themselves in "meaningful" or "logical" ways, you hateful cow.
 

Maybe you wanted to post on the other thread

[Walking Cat Bed]

Maybe you wanted to post on the other thread

Good idea -- though I'm responding to text quoted here, it fits the other thread better.

[Pseudoname]

Nothing really new to report here, but I have found that in order to adopt from China, you need to sign official, legal paperwork twice (once at beginning of process, and again During the final adoption proceedings, in which an adoptive parent promises to never abuse or abandon the child.

This is quite a smoking gun in light of the Bergey's claims to no longer being qualifying to adopt from China.

There are private Facebook and yahoo groups, and if someone joined these, they might be able to find much, much more information than is publicly available.

Below is a quoted section of a website that discusses the differences between disruption and dissolution, www.nohandsbutours.com/2015/03/03/disruption-the-facts/ 

 

Dissolution

If the AP sign the adoption papers after the harmonious period, but later decide that they no longer wish to parent the child who has been legally adopted it is called a dissolution. This is quite different from a disruption and carries more legal ramifications. At this point, the AP will have promised to never abuse or abandon the child in two different instances, once when submitting the initial intent to adopt the child and then again during the official adoption proceedings. A dissolution is going back on that pledge and is seen in a very negative light by the CCCWA and Provincial officials. 

If the dissolution occurs while still in China, paperwork must be completed with the Provincial Civil Affairs. A written statement must be provided in person explaining why the dissolution is occurring. The AP are required to appear before the Civil Affairs officials to legally terminate the adoption registration. If I the family has already left the province and traveled to Guangzhou for the visa    process they must return to the provincial city to terminate their parental rights. The child’s orphanage may or may not return any donation fees to the parents. The AP may or may not be permitted to be matched with another child after they  return home. Additionally, the AP face a strong likelihood of not being permitted tto adopt from China again in the future.

If the dissolution occurs once the child is in the US, the AP must immediately contact their adoption agency and submit in writing to the CCCWA the reason behind the dissolution. The agency would assist in the legal aspect of finding a new home for the child. The AP will be added to a list by the CCCWA and will likely not be allowed to adopt from China in the future.

AP - adoptive parent

CCCWA -  China Centre for Children's Wefare and Adoption

[blessalessi]

Have they claimed that they no longer qualify in a post made after mid- Sept 2012?

 

I wouldn't fancy joining private discussion groups, that would feel icky, though I am more than happy to look for info in the public domain.

[Palimpsest]

Holy smokes, this woman is infuriating, and I'm just catching up to this thread and haven't followed all the links yet.  Thanks for all the sleuthing, people. 

Whether or not this is the "Travel" family, or why the DRC adoption wasn't followed through on,  Selina's Adoption FAQ post here http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://bergeybunch.blogspot.com/2012_08_01_archive.html made me see red.

It is a step-by-step instruction sheet in how NOT TO adopt transnationally, and of how these Evangelical baby grabbers teach each other to flout the rules of common decency and common sense as they adopt babies for Jesus.  So what if they then use the children as slave labor?  Above Rubies led the charge on that - and on how to disrupt an adoption if the child(ren) prove at all inconvenient to their "rescuers."  Bleagh!

Basically, the Bergeys:

1. Fucked up (in some way they don't want to explain) with adoptions from China so they decided to go after a child from a non-Hague Convention country instead.  Way to encourage child trafficking, assholes. 

2. Don't want to work with an adoption agency, because adoption agencies have rules. 

3. Don't have any problem flouting or skirting laws.  'We do expect to need to use "alternative means" to get our little one(s) home, and that's okay. Their ransom is worth every penny!'  It is hardly a "ransom" Selina.  It is very possibly paying for someone to kidnap a child for you.  Think that one over, for the love of all that is holy!

In addition, Selina implies that she has a tame SW in her pocket for the home study who will approve her to adopt two more children Just. Like. That.  Theoretically the plans for adopting from DRC might have fallen through because the SW failed to approve the Bergeys for further adoptions.  Frankly, any SW worth her pay-check should have seen red flags all over the place.

Or perhaps the adoption from the DRC didn't go through because the Bergeys decided to go to the source, South Africa, to kidnap little black babies for Jesus.

Grrrrrr!

[blessalessi]

Ultimately, the DRC pulled the plug on this form of adoption and there are bloggers all over the place still protesting and trying to bring "their" babies "home" by ever more dubious means. 

http://uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/idUKKCN0SM1XH20151028?irpc=932

Luckily, Selina is able to move on at breakneck speed when things don't go her way....  God help the Port Elizabeth orphans when the missionary trip gets beyond her tolerance levels.

[Palimpsest]

10 minutes ago, blessalessi said:

Ultimately, the DRC pulled the plug on this form of adoption and there are bloggers all over the place still protesting and trying to bring "their" babies "home" by ever more dubious means. 

http://uk.mobile.reuters.com/article/idUKKCN0SM1XH20151028?irpc=932

Luckily, Selina is able to move on at breakneck speed when things don't go her way....  God help the Port Elizabeth orphans when the missionary trip gets beyond her tolerance levels.

Well, some little "orphan(s)" in the DRC got lucky because Selina's adoption fund raising wasn't that good.  I'm a bit confused on the timeline and when the Bergeys decided not to go through with the DRC adoption.  Selina wrote that FAQ in August 2013.  The DRC suspension on all adoptions didn't happen until August 2014, IIRC. 

[blessalessi]

54 minutes ago, Palimpsest said:

Selina wrote that FAQ in August 2013.  The DRC suspension on all adoptions didn't happen until August 2014, IIRC. 

The timeline I have is:

Aug 2012: Selina's announcement and DRC faq

Sept 2012: Selina's "world is upside down" by coincidence in same week a "Travel Family" disrupts a China adoption (reported on other blog)

April 2013: Changes to DRC adoption regulations inc temporary suspension of permits because of issues around post-adoption disruption and abandonment

Sept 2013: DRC puts indefinite moratorium on exit visas for all adoptive children.

Summer 2014: USA advises entirely against DRC adoptions.

I don't know exactly what happened with the Bergeys in that year, but something changed their plans and set them on the path to be missionaries by Spring 2013.

If for any reason they had been previously involved in unethical adoption practice, they would have known this would make them ineligible early on, I guess. 

By this time though, they had already diagnosed their eldest with RAD and maybe they just became overwhelmed by what was going on at home? Why that led to a plan to save South Africa's orphans, I don't know, but this is the Bergey Bunch!

[Palimpsest]

@blessalessi Thanks!  I've been skimming really fast to try to catch up on FJ and am obviously missing things.  The disrupted adoption of Blossom and Selina's world turning upside down in the same week seems fishy, to say the least.  It could just be coincidence, but ...

A couple of weeks ago I noticed that the Bergeys claim to have met when they were both at Ambassador Baptist College (Ambassadors.edu) an unaccredited Christian college, of course.  ABC is very mission orientated and has a "Missions Major" for both men and women.   The curriculum is quite amusing if you want to check it out.  The women study Bible and sewing and home-making at the college level, whatever that is, but the men get to do the fun stuff like learning to preach.

I also checked out a little of Selina's sister's blog this morning.  She seems rather nice and almost normal - compared to Selina.

[FundieFarmer]

EEeeeeeesh, that "Open Letter to Christian Mothers" on the cached page is...yikes. 

[laPapessaGiovanna]

13 minutes ago, FundieFarmer said:

EEeeeeeesh, thatis"Open Letter to Christian Mothers" on the cached page is...yikes. 

Link? Sorry but looking for cached pages on mobile Is a nightmare for me.

[blessalessi]

@Palimpsest  @Pseudoname, we can also add this interesting nugget to the timeline.

Jan-March 2013, Pastor Didier of Compassion for Congo, Selina's not-an-adoption agency apparently "took a break" from the adoption scene, according to the adoption blogger that introduced him to Selina. 

http://itsamomlife.blogspot.co.uk/p/adoption-timeline.html (half way down  the timeline).  The following month Congo issued its first suspension amid fears of adoption fraud and abandonment.

The current Compassion for Congo website, has dated Pastor Didier as being in the USA raising money for an in-country Congolese orphanage during 2012, when USA adoption families claim to have been meeting him to arrange adoptions.

http://compassionforcongo.org/index.php/orphanage/13-general

Interesting organisation...

Quote

 

Compassion for Congo is part of the gospel centered church planting ministry of Community Bible Church of Placerville, CA . We spiritually and financially help the national church in DRC establish local churches who then independently carry on ministry in their country. Part of the ministry of the national church in The Democratic Republic of Congo is to operate a DRC government licensed orphanage. The national church in Congo, operating under the laws of DRC, considers inquiries from Christian parents wishing to adopt an orphan child from their country.

 
Compassion for Congo is not an adoption agency or adoption facilitators. We do not advertise for, or solicit parties to, an adoption and we do not locate children for an adoption. We do not act as intermediaries between the parties to an adoption and we do not charge fees or other valuable consideration for services rendered relating to an adoption. We can help you contact the church and orphanage in DRC. Contact us at compassion4congo@gmail.com

Compassion for Congo in North America is exclusively a missionary ministry of Community Bible Church of Placerville, CA. It is one of several mission ministries of Community Bible Church. www.cbcplacerville.org

 

 

[FundieFarmer]

1 minute ago, laPapessaGiovanna said:

Link? Sorry but looking for cached pages on mobile Is a nightmare for me.

It's a few posts down on the link @Palimpsest shared! I think it's the fourth.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://bergeybunch.blogspot.com/2012_08_01_archive.html

[sawasdee]

23 minutes ago, FundieFarmer said:

EEeeeeeesh, that "Open Letter to Christian Mothers" on the cached page is...yikes. 

WTF? She doesn't seem to like her children, her husband, her marriage, her life...........