Celebrity’s adopted daughter a “Jackpot Baby”
People say to us, “How nice of you to adopt and help a child in need.” And we say, “No, you’ve got that backward. We needed her….”
We call her Jackpot Baby, she is everything you could ever wish for: Healthy, gorgeous, calm, sweet [and] loving.
~ Jennifer Aspen (pictured right), actress and star of GCB and Party of Five, gushing over newly adopted daughter Charlotte Sofia O’Donnell, as quoted by People Magazine, August 16
[Photo via JenniferAspen.com]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
A positive story…I would only add that all babies are JACKPOTS – just ask the One who made them what He thinks of them.
What a GORGEOUS baby!
Well said, Tyler!
But what about those who aren’t a “Jackpot baby” and imperfect with any of the following traits: non-caucasian, born with drug withdraw/fetal alcohol syndrome, has HIV or TB, has a physical/developmental disability, colicky, etc. These children need a home too! One thing I dislike about adoption is how children are treated as commodities, wherein the less than perfect are often ignored and set to the side.
I don’t know this actress at all, but she has expressed beautifully the way I feel about my kids, too! My husband and I do feel like we “hit the jackpot” three times over and have had to find many creative ways to tactfully tell people that our kids have blessed us, not the other way around. This, even though our kids hit most of the items on Rachel’s “negative” list including: African American, Fetal Alcohol Exposure, Drug Exposure, developmental delay, low birth weight, and premature. All three kids were joyfully adopted from the US through domestic infant adoption.
It is a dangerous misconception that babies who aren’t “ideal” don’t find homes through domestic infant adoption and get shuffled off to indefinite foster care. If a birthmom cares enough to make an adoption plan and voluntary relinquish her parental rights, the adoption agency that she is working with will not rest until they have found a placement for her baby. In most cases, the birthmom will have multiple families from which to choose.
It breaks my heart that there are probably women out there right now having abortions because they truly believe no one will adopt their (to quote the soundclip) “ugly black babies”, and those babies would end up in a life of foster care. This shows a gross misunderstanding of voluntary infant adoption. In short, it is a lie.
Rachael,
I know several people that ONLY adopt children with special needs. :)
In fact two very dear friends will be in China to finalize their adoptions of “less than perfect” children.
I thank God for those that foster and adopt.
Rachel C, those ‘less than perfect’ infants don’t get set to the side, there are couples lined up and waited anxiously to adopt them too. Crack babies, HIV babies, mixed race, non-caucasian, downs syndrome, fetal alcohol syndrome,physically disabled, etc, etc, etc all find immediately open arms. They are many more couples waiting to adopt an infant than there are infants availible for adoption. The problem with children being shuffled around the foster care system doesn’t exist in the under 2 age group, and mostly doesn’t become an actual problem until kids are 6 or older. Much of that problem too exists because it is artificially created by the state foster care system.
I may be incorrect, but to me it seemed that Raechel was objecting to the phrase “jackpot baby” used to describe a “healthy, gorgeous, calm, sweet” baby, which is specifically the language used in the quote. Obviously everyone is happy to have a healthy baby but to look at a healthy baby and go, “jackpot!” does seem a bit off. To my ears it does feel vaguely like objectification and commodification. ie, all babies are jackpot babies, whether they are healthy and calm or HIV+ and cranky.
Yes, Alexandra, those were my sentiments and you explained it better than I could. You see, to me every baby is a “jackpot baby” regardless of health or disabilities, and so it felt a bit off and a bit like objectification and commodification for someone to look at an adopted white, healthy, perfect behaving baby and go “jackpot!” (like these babies are ideal), when there are many babies of varying health, temperaments, and disabilities who are also “jackpot babies” and need homes. And that’s where my objection to commodification/objectification (and the perception that only white, healthy babies are desirable) in adoption, which this actress reinforces, came from.
Yes, Alexandra, those were my sentiments and you explained it better than I could. Yes, I was objecting to the phrase “jackpot baby” used to describe a “healthy, gorgeous, calm, sweet” baby because to me every baby is a “jackpot baby” regardless of health or disabilities, and so it felt a bit off and a bit like objectification and commodification for someone to look at an adopted white, healthy, perfect behaving baby and go “jackpot!” (like these babies are ideal), when there are many babies of varying health, temperaments, and disabilities who are also “jackpot babies” and need homes. And that’s where my objection to commodification/objectification (and the perception that only white, healthy babies are desirable) in adoption, which this actress reinforces, came from.
@ Jespren: The shuffling around in the foster care system often has to do with a family crisis. The biological mother gets divorced and can’t handle things. She was never married and runs into a special financial or health problem that makes it hard for her to care for the kid.
You may have kids with special difficulties such as being bullies (or routinely bullied) whose parents or parent can’t cope.
The foster care system is supposed to be temporary. Often a child who is hard to deal with goes from mom to foster family to another foster family back to mom and back to foster care.
“You may have kids with special difficulties such as being bullies (or routinely bullied) whose parents or parent can’t cope.”
Denise Noe, I know you weren’t implying this but I just want it to be clear that the reasons why certain parents can’t cope are typically independent of the children. Children are not the cause of parent’s inability to cope. It usually do to something else – financial problems, lack of family support, personal problems, etc.. – and not the children.