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Shopping on Myspace

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Author Topic: Shopping on Myspace  (Read 1660 times)
momseekingpeace
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« on: April 25, 2007, 07:35:30 pm »


http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070425/METRO/704250424/1003



Couple look for baby on MySpace

Hundreds answer Taylor pair's online plea for a girl, but adoption experts urge caution.

Christine Ferretti / The Detroit News

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Sherry and Karl Dittmar, parents of 3 boys, hope to find a baby daughter through MySpace.com. See full image



Steve Perez / The Detroit News

Karl Dittmar speaks with son Joseph, 9, left, about a new skateboard at the family's home in Taylor. At right is son Ronald, 11, and behind them is the boys' mother, Sherry. The Dittmars also have a 5-year-old boy. See full image

 

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TAYLOR -- Sherry and Karl Dittmar have an empty crib, baby clothes, three sons, and a 21st century approach to adopting the little girl for whom they've prayed.

The couple has posted a plea for a baby on the popular Web networking site MySpace.com after five years of unsuccessful attempts at conception and delays in becoming state-registered foster parents.

By Tuesday, their Web page, "Looking for a birthmother. Please help," had no solid leads, but it did have more than 900 hits and 400 posts of encouragement in less than a week.

"I didn't expect this" outpouring, said Sherry Dittmar.

The approach speaks both to the phenomenon of the Web site that boasts some 100 million accounts and the lengths that families will go to circumvent an adoption process that's notoriously costly and time-consuming.

Dittmar, 31, is a stay-at-home mother who has polycystic ovarian syndrome, a hormone imbalance that complicates conception.

"I am a strong Christian and haven't had a bad attitude about (fertility problems). God closed this door for a reason."

Dittmar acknowledged she created the site in part because she doesn't have the $18,000 that average adoptions cost, but has faith in God and technology. That may not be enough, caution adoption experts such as Kathleen Luz of Family Adoption Consultants in Utica.

While there's nothing illegal about the approach -- prospective adoptive parents find each other in any number of ways -- the family could be opening themselves up to scams, Luz said. The popularity of the site -- especially among young people -- that drew Dittmar to it also could attract undesirables, she said.

Agencies are required by the state to interview and educate both parties before families can be legally certified to adopt. A preliminary screening alone can take four months, she said.

"It's not easy pulling everything together and (in the meantime) where's the child going to go?" Luz said. "Adoption is something both parties and the child will live with forever. Everyone needs help to make the right decision for the child and themselves."

Others aren't so skeptical. Dittmar and her husband, a truck driver, said they eventually will enlist an agency when they find a birth mother. The process can take two years, and Paula Springer of Adoption Associates said their quest is a testament to its difficulty.

Nationwide, the number of annual adoptions has remained steady at about 52,000 since 2000, while the number of children in foster care has fallen from 811,000 to 800,000 during that time, according to federal statistics.

"People are taking any new and creative ideas they can think of and that's why we are seeing this on MySpace.com," said Springer, eastern Michigan director of Adoption Associates.

The Dittmars took guardianship of their two eldest sons seven years ago and took eight years to conceive their youngest, a 5-year-old. They're open to any race or medical background, except a child born to an alcoholic mother, Sherry Dittmar said.

"We desperately wish to add a girl to our family," reads the site. "Due to fertility problems, this is not possible. We would be thrilled to welcome a baby girl ... to our home. We hope you feel our family is the right family for your child."

Messages on the site, www.myspace.com/skateboardersmom, have trickled in from nationwide and close to home. Heather McCracken, 19, of Lincoln Park offered kind words Tuesday.

"It may seem odd to some people to put their story on a MySpace page, but in today's world it's actually a very smart way to reach people," she wrote in an e-mail to The Detroit News. "They really inspire me to be a good person."

Robert Ennis of the Ennis Center for Children, a Metro Detroit nonprofit that places special-needs children with adoptive families, said he admires the couple's creativity but warns of heartbreak.

"A desperate couple may pay a ton of money and have a birth parent change their mind. All parents who give up children aren't like that, but professional help for screening is important," Ennis said.

You can reach Christine Ferretti at (734) 462-2289 or cferretti@detnews.com.
 
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Lillie
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« Reply #1 on: April 25, 2007, 07:45:54 pm »

Yep, it's always God's plan, isn't it?   'God closed the door on fertility'  all right,  and I think he's speaking pretty loud and clear right there.
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« Reply #2 on: April 25, 2007, 07:47:11 pm »

WHERE OH WHERE IS THE PUKE BUCKET ICON

FROM THE COMMENTS: "Hello, I saw your article on MSNBC on the Top news section and read the entire article. I think that it is a wonderful idea that you created a MySpace profile in search for a birth mother. Since MySpace attracts so many teenagers, I am sure that you will find a birth mother very soon. I will advertise to all of my friends and relatives if they hear of anyone who would like to put up their newborns for adoption. "


 Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked Shocked

Also: "They're open to any race or medical background, except a child born to an alcoholic mother, Sherry Dittmar said."

My son had sent me a fake joke myspace profile once of two people saying that they couldn't adopt a baby because their iq's were so low, I think it was last fall. They had tons of comments like that too. I wish I could find it again
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« Reply #3 on: April 25, 2007, 08:07:01 pm »

Everytime I read **** like this it reminds me how the world views 'birthmothers'. "looking for a birthmother" as if you are looking for a roofer or looking for a dentist...'Birthmother' is like ALIEN .... OTHER.... NONHUMAN baby carrier....it hurts me as the child of a birthmother, AND as a WOMAN plain and simple.... Grin

(ETA I should have "" birthmother earlier so I edited it so...)
« Last Edit: April 25, 2007, 10:35:17 pm by Stewie » Report Spam   Logged
Gershom
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F%$! ADOPTION


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« Reply #4 on: April 25, 2007, 08:50:58 pm »

The upload folder is full. Please try a smaller file and/or contact an administrator.


tried to post it this'll have ta do 
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« Reply #5 on: April 25, 2007, 09:06:29 pm »

I saw that earlier today, Gersh. I have to ask lillie what to do about it, I thikn we have to delete older files from posts to make room for more uploads. Sorry about that....still working out the kinks here, so far so good... Smiley
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« Reply #6 on: April 25, 2007, 09:49:46 pm »

OK UPLOAD THE PUKE BUCKET.     There should be room now.  Kiss
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« Reply #7 on: April 25, 2007, 10:04:01 pm »

OK UPLOAD THE PUKE BUCKET.     There should be room now.  Kiss

OH we will need something MUCH bigger for this.  GAHHHHHHHHHHHLLLKKKKGGGGRRRRRRblechblechgagyarp.... OMG my entire insides want to blow out through my mouth.
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momseekingpeace
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« Reply #8 on: April 25, 2007, 11:34:26 pm »

I felt so angry when I read it, not so much that they are stupid enough to put it there but that it is not illegal and that people think is such a great idea to go where teenagers are. GRRRRRRRRR

They have to say birthmother, otherwise people would be flipping out, we are looking for a mother so that we can have her baby to raise as ours, doesnt quite have the same effect.
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Sarah
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« Reply #9 on: April 26, 2007, 01:57:13 am »

« Last Edit: April 26, 2007, 01:59:00 am by Sarah » Report Spam   Logged
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« Reply #10 on: April 26, 2007, 12:02:38 pm »

They have 3 boys, how has fertility closed the door on them?
 Wink


Why do people think they have a RIGHT to children?
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« Reply #11 on: April 26, 2007, 12:20:18 pm »

http://www.originsusa.org/Testimonials/Exile_Infertility.htm
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Lillie
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« Reply #12 on: April 26, 2007, 03:22:30 pm »

 does myspace have a way to report offensive or inappropriate material?
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« Reply #13 on: April 26, 2007, 03:27:10 pm »

does myspace have a way to report offensive or inappropriate material?

Report Abuse -
http://collect.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=misc.contactInput&ProfileContentID=105437370
I clicked the report abuse link from the bottom of these people's profile so that link will report them. Or you can go to their profile and click report abuse at the very very bottom.
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« Reply #14 on: April 26, 2007, 04:02:25 pm »

I reported them.
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