Adam Pertman, executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, sent letters earlier this week to Saks and FAO Schwartz, blasting them with words like “insidiously offensive”, “stigmatizing” and “demeaning”.
The reason for Mr. Pertman’s fury? A new toy called the “Newborn Nursery Adoption Centers”.
From Mr. Pertman, who has adopted two children: “Promoting the selection and sale of babies in this way (especially according to physical traits) deprecates the adoption process by turning an intensely profound experience into a superficial, commercial enterprise.”
Or, as AP reporter David Crary wrote, “(T)he program…. conveys a harmful notion that adopted children are salable commodities”.
As indeed we are.