The Lost Daughters is an online independent collaborative writing project founded in 2011, edited and authored by adult women who were adopted as children. The piece ‘Orphans and Economics,’ written by Aselefech Evans, a woman adopted from Ethiopia when she was five years old, addresses the issue of family preservation and international adoption.
Recognizing the role of money in international adoption – typical adoptions cost about $30,000-$40,000 USD and adoptive families are almost always more economically well-off than birth families who are typically living in poverty – the author of this entry organized a fundraiser, not to raise money for adoption, but to raise money for family preservation in Ethiopia.
Evans is raising money for an organization in Ethiopia called ‘Bring Love In,’ which works alongside families who need just a little economic help (about $40 a month) so that they can keep their children with them, and out of orphanages. The money that Evans hopes to raise - $5,000 - will mean that 10 families will be supported for a year—none of the children will go into an orphanage. They will receive food, clothing, and education. Poverty, says Evans, should not be the only reason that children are adopted.