Heinous, indeed. But what scares the crap out of me is how many prospective a-parents think this is OK. Whether it’s because they buy into the whole “chosen child” thing, or just plain don’t know any better, I don’t know. But they’re the fuel that keeps the engine running, so we have to reach THEM.

These listings are completely unacceptable. You’re using your journalistic/writer self in this posting. But, I’m reading and wondering how it can be legal. Under whose authority is the information about these children being released to casual observers? I’m entirely across the country, and have no plans to adopt or foster a child but I could look through those pictures and collate all kinds of information about the children.

When you do human subjects research, one of the ethical rules they teach you it is not hard to accidentally provide enough anonymous information that an individual person can be identified. I think someone has not thought through the privacy needs of these individual children (and, I guess, that’s not surprising).

And, frankly, I don’t care about the specifics of the information being released.

bj

“Replacement” conjurs up images of a returns counter, with people bringing back a product because the one they’ve been given is faulty.

The intrusion into these childrens’ privacy is abhorrent. Is there really no law that can protect their most personal details from being blatantly advertised like this? How is it permissible to show a picture of a child and note that they are taking medication for depression?!
Some of these children are teenagers - what sort of effect would seeing their picture and information on a site like that have on their self-esteem? It’s truly disgusting.