Apparently 'Huge Numbers' of Birth Parents are Hunting Adopted Children Online

Trend story or bona fide trend? The Guardian reports that the birth parents of adopted children are flocking to Facebook to locate and contact their descendants. The article claims that, at least in the U.K., two-thirds of adopted children are removed from their birth parents due to abuse or neglect; and now "huge numbers" of adoptive parents are reporting that their children are being contacted by those birth parents via Facebook.

But, the article also acknowledges that "there are no reliable estimates of how many children have been contacted using social networking sites." The writer cites a few examples, including a 16-year-old girl who received a message from her abusive biological mother that caused her to feel "a whole range of emotions." Another boy met up with his birth father, who had physically abused him in the past, after the father contacted him through Facebook. Interestingly, the article doesn't quote any of the reactions from the children themselves. (And yet its headline -- "Adopted children face anguish as birth parents stalk them on Facebook" -- would make you think otherwise.)

Of course, the Internet -- and, specifically, social networking -- have made stalking much easier than it was in the past. We're not trying to promote digital stalking, or to say that biological parents should or shouldn't be able to contact their children. Protocols have already been put in place by adoption agencies so that birth parents can receive yearly updates about their kin. And we'll put our faith in the social workers and courts who have deemed certain parents unfit to keep their kids. But we've also reported on other, happy-ending stories in which long-lost brothers found each other on Twitter, or a son located his father online after 37 years apart.

We can see how social networking sites like Facebook are temptations for both parents and adopted children alike, but what can be done? "There is nothing we can say to the social networking sites," Dr. John Simmonds, the director of policy for the British Association for Adoption and Fostering, tells the Guardian. They simply have to update their guidelines to account for the possibility that parents or children may get curious.

We'd like to know what our readers think. Do you know of any adopted children who have been contacted by their birth parents online? Is this a cause for alarm? Leave your comments below. [From: The Guardian]

Tags: adoption, facebook, FacebookStalkers, privacy, security, socialnetworking, stalker, stalking, top, web