We’re almost halfway through the alphabet in our Transracial Adoption ABCs, and today we are up to the letter “M”.

Media – Adoption is all over the media. Sometimes it is good (here is an example of an adoption story I thought was very well done), and sometimes it is not so good (here is an example of an adoption article I did not think was very well done.)

Sometimes the references to adoption in the media are seemingly minor, and yet they still make a point. For instance, when the magazine articles show a picture of Angelina Jolie and Maddox, they always make sure that the caption says, “Angelina Jolie and her adopted son, Maddox”. Why can’t he just be her son? Why must it be constantly pointed out that he is adopted?

The media also seems to love the bad adoption stories. Broken hearted adoptive parents losing the child they love? An unethical adoption agency ripping off multitudes of prospective adoptive parents, leaving them penniless, hopeless and childless? Babies being stolen from loving families? Child (who happened to be adopted) growing up and committing a terrible crime? Some horrible adoptive parent abusing the child they adopted?

THOSE are the kind of adoption stories that the media loves. And when those are the kind of stories that get attention in the media, and the overwhelming majority of the happy ending stories go mostly unnoticed, despite the fact that they make up just a teeny tiny percentage of all adoptions, it is the sad stories that people hear about and remember, and sadly, what some people associate adoption with.

For us, when we first decided to adopt, we had to do a lot of educating our extended family, because they had heard so many adoption-gone-wrong-stories that they were just sure we were going to be the victims of some sort of scam.

There are a decent amount of “feel good” adoption stories out there in the media, but they usually are not “big news” in any way, and usually do not generate a whole lot of attention.

Sometimes, the media genuinely calls attention to important racial issues or other important over-looked topics that deserve coverage.

But a lot of times, it seems that the stories involving adoption have a lot of sensationalism.

Think about ALL of the articles that were circulating when Angelina Jolie was adopting her son from Vietnam. Hardly any of them had the facts straight, and many suggested she has cut corners or had rules bended so she could get her son faster than most adoptive parents. These articles called into question the ethics of adoptions from Vietnam, which is an adoption program that has just recently reopened after shutting down due to ethical concerns. (Here is a great article with the truth behind Angelina's last adoption).

And think about all of the controversy regarding transracial adoption and adoptions from Africa that was stirred up during and after Madonna’s recent adoption. (You can read my response, and my stance on transracial adoption here).

The media has a lot of power. It can do a lot of good, and it can do a lot of harm.