Most of us don’t multiply it by 19, Michelle, and moan there aren’t more.
Not only that, but in the article Madison linked above, it says JB and Michelle plan to adopt a baby in 2016. I sure hope no adoption agency approves them; what they really want is more workers, not more children.
They’d never pass a home study, even if they could manage to find some whack job place to hand them a kid. There are many kids sharing a bedroom, CPS reports, a known child molester in the home, on going filming of the family and all kinds of other things that the courts frown upon. Even Arkansas won’t go for this one!
What are the rules for privately arranged adoptions? I’m sure they could find some single teenage girl with an unwanted pregnancy who’d give her baby to them.
^^^They still have to have a home study for a court to approve a legal adoption. A home study weighs heavily on the subjective opinion of the social worker who does it. They would have to foster the baby for a period (depends on state) before they can go to court to finalize the adoption.
I bet there are agencies that would approve them and delusional shamed pregnant teens who would feel some connection to greatness if their baby went to the Duggars. I hope not though.
Granting an adoption to this family at this time would be a real hit (in a bad way) for adoption in our country.
There are plenty of good adoptive and foster situations where many kids share a room or have chores. The “work” these kids are doing isn’t really outrageous, they aren’t working in factories or as farm labor.
They’d have to show they controlled the Josh problem. As well as basic needs being met, satisfactory shelter, engaged adults, and the apparent stability of the other kids matters. And their chance for a disabled child could be higher. It’s also very possible some religious girl would state as a preference that her child be placed with a religious family. An international adoption might be more complicated, depends on the country (their rules apply in any final decision.)
A home study that complies with the state’s requirements and various federal requirements apply for international adoptions, in addition to rules of the foreign country.
http://travel.state.gov/content/adoptionsabroad/en/adoption-process/who-can-adopt.html
Personally, I think having to be a surrogate mom whether you want to or not is really outrageous. But that’s just me.
I view the whole adoption idea as an opportunity for JB and Michelle to illustrate to the world that they have received the “seal of approval” as parents. A way to deflect responsibility for whatever transpired in their own home while they railed against the immorality of society at large.
Is anyone really surprised by this latest news about Gothard?
[/quote]
Things just keep getting worse for Bill Gothard. If you thought your 2014 and your 2015 were challenging, sorry, buddy, but this year’s going to be even more intense. On Wednesday, ten women filed suit against the Christian homeschooling leader — best known for his close ties to the puzzlingly still-famous Duggar clan — accusing him and other members of his organization with “sexual abuse, harassment and cover-up.”
[/quote]
^^I think that has been brewing for awhile. When you read about some of his b.s. it really makes you wonder.
Unfortunately his crap casts a negative light on homeschooling.
From the article linked above:
Just beyond belief. Hard to even process this sort of thing.
From that Salon article above:
Sickening. 
You are absolutely correct.
Watching the Counting On special, it was very obvious from the girls’ verbal replies that they had been carefully coached to follow the party line, complete with slightly different words about “walking through” “the situation.” All very passive and distancing.
What D3 and I, who enjoy snarking about reality tv when we can, really spent our time focusing on, however, were the nonverbal microexpressions. Everyone - Anna, Jessa, Jinger, Jill, Jana, and JoyAnna - all flashed microexpression smiles during their interviews even as they expressed sadness about Josh. We debated whether they were happy that they remembered their lines, they were pleased to see the little prince finally get his comeuppance, they were lying, or there was a revenge thing going on. But there was a definite disconnect between the verbal and the nonverbal, which is usually a sign that something if “off.”
But isn’t that part of their whole training - that girls have to smile and show a happy disposition even when they are not feeling it? I think I read that was part of Bill Gothard’s philosophy.
Smiling is a Duggar requirement because otherwise you are showing god you are ungrateful.
These weren’t actual smiles, they were flashes of smiles. Think “Lie to Me.” http://www.paulekman.com/micro-expressions/
Interesting concept @stradmom - I had not heard the term “microexpression” before.