Quote:
Originally Posted by carnation
Sometimes intense terms must be used, and not only in the adoption field, to describe the depth of what has been done to some children. Although no one uses these terms around the children, they are certainly used because if you had seen what many of us have seen, you would not be able to come up with a synonym for it. If no one has tried to do that in the last several years of selecting better names for certain terms (i.e., "mentally handicapped" instead of retarded), it''s probably not going to happen.
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I agree with you regarding the larger point. These are common phrases in the adoption world. Just as all of our fields of expertise/communities have common terminology and phrases that others hear or read and might say "that sounds horrible."
One thing that I have noticed is there are a lot of websites that describe certain types of adopted children as being in bad condition. That can be interpreted in different ways. Youth and young adults live on the Internet now so it is not impossible for them to read that stuff. That can especially apply to kids who grew up being treated as though they are damaged by either their families or their schools. That happens a lot. This doesn't make the terminology inherently flawed. This is about potential outcomes/consquences regardless of intent and every field of expertise, discipline, communities, etc. has things to consider in that regard.
That can be neither here nor there but, as with all fields of expertise and disciplines, there can be a shift in how adults-of-today discuss these matters in comparison to how the adults-of-tomorrow may discuss these matters.