Reborns

I just found this on etsy, and I’m thoroughly creeped out.

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Have you ever seen the documentary on BBC called “My Fake Baby” about the women who collect these? Like this?

They’re called reborns. Sometimes their limbs have joints. Their heads can be weighted so that they need to be supported. Even magnets are sometimes installed to attach pacifiers, heartbeat simulators, heat packs, and even umbilical cords.

The website where I got some of this information is called For My Little Star. At the end of the page I was reading, it says “…and I look forward to making your tiny wish come true!”

Reading that kind of made me feel like an asshole because obviously I started this post making fun of these dolls and the people that cart them around like crazies. What if these baby dolls are all these women can have – because of infertility or other circumstances?

But within about 1.5 seconds I realized, wait. Your tiny wish is for a vinyl baby doll? Come on. Think of all the bajillions of unadopted and unfostered children in this world. What about them.

And then my thoughts went to, Wait, am I just being an asshole again? Am I not considering the access (or lack thereof) of women (and men) to adoptable children who may be wishing away their afternoon right now?

Because let’s be real. According to the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, a non-profit founded in 1996 which is dedicated to improving adoption policy and practice, domestic foster care can cost between $0 and $2,500; domestic adoption through a private agency can cost between $4,000 and $30,000 (though from a foster care, it can be free); domestic adoption through an independent organization or individual can cost between $8,000 and $30,000; and an international adoption can cost between $7,000 and $25,000. Those amounts aren’t exactly chillin out in everyone’s bank accounts, now are they?

And aside from money, adoption takes time. For domestic adoptions from private agencies, adoption can take up to twelve months. For international adoptions, the process can take one to four years.

All of that information is very sad – if not necessary. But it makes me confused about how I feel about the reborns. Are they an absolutely fantastic idea or a totally creepy one?

But then I thought some more. What about allllll the unwanted pets that need to be adopted? I’m not suggesting that they’re a replacement for a child, obviously, but a damn good replacement for a reborn*.

*Ha, I typed “unborn” first accidentally.