Demand Facebook Stop Letting Users Rehome Adopted Children on it's Platform


Demand Facebook Stop Letting Users Rehome Adopted Children on it's Platform
The Issue
For close to a decade, Facebook has been used to rehome adopted children, through legal and illegal activity.
The illegal rehoming, also known as an unregulated custody transfer, is when when parents transfer the physical custody of their child to a person who is not the child’s parent, stepparent, grandparent, or other adult
relative; an adult friend of the family with whom the child is familiar; or a member of the child’s tribe with the intent of permanently avoiding
responsibility for the child’s care and without
taking reasonable steps to ensure the safety of the
child or the permanency of the placement.
They happen informally without any formal supervision by child
welfare authorities or courts, parents seek new homes for their children
and place them without the safeguards and oversight of the courts, the child welfare system to watch out for the child's best interests.
In an UCT, children can be sent to new families quickly through a basic "power of attorney" document – a notarized statement declaring the child to be in the care of another adult.
Reuters did an investigation in 2013 bringing to light Facebook and other online platforms being used to rehome children. This puts displaced children at an extreme risk of being exploited, further traumatized, trafficked and/or groomed.
A Facebook spokeswoman says the activity that shows "that the Internet is a reflection of society, and people are using it for all kinds of communications and to tackle all sorts of problems, including very complicated issues such as this one."

We Demand That Facebook:
1. Update Community Guidelines to coincide with with individual state and federal adoption advertising laws.
2. No longer allow illegal, rehoming posts to exist on it's platform.
3. Address and acknowledge past negligence by ignoring this matter.
4. Ensure this rehoming of children stops happening.
6,997
The Issue
For close to a decade, Facebook has been used to rehome adopted children, through legal and illegal activity.
The illegal rehoming, also known as an unregulated custody transfer, is when when parents transfer the physical custody of their child to a person who is not the child’s parent, stepparent, grandparent, or other adult
relative; an adult friend of the family with whom the child is familiar; or a member of the child’s tribe with the intent of permanently avoiding
responsibility for the child’s care and without
taking reasonable steps to ensure the safety of the
child or the permanency of the placement.
They happen informally without any formal supervision by child
welfare authorities or courts, parents seek new homes for their children
and place them without the safeguards and oversight of the courts, the child welfare system to watch out for the child's best interests.
In an UCT, children can be sent to new families quickly through a basic "power of attorney" document – a notarized statement declaring the child to be in the care of another adult.
Reuters did an investigation in 2013 bringing to light Facebook and other online platforms being used to rehome children. This puts displaced children at an extreme risk of being exploited, further traumatized, trafficked and/or groomed.
A Facebook spokeswoman says the activity that shows "that the Internet is a reflection of society, and people are using it for all kinds of communications and to tackle all sorts of problems, including very complicated issues such as this one."

We Demand That Facebook:
1. Update Community Guidelines to coincide with with individual state and federal adoption advertising laws.
2. No longer allow illegal, rehoming posts to exist on it's platform.
3. Address and acknowledge past negligence by ignoring this matter.
4. Ensure this rehoming of children stops happening.
6,997
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Petition created on November 26, 2022