Edie Pendleton started getting troubling calls months before Orphan hit theatres.
They were just innocent inquiries to her private Edmonton adoption agency from prospective adoptive parents, but their tone planted a seed of worry. Callers wondered how much the agency knows about older children up for adoption. What if the child has a mysterious history? What if there's something wrong with them?
The director of Adoption Options had just heard about Orphan, a horror flick released in theatres on Friday, and sensed it was spurring people to pick up the phone. Some callers mentioned the movie, others did not.
"People already come in with misconceptions and fears of adoption and so when people see movies like this, they're thinking, 'Oh my gosh, what are we getting ourselves into? We really could have this kind of horror child.' " she says.
Her voice joins a chorus of others in the adoption community who say there's something wrong with Orphan. While most agree it's just a story meant to scare moviegoers this summer, many still feel the film's portrayal of an older adopted child who terrorizes her new family in violent and psychotic ways sends a negative message about adoption. Since the end of May, adoption agencies and advocacy groups have mobilized to boycott the film or have spoken out against previews, trailers and posters promoting the film.
The Adoption Council of Canada released a statement saying they were "deeply concerned" the film could hurt their efforts to find homes for 78,000 kids in the child welfare system, 30,000 of whom are legally ready for adoption. Eleven adoption groups in the United States sent a letter to Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. chairman and CEO Barry Meyer complaining that the movie "stereotypes adoptive children." The Christian Alliance of Orphans launched a petition which boasts thousands of signatures.
Warner Bros. has since removed a line from the trailers in which the protagonist, nine-year-old Esther, says, "It must be hard to love an adopted child as much as your own" (though it remains in some cinema previews). The company also apologized for any offence the initial trailer caused and stressed that Orphan is a "work of fiction."
Regardless, adoption advocates say that it's hard enough finding homes for older children who are deemed to be damaged goods without the wrong message being perpetuated through the film's promotional material.
Many Canadian orphans awaiting adoption are older than 5, and many do have attachment, behavioural, emotional or mental challenges. However, recent adoption research shows that most conquer these difficulties when given a good home, though it can be a long and arduous process.
"This child already has a history, you're adopting a child who's been harmed - they wouldn't be taken from the parents if they hadn't been harmed," says Brenda McCreight, a Nanaimo, B.C., psychotherapist and adoptive mother of 12 children, nine of them adopted past toddler age. "What people don't understand is you're going to end up loving them the same as you would a child that doesn't have problems."
The author of Parenting Your Older Adopted Child, Ms. McCreight says she won't be seeing the movie and doesn't think any of her kids, ages seven to 30, will either.
Public attitudes toward adoption are often skewed by inaccurate portrayals in movies, television and the media, she says, a concern echoed by Paula Schuck, co-founder of the Canadian Coalition of Adoptive Families, based in London, Ont.
"If this movie convinces one couple or one family not to adopt an older child and even one child goes without a family forever because of that, then I think a great disservice has been done."
Some parents worry their adopted child will be ridiculed on the playground by kids who've seen the trailer or the film itself. "I'm concerned about kids that aren't adopted [who] are looking at this movie saying, 'So and so's adopted, he's a freak,' " says Oakville, Ont., author Deborah Brennan, who adopted her daughter Diana, now 9, as an infant.
As many in the adoption community rallied against the film based on the trailers, Pat Convery, the executive director of the Adoption Council of Ontario carefully considered whether this would actually have an impact.
"My first impression was 'This is just a movie,' " she says. "Then I had to think about it and I thought, yes, there is heightened sensitivity and the reason is because we're already so challenged."
Others doubt the flick will mould public opinion or change a person's decision on whether to adopt.
"Anyone who comes out of the movie thinking this is the norm with adoption, needs a reality check," writes a parent under the handle 'jitterycat,' on Canada Adopts! an online community for adoptive families. "I have 2 adoptive children as well, nothing scary about them."
University of Western Ontario film professor Margaret DeRosia says it's unlikely the movie will do much damage, and notes the film targets horror buffs who are used to separating fact from fantasy.
"I personally think it's a bit of an overreaction, though understandable especially given the culture we live in," she says. "I don't think a single film and a smaller-scale horror film can have that kind of power in influencing people's behaviour."
While Ms. Pendleton, the director of Adoption Options, plans to see the movie, just to test her objections, those tense calls will remain in her mind.
"People who don't have intimate knowledge think, 'Ah, what's the big deal? It's just another movie,' " she says. "But when you're actually part of it ... you realize that movies do plant ideas. I do think it scares people."
