Name of your website?Musings of the Lame
Your name?
Claudia Corrigan D'Arcy
Your Location (city, etc)
Kingston
Please give us a short summary of your website?
Musings of the Lame , published since 2005, covers both news and activities in the adoption arena as well as my personal journey though search, reunion and re-building adoption loss relationships between myself and all my children, especially my oldest sone who was adopted at birth.
What inspired you to launch your own website?
I had been involved in Adoption issues on line for many years. It was actually the first thing I ever searched for when I first got high speed interent and relaized what a wonderful tool I had at my fingertips. Many years of forums and message boards, and online chats naturally moorphed into having a blog--once I found out what a blog was!
When did you launch your first website, and what was it?
Offically, Musings of the Lame is my first and only blog. I have worked on other websites, such as Origins-USA.org and the National Infant Adoption Reform Act. But Musings, though it has changed somewhat in the years, continues to be exactly what it was form the beginning.. a clearning house for adoption truth and fatcs.
How did you decide on a name for your website?
My name "Claudia" offically means "Lame", so it's pretty telling. Plus, I do feel very affected and even "lamed" by my expereinces with adoption. Surrendering my child to adoption was the single most life altering event in my life and continues to have a ripple effect over 20 years later. It's a permamant wound.
What makes your website different from other, similar offerings?
For one, you get unaltered, undiluted, pure Claud. It's not just my own personal feelings, but also a mecca for other websites, other blogs, and happenings in adoption on the news and interent.
What is your eventual goal? (To sell it, keep it for income, secure a book or other mainstream media deal?)
I feel a great obligation to just keep going. It generates zero income becasue any advertising in adoption is generated from agencies and, well, I find most agencies to be expolitive and corrupt. I can't run adsense or I become a huge hypocrite. I see my blog as a public service and know that it will continue to be out there, as a stepping stone, for years to come. The main idea is to just get a great majority of regular everyday people to understand adoption issues. I want people to understand that the things they have taught to beleive about adoption is just wrong. There must be fundemantal huge changes in adoption practices in this country. We need to change laws. We need to change values and views. there must be adoption reform in this country and soon..or we risk a whole new generation of damaged people.
How does your investment of time and money balance against your success?
Well, there is no money, though I actually got my job now in SEO and ghost blogging becasue of my own personal blogging. I have been interviewed, on Montel, written magazine peices becasue of my knowledge in adoption. But really the greatest success is when either I get a note from another mother who reliquished, or an adoptee and they are so happy to find a place where they are understood and validated. The best of all, thought, is when a woman who is facing an unplanned pregancy finds me and deiceds to parent her child. Knowing that their are intact functioning and happy families in this world becasue of my bable...that's pretty incredible.
If you had an unlimited development budget for development, how would you change your site?
Oh, to have the advertising budgets like the big unethical agencies!!! Ad campaigns, paying celebrities for public service announcements, and being able to do this all day long with a staff!
What unexpected costs and headaches have you had to deal with?
Not too many. I have personal burn out every once in a while. Sometimes the issue is just so depressing. There are just so many people who are just so hurt and damaged by adoption losses. And then there are so many people who are just uneducated and clueless. Sometimes it feels that nothing will ever change, but again, if we don't keep going then who will? It has to channge, Records MUST be Unsealed. Families MUST be preserved.
What has been your biggest challenge?
The National Council for Adoption. They are the biggest lobby group, federally funded by tax papyers and paid for by the big coersive agencies such as Bethany and Gladney. They seem like " good" guys, but their motives and agenda is not. Getting the truth out about them is one of my pet peeves.
What method has been most successful for promoting your website?
I do Search engine optimizatiion professionally now, so I do it all... but really.. most people find me through word of mouth and notierity....they look for me organicially. I always say to people.. if you want to find me.. just Google "Claudia and Adoption" or Claud musings" or "FauxClaud" and you'll find me.. you have to find me!
How long have you run the site already, and how long will you continue to keep it up if you don't enjoy big gains in traffic, income or popularity?
I have been going since late 2005 and It will never come down ..even if I stop tomorrow, which I won't.. That's always been a thing of mine. I never hide. I never back down. I never deleate.
In a perfect world....
Adoption would look much more like it does after the reform in Australia. They reformed and now only a handful of parents relinquish their children to voluntary domestic situations. In this country, we have aproximatly 15,000 a year. If we had practices like Auz, then we should see that number go down to 300 a year. That means that over 14000 women and children are separated unnecessarily every year. That's a gross number. We are allowing families to be ripped apart for profits.
What is your website address?
Musings of the Lame
