Intercountry Adoption: Policies, Practices, and Outcomes

From the publisher website:

Intercountry adoption represents a significant component of international migration; in recent years, up to 45,000 children have crossed borders annually as part of the intercountry adoption boom. Proponents have touted intercountry adoption as a natural intervention for promoting child welfare. However, in cases of fraud and economic incentives, intercountry adoption has been denounced as child trafficking. The debate on intercountry adoption has been framed in terms of three perspectives: proponents who advocate intercountry adoption, abolitionists who argue for its elimination, and pragmatists who look for ways to improve both the conditions in sending countries and the procedures for intercountry transfer of children.

Social workers play critical roles in intercountry adoption; they are often involved in family support services or child relinquishment in sending countries, and in evaluating potential adoptive homes, processing applications, and providing support for adoptive families in receiving countries; social workers are involved as brokers and policy makers with regard to the processes, procedures, and regulations that govern intercountry adoption. Their voice is essential in shaping practical and ethical policies of the future.

Containing 25 chapters covering the following five areas: policy and regulations; sending country perspectives; outcomes for intercountry adoptees; debate between a proponent and an abolitionist; and pragmatists’ guides for improving intercountry adoption practices, this book will be essential reading for social work practitioners and academics involved with intercountry adoption.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

Judith L. Gibbons and Karen Smith Rotabi

Part I POLICY AND REGULATIONS

The Rise and Fall of Intercountry Adoption in the 21st Century: Global Trends from 2001 to 2010 

Peter Selman

Social Policy Approaches and Social Work Dilemmas in Intercountry Adoption 

Jonathan Dickens

Implications of the Hague Convention on the Humanitarian Evacuation and ‘rescue’ of Children 

Kathleen Ja Sook Bergquist

Human Rights Considerations in Intercountry Adoption: The Children and Families of Cambodia and Marshall Islands 

Jini L. Roby and Trish Maskew

Fraud in Intercountry Adoption: Child Sales and Abduction in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Guatemala 

Karen Smith Rotabi

Perspectives on Child Welfare: Ways of Understanding Roles and Actions of Current USA Adoption Agencies Involved in Intercountry Adoptions 

Mary Katherine O’Connor and Karen Smith Rotabi

Part II SENDING COUNTRY PERSPECTIVES

Child Welfare in Romania: contexts and processes

Cristina Nedelcu and Victor Groza

Challenging the discourse of Intercountry Adoption: perspectives from rural China 

Kay Johnson

Intercountry Adoption and child Welfare in Guatemala: Lessons Learned Pre- and Post- Ratification of the 1993 Hague Convention on the protection of children and cooperation in respect of Intercountry Adoption

Kelley McCreery Bunkers and Victor Groza

Ethiopia at a critical Juncture in Intercountry Adoption and traditional care practices 

Kelley McCreery Bunkers, Karen Smith Rotabi, and Benyam Dawit Mezmur

Maternal Thinking in the Context of Stratified Reproduction: Perspectives of Birth Mothers from South Africa

Riitta Högbacka

Exiting or Going Forth? An Overview of USA Outgoing Adoptions

Dana Naughton

PART III OUTCOMES FOR INTERCOUNTRY ADOPTEES

Review of Meta-Analytical Studies on the Physical, Emotional, and Cognitive Outcomes of Intercountry Adoptees

Femmie Juffer and Marinus H. van Ijzendoorn

Medical Status of Internationally Adopted Children

Laurie C. Miller

Cognitive Competence, Academic Achievement, and EducationalAttainment Among Intercountry Adoptees: Research Outcomes

from the Nordic Countries 

Monica Dalen

Families with Intercountry Adopted Children: Talking About Adoption and Birth Culture

Femmie Juffer and Wendy Tieman

Post-racial Utopianism, White Color-Blindness and ‚”the elephant in the room‚”: Racial Issues for Transnational Adoptees of Color 

Tobias Hübinette

Part IV THE DEBATE

The Debate

Elizabeth Bartholet and David Smolin

Part V PRAGMATISTS: IMPROVING THE PROCESS

 Best Practices in Implementing the Hague Convention

Judith L. Gibbons and Karen Smith Rotabi

Intercountry Adoptions and Home Study Assessments: The need for Uniform Practices 

Thomas M. Crea

Understanding and Preventing Intercountry Adoption Breakdown

Jes√∫s Palacios

Openness and Intercountry Adoption in New Zealand

Rhoda Scherman

All Grown up: Rise of the Korean Adult Adoptee Movement and Implications for Practice

Hollee McGinnis

Truth, Reconciliation, and Searching for the Disappeared Children of Civil War: El Salvador’s Search and Reunion Model Defined

Carmen Mónico and Karen Smith Rotabi

Looking to the Future