International Adoption

A complex and understudied system, transnational adoption opens a window onto the relations between nations, the inequalities of the rich and the poor, and the history of race and racialization, though only recently has it become a significant way of forming a family for those who cannot have children. This new form of transnational adoption has been marked by the geographies of unequal power, as children move from poorer countries and families to wealthier ones, and yet little work has been done to synthesize its effects. Rather than focusing only on the U.S. as a receiving country, as much previous work on the topic does, "International Adoption" considers the perspectives of a number of sending countries as well as other nations which adopt - including sometimes from the U.S., particularly children of color. The book thus complicates the standard scholarly treatment of the subject, which tends to focus on the tensions between transnational adoptees - who argue that transnational adoption is an outgrowth of U.S. American wealth, power, and military might, as well as the desire not to adopt Black children - and adoptive parents - who maintain that the adoptions are about a desire to help children in need. Bringing together contributions by leading transnational adoption scholars from Latin America, Europe, Canada, and the United States, "International Adoption" draws together work on stranger adoption, kinship adoption, fostering, and the informal circulation of children, and takes into account alternate routes such as ART and surrogacy. Its overarching argument is the need for a more complex view of transnational adoption.