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.

This book analyses the social and legal functions of adoption in selected societies worldwide, and reviews the current global wave of adoption law reform. The author explores trends such as inter-country adoption, and examines similarities and differences in the experience of many nations. The book also provides a window for testing the presumption that within and between cultures there exists a common understanding of what is meant by adoption.

How are adoptions arranged? How far do the present adoption service really meet the needs of the adoptive family? Originally published in 1966, these are the questions examined in this searching investigation – at the time one of the few to be undertaken since legal adoption was introduced in this country in 1926. The scope of the survey is comprehensive for every type of adoption is included: those arranged by societies, by local authorities, by relatives and private individuals. Each step in the process is described and appraised both from the angle of the agencies and of the adopters. The careful analysis of agency policy and practice and the compelling accounts of the adopters’ experiences and attitudes makes this report of particular interest to anyone concerned with the development of this branch of the social services and its history. The writer had extensive and varied social work experience, both in the statutory and voluntary field, and had herself arranged adoptions.

Adoption is a process that can require both time and patience. This guide helps you efficiently handle all steps in an adoption case, from consultation through finalization. Jennifer Fairfax, an experienced adoption attorney covers the primary types of adoption, both domestic and international, and examines the full range of issues impacting the adoption process, including the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children, special needs, adult, and stepparent adoptions, financing and tax issues, open records, and wrongful adoption.

Using a socio-legal framework, this book explores the experiences that birth mothers face in state sanctioned adoption proceedings in the UK. Featuring personal, in-depth interviews and conversations with 32 birth mothers, the book highlights perspectives and voices that are seldom the focus in leading discourses of professional practice in this area of law. The book also demands that the statutory rights, support and care of birth mothers are recognised and strengthened. This book delivers a comprehensive insight into many aspects and controversies of legal child adoption, including the development and reform of adoption law over history, giving the reader insight into the deep-rooted political and social tensions around the use of adoption. The uniqueness of birth mothers’ subjective stories of adoption contrasts powerfully with the legal theory providing the reader with an intimate paradigm of adoption. The book includes discussion of obiter dicta and authoritative guidance on adoption practice from the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal in Re B (A Child) (Care Proceedings: Appeal) [2013] UKSC 33 and Re B-S (Children) (Adoption: Leave to Oppose) [2013] EWCA Civ 1146. It also considers Court of Appeal’s recent ruling on post adoption contact in Re B (A Child) (Post-Adoption Contact) [2019] EWCA Civ 29, the first case to come before the court since section 9 of the Children and Families Act 2014 amended the Adoption and Children Act 2002, with the new insertion of section 51A and 51B providing for court ordered post adoption contact. This book is ideally suited to undergraduate students, as well as a more multi- disciplinary audience.

With essays by well-known adoption practitioners and researchers who source empirical research and practical knowledge, this volume addresses key developmental, cultural, health, and behavioral issues in the transracial and international adoption process and provides recommendations for avoiding fraud and techniques for navigating domestic and foreign adoption laws. The text details the history, policy, and service requirements relating to white, African American, Asian American, Latino and Mexican American, and Native American children and adoptive families. It addresses specific problems faced by adoptive families with children and youth from China, Russia, Ethiopia, India, Korea, and Guatemala, and offers targeted guidance on ethnic identity formation, trauma, mental health treatment, and the challenges of gay or lesbian adoptions

As child welfare professionals have become aware of the impact of prenatal substance exposure on children in the adoption process or who are available for adoption, there is a heightened need for understanding a range of issues connected with prenatal alcohol and drug exposure. This book addresses many of these issues, including the impact of prenatal substance exposure on children's immediate and long-term health and development; remedial effects of a positive postnatal environment; counseling suggestions for prospective adoptive parents; and supports to maximize positive adoption outcomes. The chapters are: (1) "The Impact of Prenatal Substance Exposure: Research Findings and Their Implications for Adoption" (Madelyn Freundlich); (2) "Outcomes for Drug-Exposed Children Eight Years Postadoption" (Richard P. Barth and Devon Brooks); (3) "African American Kin Caregivers and Child Welfare Issues: Research Implications" (Robert B. Hill); (4) "Fetal Alcohol Exposure and Adult Psychopathology: Evidence from an Adoption Study" (Remi J. Cadoret and Kristin Riggins-Caspers); (5) "T.I.E.S. for Adoption: Supporting the Adoption of Children Who Were Prenatally Substance Exposed" (Susan B. Edelstein, Jill Waterman, Dorli Burge, Carolyn McCarty, and Joseph Prusak); (6) "Alcohol-Related Disorders and Children Adopted from Abroad" (Jane Ellen Aronson); (7) "Attachment Issues for Adopted Infants" (Mary Dozier and Kathleen E. Albus); (8) "Societal Attitudes toward Drug-Using Women and Their Children: Past and Present" (Stephen R. Kandall); (9) "Emerging Legal Issues in the Adoption of Drug-Exposed Infants" (Judith Larsen and Harvey J. Schweitzer); and (10) "The Adoption of Children Prenatally Exposed to Alcohol and Drugs: A Look to the Future" (Madelyn Freundlich). (KB)