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Review of Sociological Literature on Intercountry Adoption

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 April 2012

Indigo Willing
Affiliation:
School of Social Science, University Of Queensland E-mail: [email protected]
Patricia Fronek
Affiliation:
School of Human Services and Social Work, Griffith University E-mail: [email protected]
Denise Cuthbert
Affiliation:
School of Graduate Research, RMIT University E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

This review surveys sociological literature on intercountry adoption from 1997 to 2010. The analysis finds a preponderance of literature from the United States, reflecting its place as a major receiving country, and a focus on adoption experience organised by reference to the adoption triad: adoptive parents, adoptees, birth families. Reflecting the power imbalances in intercountry adoption, the voices and views of adoptive parents dominate the literature. There is an emerging literature generated by researchers who are intercountry adoptees, while birth families remain almost invisible in this literature. A further gap identified by this review is work which examines intercountry adoption as a global social practice and work which critically examines policy.

Type
Themed Section on Waiting for a Better World: Critical and Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Intercountry Adoption
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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