International and Transracial Adoptions: Toward a Global Critical Race Feminist Practice?

Abstract:     
The practice of international adoption places feminist legal scholars of family law in a quandary. Adopted orphaned and abandoned children in impoverished developing countries immigrate to the United States and Europe, gaining families and a higher standard of living. But these improved circumstances come at a cost. Their mothers suffer the effects of poverty while a wealthier woman gains a child at the birth mother's expense. International adoption raises not only sensitive class issues but also cultural and racial issues; so many of the adoptees are from Asia and Latin America, but their adoptive parents are white. This article questions whether a practice of international adoption based on the theory of "global critical race feminism" and crafted to reinforce the cultural and racial ties of adoptees can resolve conflicts between these perspectives. This new approach to international adoption, tied to notions of dual nationality, is predicated upon incentives and preferences for expatriates in the United States to adopt children from their countries of origin.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 26

Accepted Paper Series