Elizabeth Bartholet

International Adoption: Current Status and Future Prospects.

Throughout the poorer countries of the world, millions of children live out their young lives in substandard institutions or in the streets. In times of war or political and economic upheaval, added numbers of children become homeless. At the same time, thousands of couples in the more advantaged countries of the West have demonstrated their eagerness to offer permanent homes to many of these children through adoption and have been doing so for more than four decades. As a result of political pressure and rising nationalism, there has been growing hostility to international adoption in many countries that have previously been willing to free some of the homeless children for adoption by foreigners. Elizabeth Bartholet is professor of law at Harvard Law School, and author of Family Bonds: Adoption and the Politics of Parenting. The laws regulating adoption are varied among the “sending” countries and numerous obstacles stand in the way of foreigners who wish to adopt. Aspects of the U.S. Immigration laws pose additional obstacles in the path of adoption of foreign-born children by American citizens. Declarations by the United Nations in recent years and current progress toward the completion of “Convention on Intercountry Adoption” by the Hague Conference on private international law offer some hope for facilitating the process of international adoption so that at least some of the children may be able to find permanent homes. At the same time, modifications of U.S. Immigration laws will also be needed. International adoption is a very important part of the total adoption picture. 1 How various nations of the world shape the rules governing international adoption will define to a great degree adoption’s future role as a parenting alternative. This is because the world divides into essentially two camps for adoption purposes, one consisting of countries with low birthrates and small numbers of children in need of homes, and the other consisting of countries with high birthrates and huge numbers of such children. In the United States and other Western, industrialized countries, the number of babies surrendered or abandoned by birthparents has been limited in recent decades by contraception, abortion, and the increased tendency of single parents to keep their children. As a result of these and other factors, very few children are available for adoption in comparison with the large numbers of people who, for Portions of the material in this article appear in Bartholet, E. Family Bonds: Adoption and the Politics of Parenting. New York: Houghton Mifflin,

Ratification by the United States of the Convention on the Rights of the Child: Pros and Cons from a Child’s Rights Perspective

This article discusses the significance of the United States’ ratification of the CRC, concluding that even if the treaty is not self-executing, ratification would make a major difference. It would enable the United States to better promote children’s rights abroad, and it would push the United States to develop its domestic law in dramatically new directions that empower children. The CRC provides children with powerful affirmative rights and imposes reciprocal duties on nation-states. It provides rights to participate, including rights to be heard and to make decisions on personal and political matters; rights to receive important benefits, including health, support, and education; rights to protection against maltreatment; and rights to nurturing parental care. All this contrasts with U.S. law’s negative rights tradition, its emphasis on parental rights, limited recognition of children’s rights, and related restriction of state power to protect children. U.S. ratification could have a positive impact, particularly in connection with parental relationship rights and related maltreatment issues. However, there is also a risk of negative impact, given the problematic CRC provisions on international and transracial adoption. The solution is ratification with a reservation regarding Articles 20 and 21.

Differential Response: A Dangerous Experiment in Child Welfare

Differential Response represents the most important child welfare initiative of the day, with Differential Response programs rapidly expanding throughout the country. It is designed to radically change our child welfare system, diverting the great majority of Child Protective Services cases to an entirely voluntary system. This Article describes the serious risks Differential Response poses for children and the flawed research being used to promote it as “evidence based.” It puts the Differential Response movement in historical context as one of a series of extreme family preservation movements supported by a corrupt merger of advocacy with research. It argues for reform that would honor children’s rights, confront the problems of poverty underlying child maltreatment in a serious way, and expand rather than reduce the capacity of Child Protective Services to address child maltreatment. It calls for a change in the dynamics of child welfare research and policy so that we can avoid endlessly repeating history in ways harmful to child interests.

Building Capacity for a Global Genome Editing Observatory: Conceptual Challenges

A new infrastructure is urgently needed at the global level to facilitate exchange on key issues concerning genome editing. We advocate the establishment of a global observatory to serve as a center for international, interdisciplinary, and cosmopolitan reflection. This article is the first of a two-part series.

Building Capacity for a Global Genome Editing Observatory: Institutional Design

A new infrastructure is urgently needed at the global level to facilitate exchange on key issues concerning genome editing. We advocate the establishment of a global observatory to serve as a center for international, interdisciplinary, and cosmopolitan reflection. This article is the second of a two-part series.

Adoption Beyond Borders: How International Adoption Benefits Children, by Rebecca J. Compton,: New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2016, xi + 235 pp.,

This is one of the very best, most important books written on the plight of unparented children worldwide and the role international adoption can and should play for such children. It comes at a moment of crisis, when it is especially important for policy makers and others to recognize the stakes for children and to focus on the facts rather than the myths that are so prevalent in this area. Some 10 to 14million children are living—and dying—in institutions, with the numbers regularly escalating. The best source of homes for these children at the present time is international adoption. Yet such adoption is being systematically, deliberately shut down. As shown by the below chart (Figure 1), the number of adoptions into the United States has dropped by 75% since 2004. The number into all countries combined has dropped by 50%. This book speaks to a very broad audience in a language suitable for all. It speaks to policy makers both here in the United States and abroad, governmental and nonprofit. It speaks to professionals who advise adoptive parents and work with adopted children. It speaks to adoptive parents who want to think deeply about their decisions both in becoming parents and in raising children. It speaks to those interested in research, summarizing the important evidence developed to date and illuminating what we truly are today in a position to know, as well as what would be worth exploring in the future. This book is written brilliantly. It is clear, and clear-eyed, exposing common myths for what they are, questioning accepted dogma. It is thorough while still wonderfully compact, with only 166 pages of text (supplemented by detailed, scholarly endnotes). It is poignant and moving. It is compelling. This book is indisputably scientific in its approach to facts. Compton knows of what she speaks. She is trained as an academic psychologist and neuroscientist. She understands the importance of stories. But she makes a compelling case for science: “The scientific method requires moving beyond anecdote, emotion, and rhetoric to examine systematic patterns of data.” She says that in this book she has combined story “with evidence from decades of psychology and neuroscience research on the ways that effective nurturance can be provided to promote healthy development” (p. 7). This book is balanced, entirely fair in airing all important positions. But it is hard-hitting, insisting on what the evidence tells us about the important facts and how those facts should drive policy. Compton keeps the focus on her chosen core issue: the facts related to children’s best interests. The first part of her book focuses on the facts related to the adopted child and how that child is affected by the denial of nurturing parenting, in particular through institutionalization. The second part focuses on the facts related to adoptive parents and how children do in their care. Compton makes a powerful case for why, if we look at the facts

27.95 (hardcover), ISBN 978-0-19-024779-9

This is one of the very best, most important books written on the plight of unparented children worldwide and the role international adoption can and should play for such children. It comes at a moment of crisis, when it is especially important for policy makers and others to recognize the stakes for children and to focus on the facts rather than the myths that are so prevalent in this area. Some 10 to 14million children are living—and dying—in institutions, with the numbers regularly escalating. The best source of homes for these children at the present time is international adoption. Yet such adoption is being systematically, deliberately shut down. As shown by the below chart (Figure 1), the number of adoptions into the United States has dropped by 75% since 2004. The number into all countries combined has dropped by 50%. This book speaks to a very broad audience in a language suitable for all. It speaks to policy makers both here in the United States and abroad, governmental and nonprofit. It speaks to professionals who advise adoptive parents and work with adopted children. It speaks to adoptive parents who want to think deeply about their decisions both in becoming parents and in raising children. It speaks to those interested in research, summarizing the important evidence developed to date and illuminating what we truly are today in a position to know, as well as what would be worth exploring in the future. This book is written brilliantly. It is clear, and clear-eyed, exposing common myths for what they are, questioning accepted dogma. It is thorough while still wonderfully compact, with only 166 pages of text (supplemented by detailed, scholarly endnotes). It is poignant and moving. It is compelling. This book is indisputably scientific in its approach to facts. Compton knows of what she speaks. She is trained as an academic psychologist and neuroscientist. She understands the importance of stories. But she makes a compelling case for science: “The scientific method requires moving beyond anecdote, emotion, and rhetoric to examine systematic patterns of data.” She says that in this book she has combined story “with evidence from decades of psychology and neuroscience research on the ways that effective nurturance can be provided to promote healthy development” (p. 7). This book is balanced, entirely fair in airing all important positions. But it is hard-hitting, insisting on what the evidence tells us about the important facts and how those facts should drive policy. Compton keeps the focus on her chosen core issue: the facts related to children’s best interests. The first part of her book focuses on the facts related to the adopted child and how that child is affected by the denial of nurturing parenting, in particular through institutionalization. The second part focuses on the facts related to adoptive parents and how children do in their care. Compton makes a powerful case for why, if we look at the facts

Adoption Beyond Borders: How International Adoption Benefits Children, by Rebecca J. Compton,

This is one of the very best, most important books written on the plight of unparented children worldwide and the role international adoption can and should play for such children. It comes at a moment of crisis, when it is especially important for policy makers and others to recognize the stakes for children and to focus on the facts rather than the myths that are so prevalent in this area. Some 10 to 14million children are living—and dying—in institutions, with the numbers regularly escalating. The best source of homes for these children at the present time is international adoption. Yet such adoption is being systematically, deliberately shut down. As shown by the below chart (Figure 1), the number of adoptions into the United States has dropped by 75% since 2004. The number into all countries combined has dropped by 50%. This book speaks to a very broad audience in a language suitable for all. It speaks to policy makers both here in the United States and abroad, governmental and nonprofit. It speaks to professionals who advise adoptive parents and work with adopted children. It speaks to adoptive parents who want to think deeply about their decisions both in becoming parents and in raising children. It speaks to those interested in research, summarizing the important evidence developed to date and illuminating what we truly are today in a position to know, as well as what would be worth exploring in the future. This book is written brilliantly. It is clear, and clear-eyed, exposing common myths for what they are, questioning accepted dogma. It is thorough while still wonderfully compact, with only 166 pages of text (supplemented by detailed, scholarly endnotes). It is poignant and moving. It is compelling. This book is indisputably scientific in its approach to facts. Compton knows of what she speaks. She is trained as an academic psychologist and neuroscientist. She understands the importance of stories. But she makes a compelling case for science: “The scientific method requires moving beyond anecdote, emotion, and rhetoric to examine systematic patterns of data.” She says that in this book she has combined story “with evidence from decades of psychology and neuroscience research on the ways that effective nurturance can be provided to promote healthy development” (p. 7). This book is balanced, entirely fair in airing all important positions. But it is hard-hitting, insisting on what the evidence tells us about the important facts and how those facts should drive policy. Compton keeps the focus on her chosen core issue: the facts related to children’s best interests. The first part of her book focuses on the facts related to the adopted child and how that child is affected by the denial of nurturing parenting, in particular through institutionalization. The second part focuses on the facts related to adoptive parents and how children do in their care. Compton makes a powerful case for why, if we look at the facts