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Making Families Through Adoption (Contemporary Family Perspectives (CFP)) PDF

169 Pages·2012·4.145 MB·English
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Contemporary Family Perspectives A Series by Pine Forge Press, an imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc Series Editor Susan J. Ferguson Grinnell College Volumes in This Series Families: A Social Class Perspective Shirley A. Hill Making Families Through Adoption Nancy E. Riley and Krista E.Van Vleet Forthcoming Families and Health, Second Edition Janet Grochowski Global Families, Second Edition Meg W. Karraker Key Issues in American Family Policy Janet Z. Giele Family Caregiving in Later Life Twyla Hill Contemporary Family Perspectives A Series by Pine Forge Press, an imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc Series Editor Susan J. Ferguson Grinnell College Volumes in This Series Families: A Social Class Perspective Shirley A. Hill Making Families Through Adoption Nancy E. Riley and Krista E.Van Vleet Forthcoming Families and Health, Second Edition Janet Grochowski Global Families, Second Edition Meg W. Karraker Key Issues in American Family Policy Janet Z. Giele Family Caregiving in Later Life Twyla Hill FOR INFORMATION: Copyright © 2012 by Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc. Pine Forge Press All rights reserved. No part of this book may be An Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc. reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, 2455 Teller Road electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, Thousand Oaks, California 91320 recording, or by any information storage and retrieval E-mail: [email protected] system, without permission in writing from the publisher. SAGE Publications Ltd. 1 Oliver’s Yard 55 City Road London EC1Y 1SP Printed in the United States of America United Kingdom Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data SAGE Publications India Pvt. Ltd. B 1/I 1 Mohan Cooperative Industrial Area Riley, Nancy. Mathura Road, New Delhi 110 044 India Making families through adoption / Nancy E. Riley, Krista E. Van Vleet. SAGE Publications Asia-Pacific Pte. Ltd. p. cm. — (Contemporary family perspectives) 33 Pekin Street #02-01 Includes bibliographical references and index. Far East Square Singapore 048763 ISBN 978-1-4129-9800-0 (pbk. : acid-free paper) 1. Adoption—United States. 2. Families—United States. 3. Intercountry adoption. 4. Interracial adoption. 5. Interethnic adoption. 6. Adoption. I. Van Vleet, Krista E., 1965- II. Title. Acquisitions Editor: David Repetto Editorial Assistant: Maggie Stanley HV875.55.R55 2012 Production Editor: Kelle Schillaci 362.7340973—dc22 2011001743 Copy Editor: Barbara Corrigan Typesetter: C&M Digitals (P) Ltd. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Proofreader: Joyce Li 11 12 13 14 15 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Indexer: Will Ragsdale Cover Designer: Janet Kiesel Marketing Manager: Erica DeLuca Permissions Editor: Karen Ehrmann Contents Series Preface: Contemporary Family Perspectives vii Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 Making Families: The Inequalities and Intimacies of Adoption 1 Adoption in the United States 9 Definitions 9 Adoption and Statistics 11 1. Adoption Across Cultures 15 Ethnographic Cases 16 The Preference for Fostering in West Africa 16 The Commonality of Child Circulation in the Andes 21 The Stigma of Adoption in the Middle East 24 Exploring the Significance of Cases 26 Debunking the Opposition between Natural and Adoptive Parents 27 Who Is Responsible for Raising Children? 30 History Comes Up Behind Us: Fostering and Adoption as Shaped by Context 31 Conclusions 35 2. Adoption in the United States: Historical Perspectives 37 Children’s Role in Society 38 What Makes a Family? Contradictions and Controversies in American Adoption 42 The Growing Demand for Adoptable Babies and the Increased Regulation of Adoption: Who Are the Best Mothers? 44 Adoption Secrecy in the Formation of As-If Families 46 Making Families Through Adoption in the Postwar Period 48 Adoption in the United States Today 50 Open Adoption 52 Conclusions 53 3. Adoption: Private Decisions, Public Influences 55 Who Adopts? Who Is Adopted? 57 Socioeconomic Class: The Power of Money 57 The Children: Characteristics of Adopted Children 61 The Parents: Marital Status and Sexual Orientation 62 What Makes a Proper Family? Interpreting Social Norms 63 The Role of the State 65 Comparative Perspectives on Government’s Role in Adoption 69 Adoption in China 69 Adoption in Norway 71 Conclusions 72 4. Race, Ethnicity, and Racism in Adoption and Fosterage Systems 73 Race: A Social Construct, a Forceful Reality 74 Race in U.S. Adoption History 77 Transracial Adoption: Issues and Debates 79 The Foster System and Adoption in the United States 83 Native Americans and Adoption in the United States and Canada 87 Conclusions 91 5. The Practices of Transnational Adoption 94 The Global Transfer of Children 96 Rules Governing Intercountry Adoptions 99 The Receiving Countries 101 Early International Adoption as Humanitarian Aid 101 The United States 104 Adoption in Norway 105 The Sending Countries 107 Korea 107 Romania 109 Guatemala 111 China and Its Abandoned Girls 113 After Adoption: The Making of Transnational Families 116 Conclusions 122 Conclusion 123 Bibliography 132 Further Exploration 143 Index 148 About the Authors 155 Series Preface Contemporary Family Perspectives Susan J. Ferguson Grinnell College T he family is one of the most private and pervasive social institutions in U.S. society. At the same time, public discussions and debates about the institution of the family persist. Some scholars and public figures claim that the family is declining or dying or that the contemporary family is in crisis or is morally deficient. Other scholars argue that the family has been caught in the larger culture wars taking place in the United States. The current debates about legalizing same-sex marriage are one example of this larger public discussion about the institution of the family. Regardless of one’s perspective—viewing the family as declining or caught in broader political struggles—scholars agree that the institution has undergone dra- matic transformations in recent decades. U.S. demographic data reveal that fewer people are married, divorce rates remain high, at almost 50 percent, and more families are living in poverty. In addition, people are creating new kinds of families via Internet dating, cohabitation, single-parent adoption, committed couples living apart, donor insemination, and polyamorous rela- tionships. The demographic data and ethnographic research on new family forms require that family scholars pay attention to a variety of family struc- tures, processes, ideologies, and social norms. In particular, scholars need to address important questions about the family, such as, What is the future of marriage? Is divorce harmful to individuals, to the institution of the fam- ily, and/or to society? Why are rates of family violence so high? Are we living in a postdating culture? How do poverty and welfare policies affect families? How is child rearing changing now that so many parents work vii viii——Making Families Through Adoption outside the home and children spend time with caretakers other than their parents? Finally, how are families socially constructed in various societies and cultures? Most sociologists and family scholars agree that the family is a dynamic social institution that is continually changing as other social structures and individuals in society change. The family also is a social construction with complex and shifting age, gender, race, and social class meanings. Many excel- lent studies are currently investigating the changing structures of the institu- tion of the family and the lived experiences and meanings of families. Contemporary Family Perspectives is a series of short texts and research monographs that provides a forum for the best of this burgeoning scholarship. The series aims to recognize the diversity of families that exist in the United States and globally. A second goal is for the series to better inform pedagogy and future family scholarship about this diversity of families. The series also seeks to connect family scholarship to a broader audience beyond the class- room by informing the public and by ensuring that family studies remain central to contemporary policy debates and to social action. Each short text contains the most outstanding current scholarship on the family from a variety of disciplines, including sociology, demography, policy studies, social work, human development, and psychology. Moreover, each short text is authored by a leading family scholar or scholars who bring their unique disciplinary perspective to an understanding of contemporary families. Contemporary Family Perspectives provides the most advanced scholar- ship and up-to-date findings on the family. Each volume contains a brief overview of significant scholarship on that family topic, including critical current debates or areas of scholarly disagreement. In addition to providing an assessment of the latest findings related to their family topic, authors examine the family utilizing an intersectional framework of race-ethnicity, social class, gender, and sexuality. Much of the research is interdisciplinary, with a number of theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches presented. Several of the family scholars use a historical lens as well to ground their contemporary research. A particular strength of the series is that the short texts appeal to undergraduate students as well as to family scholars, but they are written in a way that makes them accessible to a larger public. About This Volume Making Families Through Adoption examines a critical family formation process—adoption. Currently, only 2.4 percent of U.S. families are formed through adoption. Historically and cross-culturally, however, the circulation Series Preface——ix of children through adoption or fostering has been a common practice. The authors, sociologist Nancy E. Riley and anthropologist Krista E. Van Vleet of Bowdoin College, argue that the current discourse on adoption is all about choice but that in reality, adoption is immersed in cultural and social beliefs, economic transactions, and political realities. Their research reveals that while adoption has distinctive qualities across certain cultures, social inequality is at the root of most adoptions: Women of lower statuses often give children to women and families of higher social statuses. This book, Making Families Through Adoption, provides a comprehen- sive look at adoption in the United States and in other cultures. Riley and Van Vleet begin their analysis with working definitions of adoption, foster- ing, and child circulation. They then examine child circulation practices in other cultures to see how these practices are windows into the larger society. Adoption reveals broader social and cultural norms, including the meaning and attributes of family. Next, Riley and Van Vleet examine adoption in the United States using a historical lens. They are particularly interested in U.S. historical constructions of what constitutes family and how the value and roles of children have changed over time. After laying this cross-cultural and historical groundwork, Riley and Van Vleet focus on adoption in the contemporary context. The next three chapters investigate U.S. adoption practices in depth by first looking at the influence of socioeconomic status, marital status, and sexual orientation of potential parents on adoption. They also examine how the characteristics of children and governmental policies influence these seemingly private deci- sions to adopt. The authors then explore race, ethnicity, and racism in adop- tion and fosterage systems in the United States before turning their attention to transnational adoption. Making Families Through Adoption is relevant to courses on the family, social inequality, cross-cultural studies, and public policy. This book is a valuable resource to teachers and students in beginning to advanced courses in sociology, anthropology, women’s studies, social work, policy studies, and family studies. It also finds an audience among individuals who may work with families, adoption, and foster care, such as social workers, counselors, and other human service providers.

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