Inter-Country Adoption

Over the past twenty years, the growing shortage of adoptable infants in the United States and Britain has forced a number of couples to look abroad. What exactly are the costs, hazards, and emotional difficulties that these couples face, and why do some couples feel that this is their only chance of becoming adoptive parents? Inter-Country Adoptioncharts the experiences of eight couples who, between them, have adopted eleven children from South America, India and Sri Lanka ranging in age from four months to seven years. The main emphasis of these first-hand accounts is on the events leading up to the decision to adopt from abroad and on the obstacles involved in dealing with the authorities in Britain and in the child's country of origin. The final two chapters are written by an academic social worker and a parliamentary campaigner who examine the legal and ethical considerations of inter-country adoption. This lively and highly readable book is of great value tosocial workers, social policy makers, lawyers and to the general reader with an interest in adoption.