When baby Borya is adopted by a kind Mamma-and-Papa, he leaves his Eastern European orphanage, taking nothing familiar with him except his talent for burping.

Between 1990 and 2006, more than 76,000 children born in Eastern Europe were adopted into American families. Almost two-thirds of these children came from Russia. And in contrast to children adopted from Korea, China, Central America, and South America, most of the Russian children were not infants, but between one and four years old. This volume addresses adoption policies and practices as they pertain to adopted children from Eastern Europe, children who have histories of "pre-adoption adversity." Drawing on her decade-long experience as an adoptive parent of siblings born in Russia and her expertise as an applied sociologist, Josephine Ruggiero examines the central issues involved in international adoptions, focusing on older children as well as siblings, and suggesting needed changes in policy and practice. Regardless of whether children are adopted domestically or internationally, age is a significant factor in their ability to adjust to and function well in their new families. Only about three in ten Russian adoptees joined their new families as infants. Pre-adoption experiences are also significant factors in a child's ability to adjust and function well in a new family. Countries differ in risk factors that may figure into the likelihood of adoptees adapting to life in a new family. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, serious medical conditions, emotional problems, behavioral problems, attachment issues, learning disabilities, and exposure to family violence must be considered as potential risk factors in adoptions. Pre-adoption adversity is less likely when children come from birth families that are economically poor but have bonded with them. At a time when adoption has finally "come out of the closet" and the definition of the family is changing dramatically, Eastern European Adoption takes a much-needed look at current adoption policies and practices and how well they do or do not work. Ruggiero draws on the literature on older-child and sibling adoption, and data from a questionnaire survey she designed and conducted with 121 adoptive parents. Ruggiero's examples from real adoptive families give a human face to the issues, needs, and strategies she discusses.

Sky Children is my family's story of meeting Kolya, a 17 year old orphan who had grown up in very difficult circumstances in two Eastern European orphanages. As he neared his 18th birthday and an expected transfer to an even more difficult adult institution, we found ourselves at a point of decision. Were we called to adopt him? There's a lot to this story - and the beginnings of a how to guide if you find yourself with a similar calling. Join us...

Since the late nineteen sixties, transnational adoption has emerged as a global phenomenon. Due to a sharp decline in infants being made available for adoption locally, involuntarily childless couples in Western Europe and North America who wish to create a family, have to look to look to countries in the poor South and Eastern Europe. The purpose of this book is to locate transnational adoption within a broad context of contemporary Western life, especially values concerning family, children and meaningful relatedness, and to explore the many ambiguities and paradoxes that the practice entails. Based on empirical research from Norway, the author identifies three main themes for analysis: Firstly, by focusing on the perceived relationship between biology and sociality, she examines how notions of child, childhood and significant relatedness vary across time and space. She argues that through a process of kinning, persons are made into kin. In the case of adoption, kinning overcomes a dominant cultural emphasis placed upon biological connectedness. Secondly, it is a study of the rise of expert knowledge in the understanding of 'the best interest of the child', and how the part played by the 'psycho.technocrats' effects national and international policy and practice of transnational adoption. Thirdly, it shows how transnational adoption both depends upon and helps to foster the globalisation of Western rationality and morality. The book is an original contribution to the anthropological study of kinship and globalisation.

Eight central and eastern European countries--the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovak Republic, and Slovenia--officially joined the European Union (EU) in May 2004. This auspicious milestone marked the beginning of the next major step for these countries in their move toward full integration with the EU-adoption of the euro. Seeking to consider the opportunities and challenges of euro adoption, the papers in this volume--by a noted group of country officials, academics, representatives of international institutions, and market participants-offer insight on the various dimensions of euro adoption in these eight new EU members--how they should prepare, whether an early move is optimal, and what pitfalls may occur along the way.

In the last fifty years, transnational adoption—specifically, the adoption of Asian children—has exploded in popularity as an alternative path to family making. Despite the cultural acceptance of this practice, surprisingly little attention has been paid to the factors that allowed Asian international adoption to flourish. In Global Families, Catherine Ceniza Choy unearths the little-known historical origins of Asian international adoption in the United States. Beginning with the post-World War II presence of the U.S. military in Asia, she reveals how mixed-race children born of Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese women and U.S. servicemen comprised one of the earliest groups of adoptive children. Based on extensive archival research, Global Families moves beyond one-dimensional portrayals of Asian international adoption as either a progressive form of U.S. multiculturalism or as an exploitative form of cultural and economic imperialism. Rather, Choy acknowledges the complexity of the phenomenon, illuminating both its radical possibilities of a world united across national, cultural, and racial divides through family formation and its strong potential for reinforcing the very racial and cultural hierarchies it sought to challenge.

With essays by well-known adoption practitioners and researchers who source empirical research and practical knowledge, this volume addresses key developmental, cultural, health, and behavioral issues in the transracial and international adoption process and provides recommendations for avoiding fraud and techniques for navigating domestic and foreign adoption laws. The text details the history, policy, and service requirements relating to white, African American, Asian American, Latino and Mexican American, and Native American children and adoptive families. It addresses specific problems faced by adoptive families with children and youth from China, Russia, Ethiopia, India, Korea, and Guatemala, and offers targeted guidance on ethnic identity formation, trauma, mental health treatment, and the challenges of gay or lesbian adoptions

Without avoiding the grim statistics, this book reveals the real hope that hurting children can be healed through adoptive and foster parents, social workers, and others who care. Includes information on foreign adoptions.

Includes information on the Adoption and Safe Families Act, a federal law created to encourage the adoption of foster children. This encyclopedia also includes information on other adoption issues such as laws concerning adoptions by gays and lesbians, tax issues, school and adopted children, birthfather rights, transracial adoptions, and more.

Adoption has long been enmeshed in the politics of abortion. But as award-winning journalist Joyce makes clear, adoption has lately become entangled in the conservative Christian agenda.