Inter-Country Adoption: Practical Experiences

Over the past twenty years, the growing shortage of adoptable infants in Britain and the United States has resulted in a number of couples acquiring their family from abroad, yet the effort needed to acquire such a child from another country is enormous. So what exactly are the costs, hazards and emotional difficulties involved, and why do some couples feel that this is their only chance of becoming adoptive parents? Inter-Country Adoption charts the experiences of eight couples who between them have adopted eleven children from South America, India and Sri Lanka who ranged 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 obstacle course which followed and which involved dealing with the authorities in Britain and in the child's country of origin. The final two chapters are by an academic social worker and a parliamentary campaigner who examine the legal and ethical considerations of inter-country adoption.

Table of Contents:
1. From San Salvador to Hackney Claire and Andrew Astachnowicz. 2. Two little jungle flowers Robert and Maureen Checketts. 3. Columbia to the rescue Elizabeth and Simon Day. 4. Aeroplanes and epidurals Susan and Wally Freeman. 5. Brazillian bounty John and Mary Hunt. 6. Favourite bedtime stories Barbara Mostyn. 7. Eventually ... and so to Sri Lanka Audrey and David Wilson. 8. The empty nest Karina and John Woodford. 9. Inter-Country adoption: in whose best interest? John Triseliotis. 10. Inter-Country adoption: a view from the House of Commons Peter Thurnham, MP.

Review :
..."an easy reading book, full of emotional content and sentimental reflections. At the same time, it carefully weaves developments in the socio/political conditions of countries with aspects of economics and law. This framework is then used to examine the case histories that are vividly and beautifully presented as the core focus of the book, which is highly responsive to urgent needs in social work education today...For social work education purposes this book is a valuable contribution to learn about international social welfare policies and social work practice. Teachers, students and practitioners will find this book extremely useful to meet new challenges emerging around the world. ...If this work is given the place it deserves in the social work literature for intercountry adoption, it can be expected to contribute significant new insights on a topic presently most often misunderstood even when acknowledged." -"Journal of Teaching in Social Work