Intercountry Adoption

Howard Altstein and Rita Simon are the editors of this volume which describes the experiences of foreign born adoptees and their families. Countries discussed include the United States, Canada, Norway, West Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Israel. Agency sponsored intercountry adoption (ICA) first began with the end of World War II when European orphans were adopted by American families. This book provides a brief history of intercountry adoption; specifies the rules and procedures employed in the various countries; and evaluates the pros and cons and successes and failures in the seven nations.

For each country the book provides information on the number of transracial and intercountry adoptions since the end of World War II (or 1960). It discusses each country's formal statutes on transracial and intercountry adoption, and describes the organizations and/or social movements advocating such adoptions as well as those opposing them. The editors conclude with a summary, drawn from the case studies, which assesses the successes and failures of the adoption policies and experiences. Compiled by leading scholars in the adoption field, this volume is designed for use by social workers, adoption agencies, sociologists, and psychologists.

HOWARD ALTSTEIN is Dean and Professor in the School of Social Work and Urban Planning at the University of Maryland. He has co-authored (with Rita Simon) three books on transracial adoption: Transracial Adoption

RITA J. SIMON is a Sociologist and University Professor at the School of Public Affairs and the College of Law at American University. She is the author of The Jury System in America, Public Opinion and the Immigrant, Women and Crime, and The Defense of Insanity. Doctors Simon and Altstein are leading researchers and scholars in transracial and intercountry adoption. Their last book Transracial Adoptees and Their Families was published by Praeger in 1987.