Opinion: The Historical Roots of the Evangelical Adoption Boom

Occasionally, we will link to media opinions on aspects of adoption and child welfare that you may never have thought about. This opinion piece discusses the consumerism and humanitarianism that has been uncomfortably entangled in both domestic and international adoption. “Baby-hunting, trafficking, and stealing; document forgery; unclear relinquishments; coercion of birth parents (usually mothers); substituting one child for another—all of these practices have shadowed international adoption since it began,” claims Arissa Oh who is an assistant professor in the history department at Boston College, where she teaches classes on race, gender, and immigration in 20th-century U.S. history.

She is in the process of publishing her first book, Into the Arms of America: The Korean Origins of International Adoption.

Read the whole article at The Historical Roots of the Evangelical Adoption Boom [The Historical Society 10/11/13]

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