Orphan Sunday: Narratives of Salvation in Transnational Adoption

Abstract

The article is a critical analysis of public narratives about transnational adoption that equate adoption with the salvation of "orphans." The stories I weave together from in-depth interviews, social science and humanities research, law and policy, and public dialogues make visible the scaffolding of power that shapes families' lives. I tell a specific story about Korean American adoption that speaks to the power inequalities shaping the transnational transfer of children from developing countries all over the world. These stories reframe the circumstances of adoptees' births and relinquishments as issues of social inequality rather than as individual choice. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals and Dialog, Inc.