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History Repeating . . . Disaster-Related Intercountry Adoption and the Psychosocial Care of Children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2012

Patricia Fronek  and
Denise Cuthbert
Patricia Fronek
Affiliation:
School of Human Services and Social Work, Griffith University E-mail: p.fronek@griffith.edu.au
Denise Cuthbert
Affiliation:
School of Graduate Research, RMIT University E-mail: denise.cuthbert@rmit.edu.au
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Abstract

Disasters are prevalent with devastating effects on vulnerable populations that include the elderly, disabled, women and children. Historical responses to vulnerable children and families post-disaster raise questions concerning further harms to children rescued by adoption in the aftermath of devastation. This article offers critical and historical perspectives on child removal for adoption in the context of disaster and the psychosocial care of children affected by disaster. It brings into question whether removal, especially permanent removal for adoption, is in their interests. This article concludes that efforts are needed by the international community to ensure that past abuses do not recur.

Keywords

intercountry adoptionpost-disasterchildreninternational communitypsychosocial care of children
Type
Themed Section on Waiting for a Better World: Critical and Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Intercountry Adoption
Information
Social Policy and Society , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , July 2012 , pp. 429 - 442
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

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