Corruption in International Adoptions

Posted by Erica Mauter

December 30, 2008

The story of abandoned orphans in developing countries who need to be whisked away to adoring moms and dads in faraway lands is, unfortunately, largely fiction. So writes E.J. Graff, associate director and senior researcher at the Schuster Institute in her new investigative article “The Lie We Love,” published in Foreign Policy’s Nov./Dec. 2008 issue. The article exposes the myth of a world orphan crisis—and reveals that the large amounts of Western money offered for healthy “adoptable” infants and toddlers are inducing baby-trafficking in poor and corrupt countries.

Part of Brandeis University’s Schuster Institute for Investigative Journalism’s Gender & Justice Project.

(via Ann Freeman)