Through a brief history of both domestic and intercountry adoption practice, as well as case studies of intercountry adoption abuses in Guatemala, Cambodia, Uganda, and Kenya, this article demonstrates the problems that have resulted from intercountry adoption and the challenges they have posed for the social work profession.

For nearly 30 years, U.S. federal legislation shaping adoption has remained largely unchanged, even as expectations around privacy, youth voice, and family support have significantly evolved. This toolkit offers practical strategies and resources to modernize policy and practice, centering young people’s agency across consent, privacy, family recruitment, and post-adoption support.

This article analyzes Guatemala’s child welfare and intercountry adoption systems before and after the 2007 suspension, using Midgley’s framework to examine reforms across non-formal, market-based, non-profit, faith-based, and government systems. Framed by international child rights law, including the Hague Convention, it highlights the shift from illicit, profit-driven adoption practices toward a reformed system while centering child rights and the experiences of birth mothers during the peak adoption era.

This article examines the legal status and consequences of concealing the ancestry of adopted children under Indonesian criminal law and Islamic law. It analyzes how such practices are addressed in statutory law and Islamic legal principles, highlighting the importance of lineage clarity, transparency, and the protection of children’s rights in adoption.

This study examines how children with unknown parentage are cared for in modern society and the societal risks they face, using analysis of existing research. It finds that factors such as religious beliefs, economic conditions, and post-birth abandonment—along with stigma and discrimination—significantly shape these children’s experiences, and calls for stronger reforms and increased investment in child welfare programs.

This paper examines how India’s adoption framework applies the best interests of the child principle, analyzing legislation, regulations, court decisions, and international standards. It argues that while adoption procedures have become more centralized, gaps in institutional capacity, eligibility rules, and statutory safeguards limit the principle’s meaningful application and contribute to informal adoptions.

This article presents a brief history of intercountry adoptions from China and other countries, discusses reasons for its demise, and considers the consequences—for China’s children and for intercountry adoptions more broadly. It questions whether we are indeed seeing the end of intercountry adoption “as we know it,” while recognizing the emergence of new systems of care.

This video highlights the rise of a locally led movement in Ethiopia, where Christian leaders and organizations are transforming child welfare practices following the end of intercountry adoption. It showcases the impact of the CAFO-supported DEBO Alliance as churches and advocates embrace domestic adoption and best practices to bring hope and lasting care to vulnerable children and families.

This qualitative study explores the emotional, psychological, and social experiences of adoptive mothers in India through in-depth interviews, identifying key themes related to adoption processes, wellbeing, family dynamics, personal values, and societal influences. The findings highlight how these experiences interact with biopsychosocial factors, underscoring the need for more informed, mother-centred policies and support mechanisms in the adoption system.

This study compares child custody and guardianship norms in classical Islamic jurisprudence and modern codifications, focusing on Indonesia’s Compilation of Islamic Law and related laws in selected ASEAN and European countries. It finds that integrating the “best interests of the child” with Islamic legal reasoning through maqāṣid al-sharīʿah can promote child protection and gender equity, offering insights for legal reform in plural societies.