Check out my article, Trading in Babies, in the Aug/Sept 2009 issue of Conducive.

Transnational adoption is a thriving global business. Its success and lack of regulation has created a profit motive for child trafficking. Writer, activist, and adoptee filmmaker So Yung Kim recommends reorganizing the transnational adoption industry in order to protect the rights of children. Domestic and international adoptees are already coming together to discuss options and partner on policy issues. Kim also proposes more coalition building between adoptee groups and other collectives fighting for the basic rights of all people.

Jane Jeong Trenka has an excellent article in the same issue: Transnational Adoption and the “Financialization of Everything”.

International adoption is often seen as a mutually beneficial relationship between children in need of a home and financially stable adults wanting to raise a child. But it is also big-money business. In line with neoliberalism, or the hollowing out of government services, many adopted children are born to single mothers who are offered little to no resources to care for their children. International adoption agencies have stepped into this gap by offering homes, and making a profit in the process.

Thanks to Kev Minh for the invitation to write for Conducive.