Book Review and Commentary

Eastern European Adoption: Policies, Practice, and Strategies for Change
Ruggiero, Josephine A. (2007). New Brunswick and London: Transaction Publishers. $39.95
ISBN: 0202309762

Reviewed by Vita Roga, PhD., Senior Lecturer of Sociology Department and Social Work Study Program at Latvian University

The professional, well-documented manuscript Eastern European Adoption: Policies, Practice, and Strategies for Change provides an innovative perspective on adoption policies and social work practice. This book is linked with family studies, social welfare, and social work. Josephine A. Ruggiero's personal and professional experiences provide a great combination for examining adoption as a social pedagogical practice within our society. Ruggiero asserts that adoption is one way in which people can positively impact society. She recognizes that even when given the chance to make someone's life better, a chance we all have had, it is not always easy. The general idea of this book is communicated through the subtitle: "Feeling Good about Trying to Do Some Good", and provides strategies for change in Eastern European adoption.

Social work transforms helping into a professional activity. Because social workers have been the rank and file workers in the world of adoption, endowing them with authority and expertise was a prerequisite for the professionalization of adoption services. Making sure that family formation would be overseen by professionals was an important part of making adoption effective both locally and internationally.

International adoption, or intercountry adoption, is a type of adoption in which an individual or couple becomes the legal and permanent parents of a child born in another country. In general, prospective adoptive parents must meet the legal adoption requirements of their country of residence, as well as those of the country in which the child was born. (1967.gada 25.janvara EP Konvencija par bernu adopciju pienemta Saeima 2000.gada 16.marta)

The laws of different countries vary in their flexibility to allow international adoptions. Some countries, such as China and Korea, have relatively well-established rules and procedures for international adoptions, while other countries expressly forbid it. Other countries, notably many African nations, have extended residency requirements for adoptive parents that have the potential to rule out most international adoptions.

International adoption is just one of several ways to build a family. In most cases, international adoptions are finalized in the country of origin, so parents return home with their legal guardianship already in place. There are a number of countries that work with United States couples who want to adopt a child. Identifying which country works best for a potential family is usually the first step of the adoption process.

Things to consider when adopting internationally include the child's age, gender, race, and medical needs. The process of adoption is very complicated and, when necessary, a qualified adoption professional should assist in identifying the most important requirements. The same process should occur within the foster care system. Foster care and adoption social workers assess whether families are suitable for fostering or adopting children. They find long or short-term foster placements for children who come into care and find permanent new families for children who cannot return home. Their work involves recruiting, assessing, and giving ongoing support to fostering and adoptive parents of children. So far, adoption in Latvia has been a very provocative activity for both social workers and potential adopters. There are three broad tasks undertaken by adoption social workers: a) improving the quality of life for children in social care institutions, as well as educating potential adopters, b) providing psychosocial work with children's biological parents, and c) providing preventive work in communities with dysfunctional families. For potential adoption situations, the process is even more difficult because there is evidence that most parents of "orphaned" children are alive and exist somewhere in the country. The question, therefore, is not only about finding children a new place to live, but about their safety and emotional well-being.

Latvian social workers, for a long time, have discussed how to provide professional and personal ongoing help for many children in orphanages, mental care facilities, and crisis centers, as well as how to maintain the sustainability of those institutions. The social problems of many families result in a struggle for survival. Alcohol addiction, violence, homelessness, unemployment, and a lack of education all contribute to the reasons why children are no longer with their biological parents. The difficulties that occur as a result of witnessing traumas in their biological families can manifest themselves in behavior and emotional disorders, psychiatric conditions, attachment difficulties, mental impairment, or learning disabilities. It is difficult to address some of these problems later, when children are placed in orphanages, because of the lack of bonding, family identification, and opportunities for emotional fulfillment. Ruggiero describes pediatrician Dana Johnson's view on orphanages:

An orphanage is a terrible place to raise an infant or young child. Lack of stimulation and consistent caregivers, sub optimal nutrition and physical/sexual abuse all conspire to delay and sometimes preclude normal development. All institutionalized children fall behind in large and fine motor development, speech acquisition and the attainment of necessary motor skills. Many never find a single individual with whom to complete a cycle of attachment. Physical growth is impaired. (p. 29)

Many countries, such as Poland, Greece, Ukraine, and Bulgaria, have been consistent "sending" countries. The number of adoptees from Russia to the United States has risen dramatically between 1993 and 2005. Rugierro uncovered three reasons for this link: attitudes and socio-cultural context, the availability of potential adoptees, and difficulties or positive possibilities of adoption. There are also some historical factors for the link, which include social, political, demographic, and economic forces.

Another question that the author addresses is why these factors and forces motivate Americans to adopt more children internationally when there are so many within their own country in need of families. Unfortunately, domestic adoption is not as pleasant as many might wish. Family dysfunction can create psychological and physical difficulties resulting from prenatal drug and alcohol exposure, neglect, and physical or sexual abuse. Many children in need of placements have witnessed family violence, extreme deprivation (social, emotional), and undergone maltreatment or malnutrition.

The book describes two types of international adoption: agency and independent adoption. Agency adoption occurs through licensed private agencies. Independent adoption requires the use of adoption facilitators, as well as work done by the individual(s), with the aid of in-country assistance.

The author also describes similarities and differences in issues relevant to international and domestic adoption through several contexts: physical health problems, behavior and emotional issues, establishing close relationships, and the risk of future problems. The author discusses the fact that individuals or couples need to prepare emotionally and socially by learning detailed information about the importance of their "new parent" status. Rugierro writes:

Unfortunately, many of the children offered for external adoption may not be healthy either medically or emotionally - especially if they are children who have come from violent, abusive, dysfunctional families; or who have experienced war close up; or if they have lived in institutional settings from birth or for a long period of time. Chances for problems in attachment to the new parent(s) are high as are the likelihood of behavior problems in interpersonal relationships both inside (i.e., problems with intimacy, accepting limits) and outside of the family (i.e., problems initiating and sustaining healthy relationships with peers and adults). (p. 39)

In my opinion, this book is valuable not only for undergraduate and graduate social work students, but for sociologists, psychologists, and pedagogues as well. The book is a well-assembled volume, and is especially well organized according to various adoptive situations. Moreover, the author uses a critical thinking method and gives due consideration to the evidence of the context of judgment, the relevant criteria for making an accurate judgment, and the applicable theoretical constructs for understanding the nature of the problem and the question at hand. Basically, her critical thinking employs not only logic but broad intellectual criteria such as clarity, credibility, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, and significance.

The book also includes qualitative and quantitative data from a survey of more then 110 adoptive parents of children in the European Union, and the text effectively utilizes evidence, represented respondents, and data presented through case narratives. The author's research illustrates what does and does not work in the adoption process - especially when considering the diversity found within families in contemporary society. The provided questionnaire for respondents asks excellent questions that deal with prior experiences of adoption, expectations about the child/children, and expectations about changes in family life after adoption. Latvia could definitely benefit from the outstanding research presented by the author regarding adoptees. The use of the case narrative structure and interpretation would be very useful to Latvian social workers and social workers around the world.

Narrative research in education, nursing, and other practicing professions is a very useful method. Narrative analysis is developed from recent work in sociology, sociolinguistics, literary theory, and social work. Issues of policy strategies, such as those found in the author's research, are also links to other discursive approaches to the exploration of problems in the social work profession. The narrative method is more commonly found in social work research that summarizes research studies and makes recommendations for future research topics and practice. Ruggiero sees narrative as differing from other systematic research methods because of its focus on broad topics, such as the adoption process. In this book, the author provides a narrative model to demonstrate the knowledge for practice in the adoption process, given its diversity involving personal, community, and state levels. The narrative model is committed to an interdisciplinary approach; it draws upon psychological, sociological, anthropological, and cultural studies' research traditions. And it seems to work! The exploration raises fundamental questions about adoption work as a profession. Here, we can see a strong international dimension, serving as a meeting point for researchers in the field of adoption as well, particularly from the rest of Europe and the United States.

The final chapters (11 through 13) provide an exceptional text with excellent descriptions of changes upon which there is a need to focus in adoption policy and practice, as well as solutions and strategies that are linked to clients' and children's rights. Others may see the need to incorporate more multifactorial environmental descriptions in order to see the impact of person and environment interactions and how these interactions influence the adoption process. To conclude, this book is a remarkable and progressive contribution and will develop research perspectives of adoption in global social work practice.

References

1. 1967.gada 25.janvāra EP Konvencija par bērnu adopciju (pieemta Saeimā 2000.gada 16.martā)