Law Commons^™

Cross-Country Adoption: A Call To Action, Anthony D'Amato

Faculty Working Papers

Although a free press is an integral part of democratic governance, intercountry adoption is one case in which the media makes it virtually impossible for governments to send children abroad for adoption. A country (State A) which gives up a child for intercountry adoption should receive a "credit" for that child which will entitle any other family within State A that may want to adopt a child to priority on the list at the Vatican. The second major function for the Intercountry Adoption Agency might be called the "annual report" function. All adoptive parents who take a child from the …

Establishing Legal Permanence For The Child, Donald N. Duquette

Book Chapters

This chapter is intended to identify options for legal permanency that state law and the federal Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA) commonly recognize to better serve children in foster care. Ideally, the child will ultimately return safely to his or her home of origin. But when a return home is not possible, the child welfare legal process should result in a safe and legally secure alternative permanent placement for the child. The emphasis on legally secure permanent placement is meant to provide the child with psychological stability and a sense of belonging and to limit the likelihood …

Trading-Off Reproductive Technology And Adoption: Does Subsidizing In Vitro Fertilization Decrease Adoption Rates And Should It Matter?, Daniel L. Chen, I. Glenn Cohen

Faculty Scholarship

For those facing infertility, using assisted reproductive technology to have genetically related children is a very expensive proposition. In particular, to produce a live birth through in vitro fertilization (IVF) will cost an individual (on average) between $66,667 and $114,286 in the U.S. If forced to pay these prices out of pocket, many would be unable to afford this technology. Given this reality, a number of states have attempted to improve access to reproductive technology through state-level insurance mandates that cover IVF. Several scholars, however, have worried that increasing access in this way will cause a diminution in adoptions and …

Where Cultures And Sovereigns Collide: Balancing Federalism, Tribal Self-Determination, And Individual Rights In The Adoption Of Indian Children By Gays And Lesbians, Steve Sanders

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This article analyzes the complex interplay between adoption (traditionally a matter reserved to state family law) and the federal Indian Child Welfare Act in the context of adoptions by gays and lesbians.

As a federal statute that partially preempts state law for the benefit of Native Americans, ICWA implicates three sovereigns: the United States, the state where the adoption petition is brought, and the tribe whose child is the focus of the proceeding. This interplay of sovereigns in itself makes Indian child welfare law complicated and interesting. Beyond these sovereign interests, also to be considered are the interests and rights …

Embryo Fundamentalism, Naomi R. Cahn, June Caborne

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

The battle for the future of assisted reproduction technologies (ART) has been joined. The tacit compromise underlying assisted reproduction - no laws are passed that even tangentially sanction embryo destruction and no laws are passed that intrude on the profitability of fertility treatments - may be coming to an end. As use of ART has increased, so have calls for supervision and oversight. In the wake of "Octomom" Nadya Suleman's use of in vitro fertilization (IVF) to give birth to octuplets, the calls to regulate assisted reproduction have become even more pressing. At the same time, religious communities ambivalent about …

Price And Pretense In The Baby Market, Kimberly D. Krawiec

Faculty Scholarship

Throughout the world, baby selling is formally prohibited. And throughout the world babies are bought and sold each day. As demonstrated in this Essay, the legal baby trade is a global market in which prospective parents pay, scores of intermediaries profit, and the demand for children is clearly differentiated by age, race, special needs, and other consumer preferences, with prices ranging from zero to over one hundred thousand dollars. Yet legal regimes and policymakers around the world pretend that the baby market does not exist, most notably through prohibitions against “baby selling” – typically defined as a prohibition against the …