Mental and Social Health Commons^™

The Aftermath Of Abusive Adoption Practices In The Lives Of Adoption Triad Members: Responding To Adoption Triad Members Victimized By Abusive Adoption Practices, David M. Smolin, Desiree L. Smolin

David M. Smolin

The above-titled presentation was given as a plenary presentation at the Annual Symposium of the Joint Council on International Children’s Services (JCICS) on April 18, 2012. Herein is a slightly modified version of the Power Point used at the presentation. We corrected some typos and made some editorial adjustments, but this is 99% the same as what was used at the presentation. Unfortunately the event itself was not taped.

It is important to note that the original context for this presentation is Intercountry Adoption to the United States. However, some of you may find some of these points relevant to …

Intercountry Adoption And Poverty: A Human Rights Analysis, David M. Smolin

David M. Smolin

This Article explores the question of whether intercountry adoption is an effective, appropriate, or ethical response to poverty in developing nations. As a matter of methodology, this fundamental question of adoption ethics is explored through the lens of international human rights law. This Article specifically argues that, where the birth parents live under or near the international poverty standard of $1 per day, family preservation assistance must be provided or offered as a condition precedent for accepting a relinquishment that would make the child eligible for intercountry adoption.

Child Laundering: How The Intercountry Adoption System Legitimizes And Incentivizes The Practices Of Buying, Trafficking, Kidnapping, And Stealing Children, David M. Smolin

David M. Smolin

This article documents and analyzes a substantial incidence of "child laundering" within the intercountry adoption system. Child laundering occurs when children are taken illegally from birth families through child buying or kidnapping, and then "laundered" through the adoption system as "orphans" and then "adoptees." The article then proposes reforms to the intercountry adoption system that could substantially reduce the incidence of child laundering.

Real-Time Decision Making And Aggressive Behavior In Youth: A Heuristic Model Of Response Evaluation And Decision (Red), Reid Griffith Fontaine, Kenneth A. Dodge

Reid G. Fontaine

Considerable scientific and intervention attention has been paid to judgment and decision-making systems associated with aggressive behavior in youth. However, most empirical studies have investigated social–cognitive correlates of stable child and adolescent aggressiveness, and less is known about real-time decision making to engage in aggressive behavior. A model of realtime decision making must incorporate both impulsive actions and rational thought. The present paper advances a process model (response evaluation and decision; RED) of real-time behavioral judgments and decision making in aggressive youths with mathematic representations that may be used to quantify response strength. These components are a heuristic to describe …

The Two Faces Of Intercountry Adoption: The Significance Of The Indian Adoption Scandals, David M. Smolin

David M. Smolin

This article summarizes international law, and the law of India and the United States, relevant to intercountry adoption. The article then presents extensive information and analysis of a major series of adoption scandals in Andhra Pradesh, India. The article uses this analysis of law and a major series of adoption scandals to present the "two sides of intercountry adoption:" positively, as a humanitarian act, and negatively as a form of child trafficking. The weaknesses and vulnerabilities of the intercountry adoption system that led to the Indian adoption scandals are extensively analyzed.

Intercountry Adoption As Child Trafficking, David M. Smolin

David M. Smolin

This article analyzes when intercountry adoption constitutes a form of child trafficking, particularly under international law. The article reviews relevant Treaties on the subjects of slavery and human trafficking, as well as analyzing the problem of money and adoption within the domestic (United States) adoption system.

Peer Rejection And Social Information-Processing Factors In The Development Of Aggressive Behavior Problems In Children, Reid G. Fontaine, Kenneth A. Dodge, Jennifer E. Lansford, Virginia Salzer Burks, John E. Bates, Gregory S. Pettit, Joseph M. Price

Reid G. Fontaine

The relation between social rejection and growth in antisocial behavior was investigated. In Study 1,259 boys and girls (34% African American) were followed from Grades 1 to 3 (ages 6-8 years) to Grades 5 to 7 (ages 10-12 years). Early peer rejection predicted growth in aggression. In Study 2,585 boys and girls (16% African American) were followed from kindergarten to Grade 3 (ages 5-8 years), and findings were replicated. Furthermore, early aggression moderated the effect of rejection, such that rejection exacerbated antisocial development only among children initially disposed toward aggression. In Study 3, social information-processing patterns measured in Study 1 …

Response Decision Processes And Externalizing Behavior Problems In Adolescents, Reid Griffith Fontaine, Virginia Salzer Burks, Kenneth A. Dodge

Reid G. Fontaine

Externalizing behavior problems of 124 adolescents were assessed across Grades 7–11. In Grade 9, participants were also assessed across social-cognitive domains after imagining themselves as the object of provocations portrayed in six videotaped vignettes. Participants responded to vignette-based questions representing multiple processes of the response decision step of social information processing. Phase 1 of our investigation supported a two-factor model of the response evaluation process of response decision (response valuation and outcome expectancy). Phase 2 showed significant relations between the set of these response decision processes, as well as response selection, measured in Grade 9 and (a) externalizing behavior in …