Historically, much of the academic collection of research in the intercountry adoption arena has been driven and led by professionals with little understanding of what it’s like to live the experience.

This page is dedicated to compiling intercountry adoption research led by intercountry adoptee academics who bring a different outlook and perspective to the knowledge of adoption.

Peer Reviewed

Amanda Baden

Multiple publications
Delaying Adoption Disclosure – A Survey of Late Discovery Adoptees

Robert Ballard

Multiple publications

Christof Bex / Atamhi Cawayu

Comparison between Transnational Adoptees and Unaccompanied Minors
Global families, global inequalities. The politics of child relinquishment, search and reunion in transnational adoption
From Primal to Colonial Wound: Bolivian adoptees reclaiming the narrative of healing 
Searching for Restoration: An Ethnographic study of transnational adoption from Bolivia (PhD Thesis)
Can first parents speak? A Spivakean reading of first parents’ agency and resistance in transnational adoption
Complicating the Search Imperative in Transnational Adoption: An Anthropological Analysis of Non-Searching Transnational Adoptees in Belgium and Spain ***NEW***

Susan Branco (nee Alvardo)

Multiple plublications
Navigating both and understanding the complex needs of Latino/a adoptees.
Carrying the burden: Counselors of Color experiences with client microaggressions in counselling.
The Colombian Adoption House: A Case Study
Out of the Fog and into Consciousness: A model of Adoptee Awareness
False Narratives: Illicit Practices in Colombian Transnational Adoption
Liberating our Ancestors, Finding Ourselves: Colombian Transnational Adoptee First Family Reunion Experiences

Chandra Kala Clemente-Martínez

Special Issue: Irregularities in Transnational Adoptions and Child Appropriations: Challenges for Reparation Practices
Active Waiting and Hope in Transnational Adoptions: Nepali Birth Families and their Children
Irregular adoptions in the Ethiopian-Spanish context: Strategies to redress the adoption triad
Complicating the Search Imperative in Transnational Adoption: An Anthropological Analysis of Non-Searching Transnational Adoptees in Belgium and Spain ***NEW***

Stephanie Cooper-Lewter

Identity Journey’s: Life Stories of Women Adopted Transnationally as Children
Out of the Fog and into Consciousness: A model of Adoptee Awareness

Farnad Darnell

Adoption Identity

Shila Khuki de Vries

Towards a critical development perspective on intercountry adoptions

Sara Docan-Morgan

Multiple publications

Peter Dodds

The Parallels between Intercountry Adoption & Slavery
Problems of Intercountry Adoption (YouTube interview)

Daniel Drennan / Daniel Ibn Zayd

Multiple publications

Ian Anand Forber-Pratt

A review of the literature on Deinstitutionalisation and Child Protection Reform in South Asia

Janeice A Garrard

Attachment and Identity in Higher Education: Lived Experiences of Korean Adoptees

Elizabeth Goode

It’s a Complicated Thing: A biographical-narrative exploration of the experiences and identities of adult intercountry adoptees in Australia

Ryan Gustafsson

Theorizing Korean transracial adoptee experiences: Ambiguity, substitutability, and racial embodiment

Nicholas D Hartlep

Multiple publications
Balancing Two Worlds: Supporting Transracially Adopted Asian/American Students on the College Campus
Unboxing Asian American Transracial Adoptee Collegian Identities
Identity Development in Transracially Adopted Asian/American College/University Students

HeeRa Heaser

Korean Australian Adoptee Diasporas

Jade Henness & Haley Horstman

Memorable messages regarding adoption and religion: perspectives of adult adoptees

Tobias Hubinette

Multiple publications
From Orphan Trains to Babylifts: Colonial Trafficking, Empire Building, and Social Engineering
Comforting an Orphaned Nation: Representations of International Adoption and Adopted Koreans in Korean Popular Culture
The International adoptees of Sweden and the theory of Multiple Burdens

Samara James

Complex Encounters of ‘Homecoming’: A Critical Autoethnographic Theorisation of Returning ‘Home’ as a South Korean Transracial-Transnational Adoptee

Tanya Lee Kaanta

Belonging: Identity, Emotion Work, and Agency of Intercountry Korean Adoptees

JaeRan Kim

Multiple publications
ICAR6 Presentation on Intercountry Adoption Displacement 
Korean Adoptees as Parents: Intergenerationality of Ethnic, Racial, and Adoption Socialisation
The Inclusive Family Support Model: Facilitating Openness for
Post-Adoptive Families
“Forever family is like a manufactured Hallmark idea”: Adoption discontinuity experiences of intercountry adoptees
Out of the Fog and into Consciousness: A model of Adoptee Awareness

Oh Myo Kim

Multiple publications

Reclaiming lineage: Experiences of Pregnancy and Childbirth for Asian American Adopted adults

Hélène Laffitte

Racines Coréennes: première association de personnes adoptées d’origine étrangère en France (1995). Histoire collective et mémoires individuelles. (History of the Organization of transnational adoptees in France from 1980s to today).

Hollee McGinnis

Expanding the concept of birthparent loss to orphans: Exploratory findings from adolescents in institutional care in South Korea

Kimberly McKee

Multiple publications

Kit Myers

Multiple publications

Kim Park Nelson

Multiple publications

Grace Newton

The Trauma and Healing of Consciousness (Group Trauma for Adoptees)
Out of the Fog and into Consciousness: A model of Adoptee Awareness

Patrick Noordoven

Intercountry Adoption and the Right to Identity: The Application of the Subsidiarity Principle in Brazil

Rosemarie Pena 

Contextualising the Black German American Adoptee Experience
From Both Sides of the Atlantic: Black German Adoptee Searches in William Gage’s Geborener Deutscher (Born German)

Julien Pierron

Donnees Socio-Familiales de l’Adoption Internationale en France by J PierronDescriptive study performed from the first 800 records of intercountry adopted children to France seen at the Overseas Adoption Consultation Monléon J. V. Doctor CHU Dijon

Kelly M Rich

Sight Unseen: Proxy War, Proxy Adoption

Jini Roby

Human Rights, Politics & Intercountry Adoption: An Examination of Two Sending Countries
Illicit Intercountry Adoption Practices: Sale of Children or Trafficking in Persons?
Birth Parents as Victims of Trafficking in Intercountry Adoption
From Rhetoric to Best Practice: Children’s Rights in Intercountry Adoption
Family Group Conferencing as a Culturally Adaptable Intervention: Reforming Intercountry Adoption in Guatemala
Human Rights Considerations in Intercountry Adoption: The Children and Families of Cambodia and Marshall Islands
Adoption Activities on the Internet: A Call for Regulation
Understanding Sending Country’s Traditions and Policies in International Adoptions: Avoiding Legal & Cultural Pitfalls
If I Give You My Child, Aren’t We Family? A Study of Birthmothers Participating in Marshall Islands-US Adoptions
The Feasibility of Intrafamily and In-Country Adoptions in the Marshall Islands
Openness in International Adoptions: A Study of US Parents who adopted Children from Marshall Islands
Social Justice and Intercountry Adoptions: The role of the US Social Work Community

Anna Sasson

Cultural Longing & Loss: An Arts-Based Inquiry of the Experience of Cultural Identity for
Female Adult Transracial Adoptees (ATRAs) and Adult Third Culture Kids (ATCKs)

published in the Journal of Creative Arts Therapies
Navigating between longing and loss as a transracial adoptee: Anna Lam Sasson in conversation with Ying Wang

Prema Suma

An Autoethnographic Journey of Intercountry Adoption by P Malhotra

Caryl Tagen-Dye

Maya America, Special Issue by Next Generation Guatemala: Between Two Worlds

Jessica Walton

More than a Korean adoptee
Supporting the Interests of the Intercountry Adoptee beyond Childhood
Korean Adoptees and Transnational Adoption: Embodiment and Emotion
Embodying Multiple Selves: Korean Australian Adoptees’ Experiences of Being and Belonging
Feeling It: Understanding Korean Adoptees’ Experiences of Embodied Identity
Asian Australians’ Experiences of Racism During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Emma Wexler

Invisible Immigrants: The Politics of Transnational/racial Asian American Adoptees

Indigo Willing

Multiple publications
Intercountry Adoption: Privilege, Rights and Social Justice

Hannah Wing

Microfictions and Microaggressions: Counsellors’ Work with Transracial Adoptees in Schools
From Model Minority to Racial Threat: Chinese Transracial Adoptees’ Experience Navigating the COVID-19 Pandemic

Hilina Winkenweder

Ethiopian Adoptees’ Experiences of Attachment After Adoption in Australia: A Qualitative Study

Chaitra E Wirta-Leiker

Prospective Adoptive Parent Psychological Evaluations: A Proposal for Required Content Areas

Lillian Rose Wolfe

Perceptions from Female Transracial Adoptees on their Adoptive Parent’s Birth Culture Socialisation Styles

Not Peer Reviewed

Meredith Armstrong

The Hidden Victims of Trafficking: An Investigation into the Connection between Intercountry Adoption, Orphanages, and Human Trafficking Law

Faith Beacham

American Illegal Adoptions

Gabbie Beckley

Human Rights & Social Justice in Intercountry Adoption

Teresa Alton Borgelin

Who I Am and Who You See (Bolivian adoptee exploring Identity via Art and Jewellery Design)

Kathryn R Bost

What are you? Understanding Communication Patterns of Multiracial Identity

Daniel Cidrelius

Tourism’s Role in Sri Lanka’s Adoption Practice by D Cidrelius

Andre-Anne Cote

Chinese Identity and Nationalism through Chinese adoption and immigration in Canada
Comparison of Intercountry Child Adoption in South Korea and China Population, Welfare and Soft Power
Giving Answers to the Hidden Children in Canada: Causes of International Adoption in China

Max de Blank

Rethinking Adoptee Politics in the Netherlands: A Queer of Colour Critique

Lukas Ewing

From One to Another: a fragmentary complex (masters of architecture thesis exploring adoption from Vietnam to Canada)

Bastiaan Seo Vin Flikweert

Adoption “coûte que coûte”. Korean adoption agencies, Dutch social workers, and (re)defining the best interests of the child, 1953-1967 ***NEW***

Jessica J Fry

Asian American Transracial Adoptees: Identity Development in College

Lianne D Gallant

Maternal Orientalism: Chinese Transracial Adoption, White Motherhood, and the Construction of the Chinese Birth Mother

Karin J Garber

“You were adopted?!”: An Exploratory Analysis of Microaggressions experienced by Adolescent Adopted Individuals

Dominic Golding

Being White: Art, Writing & Performance Making by Vietnamese and Korean Transnational Adoptees

Amandine Gray

The Political Mobilisation of Transnational or Transracial Adoptees: From Peer Support to Advocacy (French)

Soleil S Groh

Exploring Race, Culture, and Identity among Chinese Adoptees: “China Dolls”, “Bananas” and “Honorary Whites”

Zoë Haakenstad

Becoming Asian in America: Asian American Adoptees and Challenging Identity in the White Family

Johanna Häggberg

A path to healthy aging for transnational adoptees – a phenomenographic analysis from a life course perspective and (original in Swedish)

Boonyoung Han

A Study on Human Rights Protection Measures Through Fact Finding Surveys on the Human Rights Situation of Transnational Adoptees (in Korean)

Study on human rights protection measures through a survey on the human rights situation of overseas adoptees (in Korean, but open in Google Chrome for auto translate); English copy of the report here; funded by National Human Rights Commission of Korea

Kelly Hancox

Adoptees Revisiting China

Maya Xian Hewitt

A Quiet Migration: the Acculturation of British Chinese Adoptees in the United Kingdom

Marijane Huang

International and Transracial Adoptees: Experiences of Racism and Racial Discrimination and Personal Coping Styles

Hayley Hudler

A Critique of the Christian Theology of Adoption: What does it mean to expand Familial Love?

Samara James

Turning the white gaze: counter-storytelling as a decolonial praxis of trasracial and transnational adoption

Lianna Johnstone

Where do I belong? An in-depth look at how adoption affects identity formation in Chinese American adoptees

Jennifer Jue-Steuck

Reflections on Being and Becoming an Adult Transnational Adoptee in the USA

Eleana Kim

Producing missing Persons

Gabrielle Guiying Kuhn

A Survey of National Identity in Transracial & Transnational Chinese Adoptees

Nicolette Lecy

Ethno-racial Identity Development Factors of Chinese American Adoptees

Andrea Maldonado Leguizamon

Adoptar en España: Evaluaciõn y Apoyo para Prevenir la Ruptura (Adoption in Spain: Evaluation and Support to Prevent Rupture/Breakdown)

Alessia Petrolito

Black But Italian, Not Just Black, More than Italian

Christopher Nguyen Pheneger

The Language of Race: A Qualitative Study on the Racial Identity Development of Transracial Asian American Adoptees

Eden Robertson

Remnants of Adoption: Rejection Sensitivity, Attachment & Adult Intimacy Issues

Mary Robinson

Living a Parallel Life- Memoirs and Research of a Transnational Korean Adoptee by M Robinson

Sulmi Rubenstein-Markiewicz

Places of Othering and Safety among Transracial International Adoptees: Urban vs Non-urban Environments and the conceptual framework of Third Space

Rachel Kim Tschida

Unwed Mothers Experience Limited Reproductive Choices in South Korea

Karlijn van Driel

Home and Belonging among Female Chinese adoptees in the Netherlands

Frances Elizabeth McDermott

Understanding the lived experiences of Asian American transracial adoptees in college

Patrick Noordoven

Human Rights Under Pressure: The Removal of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child from the European Union’s Acquis Communautaire
Double Subsidiarity Principle and the Right to Identity

Vinh Phillips Ingvason Nguyẽn

How is the right to identity made more difficult for internationally adopted children? (in Swedish but open in Google chrome for auto translate)

Marilie Ross

La quête identitaire des adopté.es de la Chine (French) : The quest for identity of Adoptees from China, What we really are

Hilbrand Westra

International Adoption and the Fight for Human Rights

Hannah Hyun White

Between Two Worlds: A Phenomenological Study of the Lived Experiences of Asian American Transracial/Transnational Adoptees Engaging in Activism and Advocacy Work

Laura X Williams

The Missing Peace: Offerings from the Study of Adoption, Culture, and Identity