Adoption Beyond Borders

Rebecca J. Compton is professor of psychology at Haverford College, where she has taught since 1999. She received her B.A. from Vassar College and her Ph.D. in biological psychology from University of Chicago. Her previous research focused on executive function, attention, and emotion regulation in the human brain, and she has co-authored a textbook in cognitive neuroscience, published by Wadsworth/Cengage.

"This is one of the very best, most important books written on the plight of unparented children worldwide and the role international adoption can and should play for such children...This book is balanced, entirely fair in airing all important positions. But it is hard-hitting, insisting on what the evidence tells us about the important facts and how those facts should drive policy." --Adoption Quarterly"Inspired by her own challenging experience as a parent adopting a child from Kazakhstan, academic psychologist Rebecca Compton has authored a clear, well-documented argument that a child's long term health, development and socioemotional well being are largely determined by the presence of devoted, contingent caregivers and a stable family during early life. Addressing criticisms with evidence rather than supposition, she reaches the indisputable conclusionthat international adoption remains the best hope for many unparented children worldwide." --Dana E. Johnson, MD, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota"This is a deeply intelligent book that should be a must read for adoptive parents, policy makers, academics, child welfare professionals, and all who care about children. It is beautifully written, insightful and wonderfully wise. Compton destroys many of the stereotypes that dominate discourse on international adoption, and provides an understanding of the reality based on an in-depth assessment of the social science." --Elizabeth Bartholet, JD, MorrisWasserstein Professor of Law and Faculty Director of the Child Advocacy Program, Harvard Law School"Adoption Beyond Borders is written in clear English without jargon. It mixes the author's personal story with a wealth of data and there are many pages of notes and references at the end. It paints a very positive view of international adoption and dispels many myths about why it is a problem or is an inherently secondary form of parenting. It will be useful both to read[ers] thinking about adopting themselves, those who are interested in adoptionpolicies at state and international levels." --Metapsychology Onine Reviews

• PART 1: The Adopted Child: Patterns of Loss and GainCh. 1: Introduction Ch. 2: Physical and Cognitive Development Ch. 3: Social and Emotional DevelopmentCh. 4: Culture, Race, and Identity PART 2: Adoptive Families: Biological, Social, and Clinical ApproachesCh. 5: Adoption and the Biology of ParentingCh. 6: Adoptive Families in Society Ch. 7: Special Needs and Interventions Ch. 8: Conclusions and Policy Considerations