Adoption studies

Find out more about

international studies on transnational adoption.

Human Rights Violation in Intercountry Adoption by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of the Republic of Korea.

English report of the 2022-2025 investigation

on the responsibility of the South Korean government in illicit adoptions between 1953 and 1993.

Adoption & Suicide, Dr L. Zubov, Winstion Salem State University

Ongoing study from Dr Zubov for the Ollie Foundation on the impact of adoption on adoptees and first mothers. Watch the YouTube video and/or take part in the survey.

The French inter-ministerial inspection of illegal adoptions.

Mission interministérielle relative
aux pratiques illicites
dans l’adoption internationale
en France.

Swiss investigation into illicit practices in adoptions from 1973–1997

International adoption law: Federal Council sees need for action. Bern, 08.12.2023 - In the past, irregularities in international adoptions occurred to a greater extent than previously known. That is the conclusion of a report commissioned by the Federal Council to analyse adoptions from a total of 10 countries of origin.

Swiss investigation into illicit adoption practices from 1973–1997

The Korean chapter of the Swiss investigation (English translation).

Legal opinion on Republic of Korea’s Special Act on Confidential child

Actors involved in the current reforms related to the Bill have requested the opinion of Child Identity Protection (CHIP) on balancing the different rights at stake in the context of confidential hospital births. The legal opinion of CHIP has benefited from input from Maud de Boer-Buquicchio (CHIP President and former UN Special Rapporteur on sale and exploitation of children), Nigel Cantwell and David Smolin – leading child rights experts. While the Republic of Korea has made attempts to align ...

PPT of the International study on the Human Rights of Overseas Korean Adoptees conducted by the South Korean Human Righs Commision as presented on the 2023, February 22, International Conference in the National Assembly.

Abandoned Babies: The Backlash of South Korea’s Special Adoption Act by Sook K. Kim, candidate at the University of Washington School of Law.

Children In Institutions: Statistics -
The Global Picture.

The Two Faces of Intercountry Adoption:
The Significance of the Indian Adoption Scandals by David M. Smolin, Professor of Law, Cumberland Law School, Samford University

Intercountry Adoption as Child Traffifficking
by David M. Smolin, Professor of Law, Cumberland Law School, Samford University

Child laundering: How the intercountry adoption system legitimizes and incentivizes the practices of buying, trafficking, kidnaping and stealing children by David Smolin, Professor of Law, Cumberland Law School, Samford University

Wanpraktijken bij transnationale adoptie door Niels Vanspauwen, dr. Jasmina Sermijn & Prof. dr. Gerrit Loots, Vrije Universiteit Brussel

Abuses in the adoption system by Elvira Loibl; assistant professor at the Department of Criminal Law and Criminology & André Klip; professor of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure and the Transnational Aspects of Criminal Law, specialist in European criminal law and international crimes.

Vijftig jaar adoptie: een historisch-statistische beschouwing door dr René Hoksbergen, Afdeling Adoptie Universiteit Utrecht.

De relatie tussen interlandelijke adoptie en kinderhandel: De fijne scheidingslijn door Astrid Standaert, UGent.

Owning Laura Silsby’s Shame: How the Haitian Child Trafficking Scheme Embodies the Western Disregard for the Integrity of Poor Families door Shani M. King,Harvard Human Rights Journal.

The Lancet
Increased risk of suicidal behaviour in non-European international adoptees decreases with age – A Swedish national cohort study by Anders Hjerna, Jesus Palaciosb, Bo Vinnerljungc, Helio Manhicad, Frank Lindblad.

The Legal Mandate for Ending the Modern Era of Intercountry Adoption by David M. Smolin, Samford University

Babies for sale. South Koreans make them, Americans buy them by Matthew Rothschild The Progressive, January 1988

The Sins of President Park's Police State
Why Harvard Should Refuse Korean Grants

Genealogies of Korean Adoption: American Empire, Militarization and Yellow Desire. Submitted to the facutlry of gradual school of the Universitey of Minnesota, by SooJin Pate.

Eindrapport Vlaams Expertenpanel Inzake Interlandelijke Adoptie

Wanpraktijken biij Transnationale Adoptie. Deelrapport Vlaams Expertenpanel, bevraging geadopteerden en adoptieouders. VUB. Door Gerrit Loots, Niels Van Spauwen, dr. Jasmijn Serijn.