Learning by Adoption: The International Adoption Experience of Canadianand Dutch Adoptive Parents of Children from the United States

This paper explores the international adoption experience of Dutch and Canadian adopters of U.S. born children through the lens of adult learning, adult education and lifelong learning. I think also because we are more interested in background [U.S. history] and how things workhealthcare, the school system. I want to stay updated on what happens there and what’s happened in the past. I have looked over African American [literature], we did know about the slavery and the cotton fields and Uncle Tom’s story and stuff like that, but now you look through it with other eyes. You see it differently. (Dutch adoptive parent of U.S. African American child) Problem Statement and Study Purpose Renowned as a receiving country of international adoptees, the United States is, paradoxically, sought out by foreign families as a source of adoptable children. Over the last decade, approximately 1,500 children, mostly minority infants, have been placed in Canada, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and numerous other Western nations (Selman, 2012). Although substantial scholarship exists on the experience of adoption triad members when the United States is an identified receiving nation, virtually no empirical scholarship has explored the experiences of foreign adopters of U.S. children. Using a cross-national, case-based, narrative inquiry approach, this study explored the lived experience of 20 Canadian and Dutch adoptive families of U.S. children through the following research questions: (a) What psychosocial and cultural-historical factors influence Canadian and Dutch citizens to adopt U.S. children? ; (b) What is the pre-and post-adoption education and learning of Canadian/Dutch adoptive parents when adopting from the U.S.? , and (c), How does adopting children from the U.S. affect meanings of self, family, community and worldview for Canadian and Dutch adoptive parents? Drawing upon themes primarily related to the question on adoptive parent pre-and post-adoption education and learning, the purpose of this paper is to describe and argue international adoption (ICA) as a substantive site for adult learning, adult education, and lifelong learning. Intercountry Adoption in the Nexus of Adult Learning, Education and Lifelong Learning Although ICA is a prominent area of study in social work, sociology, law, psychology, family studies, history, communications, and women’s studies, among other academic disciplines, it rarely has been explored through an adult education and adult learning lens. This is surprising for several reasons. First, adoptive parents (APs) represent a unique population of adult and lifelong learners: They must complete domestic and international training and education requirements to adopt – learning that falls well beyond the sphere of formal education. For example, adoptions to and from the United States must comply with international standards set by the Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of InterCountry Adoption (The Hague Convention), which requires prospective adoptive parents (PAPs)