Abstract
This article examines the beginning of transnational adoption in Denmark and Norway to illuminate the role of private actors and associations in Scandinavian welfare systems. Utilizing case studies of two prominent private adoption actors, Tytte Botfeldt and Torbjørn Jelstad, the article analyzes how these Nordic welfare states responded to the emergence of transnational adoption in comparison with both each other, neighboring Sweden, and the United States. This study shows that private actors and associations strongly influenced the nascent international adoption systems in these countries, by effectively promoting transnational adoption as a progressive and humanitarian form of global parenthood; while simultaneously emphasizing the responsibility of the welfare state to accommodate and alleviate childless couples’ human rights and need for children. A need that was strong enough that couples were willing to transcend legal, national, and racial borders. Ultimately, Danish and Norwegian authorities not only had to show leniency towards flagrant violations of adoption and child placement rules, but also change these so that families could fulfill their great need for children by legally adopting them from abroad.
Highlights
Much of the historical research on transnational adoption is heavily focused on America, frequently situating transnational adoption into the broader context of domestic and transracial adoptions inNorth America or into the history of U.S immigration and foreign policy
They have a history of close cooperation with each other on child welfare policies and the idea of a common “Nordic” identity that informed the political responses to social issues and the development of welfare institutions in the 20th century (Petersen in Kettunen et al 2011, p. 41; Christiansen 2006, p. 69)
The transition from domestic to transnational adoptions was completed during the 1970s where the yearly rate of adoption rose rapidly again in Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, but where the majority of children came from abroad, being mostly of East Asian origin (Andresen et al 2011, p. 245)
Summary
Much of the historical research on transnational adoption is heavily focused on America, frequently situating transnational adoption into the broader context of domestic and transracial adoptions inNorth America or into the history of U.S immigration and foreign policy. For example, calls adoption “a quintessentially American institution”, that fits neatly into a history of recklessly optimistic faith in self-construction and social engineering, as well the national self-image of the USA as a ‘country of immigrants’. These sentiments created a climate that welcomed an individualistic form of family formation that was unconstrained by traditional notions of geography, kinship, and race Andresen et al (2011) further notes that the Scandinavian nations have shown an especially high degree of commonality and cooperation on domestic adoption They have a history of close cooperation with each other on child welfare policies and the idea of a common “Nordic” identity that informed the political responses to social issues and the development of welfare institutions in the 20th century (Petersen in Kettunen et al 2011, p. 41; Christiansen 2006, p. 69). Andresen et al (2011) further notes that the Scandinavian nations have shown an especially high degree of commonality and cooperation on domestic adoption
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