Doctoral Dissertation Research: Intercountry Adoption in the Philippines and the United States: Global Networks and Local Processes

在过去的15年里，跨国收养到美国的儿童增加了200%以上。2006年，美国占全球跨国收养人数的50%以上。虽然以政策为导向的方法，侧重于对儿童和家庭的身体、心理和情感影响的问题在文献中占据主导地位，但作为全球化和不平衡发展的结果的跨界家庭形成的研究尚未完全理论化。这一博士论文研究项目使用定性的社会科学方法来研究维持菲律宾和美国之间跨国收养实践的全球进程和当地条件。博士生将使用世界系统、全球化、移民和网络理论作为分析的框架。将分析发送和接收地区的条件和前景，以更好地了解结构性、时间性和特定地点的因素，这些因素导致了二战后儿童从菲律宾到美国的系统和持续的移民。通过对美国大使馆官员、孤儿院院长和工作人员、寄养家庭、非政府组织工作人员、当地政府机构代表和收养律师的一系列半结构化和深入访谈，学生将从主要来源国的角度审视解释跨县收养的重要因素。这项研究还将调查最近收养儿童的种族、母语、年龄、经济和社会条件以及所在地区的模式，以更好地了解菲律宾国际收养儿童的当地情况。这些数据与采访、调查和公布的美国相关利益相关者(养父母、收养机构工作人员和收养律师)的数据相结合，将有助于进一步了解与这种当代形式的跨境家庭形成相关的结构、历史、政治、生态、人口和经济条件。这项研究的结果将有助于阐明在这一脆弱的移民流动的发送和接收地区发挥作用的复杂权力矛盾。这项研究将从各种理论优势点评估一个重要主题，以增加对跨国收养过程如何在多个地理尺度(全球、当地和中介)运作的理解。此外，这项研究将为直接影响人类生活和生计的问题提供宝贵的见解。调查结果将为公共机构、非营利组织、个人以及菲律宾和美国两国政府提供信息，因为随着公众意识的提高和《海牙跨国收养公约》的出现，国际政策正在经历重大变化。虽然当代美国流行的关于跨国收养的讨论主要集中在收养父母和家庭的需求上，但这项研究将考察移民潮发送和接收两端的社会关切。此前人类学、医学和社会工作领域的研究都把中国、韩国、罗马尼亚和俄罗斯作为来源，因为这些国家在特定年份提供了大量儿童供美国收养。然而，菲律宾没有在同样的背景下进行研究，想必是因为它的年度收养人数少于上述地区。然而，在过去的15年里，菲律宾是美国第五大国际收养儿童的提供者。这项研究将为有关移民、发展和全球化的文献提供信息，同时为一个重要的新兴主题的公共政策提供信息。此外，该博士论文研究改进奖将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立研究生涯。

During the past fifteen years, the intercountry adoption of children to the United States has increased by more than 200 percent. The U.S. accounted for more than 50 percent of all intercountry adoptions worldwide in 2006. Although policy-oriented approaches, focusing on issues of physical, mental, and emotional effects upon children and families dominate the literature, the study of cross-border family formation as an outcome of globalization and uneven development has not yet been fully theorized. This doctoral dissertation research project uses qualitative social science methods to study both global processes and local conditions sustaining the practice of intercountry adoption between the Philippines and the United States. The doctoral candidate will employ world systems, globalization, migration, and network theories as frameworks for analysis. Conditions and perspectives in both the sending and receiving regions will be analyzed to better understand the structural, temporal, and place-specific factors that have brought about a systematic and persistent migration of children from the Philippines to the United States in the post-World War II era. Through a series of semi-structured and in-depth interviews with U.S. embassy officials, orphanage directors and staff, foster families, staff at non-governmental organizations, representatives of local government agencies, and adoption attorneys, the student will examine the significant factors that explain intercounty adoptions from the perspective of a major source country. The study also will examine patterns of ethnicity, native language, age, economic and social conditions, and home region of recently adopted children to better understand the local conditions surrounding internationally adopted children in the Philippines. These data, in combination with interview, survey, and published data on the corresponding set of stakeholders (adoptive parents, adoption agency staff, and adoption attorneys) in the United States, will facilitate further understanding of the structural, historical, political, ecological, demographic, and economic conditions associated with this contemporary form of cross-border family formation. The results of this study will help illuminate the complex contradictions of power at play in both the sending and receiving regions of this tenuous migration stream.This study will evaluate an important topic from a variety of theoretical vantage points to increase understanding about how the process of intercountry adoption operates at multiple geographical scales (global, local, and intermediary). In addition, the study will provide valuable insight on a matter that directly influences human lives and livelihoods. Findings will inform public agencies, non-profits, individuals, and the governments of both the Philippines and the United States at a crucial time when international policy is undergoing significant changes as a result of greater public awareness and the emergence of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. While the contemporary popular discourse on intercountry adoption in the U.S. has focused largely upon the needs of adopting parents and families, this study will examine societal concerns at both the sending and receiving end of the migration stream. Previous studies in anthropology, medicine, and social work have targeted China, Korea, Romania, and Russia as sources because these countries have provided large numbers of children for adoption in the United States in particular years. The Philippines, however, has not been studied in the same context, presumably because it represents fewer annual adoptions than the aforementioned places. Over the course of the past fifteen years, however, the Philippines stands as the fifth largest provider of internationally adopted children in the United States. This study will inform the literature on migration, development, and globalization while simultaneously informing public policy on an important emerging topic. In addition, this Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.