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

在过去的15年里，跨国收养儿童到美国的人数增加了200%以上。2006年，美国占全球跨国收养的50%以上。虽然以政策为导向的方法，关注对儿童和家庭的身体、心理和情感影响的问题，在文献中占主导地位，但作为全球化和不平衡发展的结果的跨境家庭形成的研究尚未得到充分的理论化。本博士论文研究项目采用定性社会科学方法研究菲律宾和美国跨国收养实践的全球过程和当地条件。博士候选人将运用世界体系、全球化、移民和网络理论作为分析框架。本文将分析发送和接收地区的条件和观点，以更好地理解二战后菲律宾儿童系统性和持续性移民到美国的结构、时间和特定地点因素。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度访谈，学生将从一个主要来源国的角度研究解释跨县收养的重要因素。该研究还将调查最近被收养儿童的种族、母语、年龄、经济和社会条件以及家乡地区的模式，以更好地了解菲律宾国际收养儿童的当地情况。这些数据，结合对美国相应利益相关者（养父母、收养机构工作人员和收养律师）的访谈、调查和公布的数据，将有助于进一步了解与这种当代跨境家庭形成形式相关的结构、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的发送和接收地区发挥作用的复杂的权力矛盾。本研究将从多种理论优势角度评估一个重要主题，以加深对跨国收养过程如何在多个地理尺度（全球、地方和中介）上运作的理解。此外，这项研究将对直接影响人类生活和生计的问题提供有价值的见解。由于公众意识的提高和《海牙跨国收养公约》的出现，国际政策正在发生重大变化，在这一关键时刻，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政府提供信息。虽然美国当代关于跨国收养的流行论述主要集中在收养父母和家庭的需求上，但本研究将研究移民流的发送端和接收端的社会问题。此前在人类学、医学和社会工作方面的研究都以中国、韩国、罗马尼亚和俄罗斯为研究对象，因为这些国家在特定年份为美国提供了大量的儿童供收养。然而，菲律宾没有在同样的背景下进行研究，大概是因为它比上述地方每年的收养人数少。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国。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，这个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事业。

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.