Active Waiting and Hope in Transnational Adoptions: Nepali Birth Families and their Children

ABSTRACT

Most academic studies and public debates about transnational adoption prioritise the experiences of adoptive parents and the voices of professionals, but the perspectives and voices of birth families are rarely heard. I address this shortcoming through a critical analysis of the transnational adoption system by exploring the narratives and experiences of Nepali birth families. Drawing on a 14-month ethnographic study, I explore how birth families’ search for their children illuminates the concept of ‘agency-in-waiting’ and opens up new possibilities for thinking critically about the politics of adoption and the experience of ‘waiting’. The invisibility of birth families in scholarship about adoption belies the fact that many birth families actively search for the children they lost to adoption. This research makes visible the power inequalities that shape family policy and opens new avenues for deconstructing hegemonic narratives that exist in transnational adoption by focusing on birth families’ narratives.

Acknowledgements

I would like to express my deep gratitude to all the families who have opened their hearts to me and shared their painful experiences. Susan Frekko provided feedback on this manuscript and edited the English.

Disclosure Statement

The author declares no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Government of Spain under Grant (FPU14/06138) and Grant (PID2020-112692RB-C21/AEI/10.13039/501100011033) and the Catalan Institute of Advanced Research under ICREA Acadèmia Reproduction Project, awarded to Prof. Diana Marre (UAB).

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