Global Families, Inequality and Transnational Adoption: The De-Kinning of First Mothers

288 Pages·2016·1.78 MB·English

by  Riitta Högbacka (auth.)

Global Families, Inequality and Transnational Adoption
THE DE-KINNING OF
FIRST MOTHERS
RIITTA HÖGBACKA
Global Families, Inequality
and Transnational Adoption
Riitta Högbacka
Global Families,
Inequality and
Transnational
Adoption
The De-Kinning of First Mothers
Riitta Högbacka
University of Helsinki
Finland
ISBN 978-1-137-52474-4 ISBN 978-1-137-52476-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-52476-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016956480
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For Cleopatra
Acknowledgements
This book has been a long time coming. I first thought it would be a
small-scale study of adoptive families like mine. Little did I know then
that it was to become much wider in scope, eventually placing women
whose children are adopted transnationally centre stage.
I am indebted to so many people without whom the book would not
be in its current form. The origins of the research on which it is based lie
in a project funded by the Academy of Finland and led by Riitta Jallinoja
(2005–2007), for which I was employed as a postdoctoral scholar. The
project dealt with family transitions. Thank you, Riitta Jallinoja, the
Academy of Finland and the other researchers in and around the proj-
ect: Anna-Maija Castrén, Kaisa Kuurne (previously Ketokivi), Jaana
Maksimainen, Heini Martiskainen de Koenigswarter, Anna Kokko, Ella
Sihvonen and Juhani Suonpää. Our group conversations and seminars
helped me to clarify my aims and gave me food for thought.
The academic year 2010–2011 that I spent as a scholar-in-residence
at the Beatrice Bain Research Group of the University of California at
Berkeley was instrumental in the development of the themes covered in
the book. I am grateful to this programme and to its directors Charis
Thompson and Trinh Minh-ha. Special thanks are due to Gillian Edgelow
for her continuous practical and emotional support in getting my daugh-
ter and me settled. It was a pleasure to get to know the other researchers
involved in the programme. This international group of scholars was a
vii
viii Acknowledgements
source of inspiration and made me see my research from new angles.
I would like to thank Laura Fantone, Meeta Rani Jha, Libby Lewis,
Minh-Ha Pham, Nicole Roberts, Judy Rohrer, Wendy Sarvasy and Song
Sufeng, as well as the affiliated scholars who were there at the same time:
Ayesha Airifai, Daniela Danna, Rosa Medina Domenech, Samar Habib,
Kate MacNeill, Jennifer Ring, Veronica Sanz, Silke Schicktanz and Diane
Tober.
At a later stage, Kristen Cheney came up with the idea of organis-
ing an International Forum on Intercountry Adoption and Global
Surrogacy at the International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague,
the Netherlands, in 2014. I learned a lot at this stimulating congress,
acting as a chair in some of the sessions. My thanks go to Kristen and
the other chairs Marcy Darnovsky, Sarah Richards, Karen Rotabi and
Peter Selman.
I also wish to thank all my colleagues and the Department of Social
Research at the University of Helsinki, where I was employed as a lecturer
in Sociology for several years. I am grateful to all the bright students who
joined my qualitative-methods courses on Reflexive Interviewing over
the years, and whose comments and questions led to the revising of some
of the examples I gave from my research interviews. My thanks also go to
Sanna Aaltonen, with whom we edited a book on the role of reflexivity
in empirical research. This collaboration led to a better understanding of
my role as part of the field I was studying.
I thank Peter Selman for providing the global figures on adoptions. In
addition, several South African scholars gave their assistance in gaining
access to data on South African adoptions. Thank you, Zitha Mokomane
and Priscilla Gerrand, as well as Isaac Chavalala and Dikeledi Louw and
their colleagues at the Directorate of Adoptions and International Social
Services at the South African Department of Social Development. I
would also like to thank Jeremy Seekings for suggesting relevant litera-
ture on South African families that helped me to arrive at a more nuanced
understanding of the context in which first mothers operate.
I have benefited from conversations with many outstanding scholars
over the years. Riitta Jallinoja read through an early draft of this book,
and her comments led to the sharpening of the whole approach. Anna-
Maija Castrén read an earlier and a later version, and I greatly benefited
Acknowledgements ix
from her insightful comments. David Smolin undertook the task of
reviewing the manuscript on a very tight time schedule, for which I am
most grateful. My warmest thanks go to Barbara Yngvesson, who has
supported the project over the years. Barbara read several versions of the
manuscript. Her wise and kind comments truly improved the book and
gave me a real energy boost to pick it up one more time and try to make
the arguments clearer.
I am grateful to all the funders whose financial support made this book
project possible. I have received funding from the Kone Foundation, the
Jenny and Antti Wihuri Foundation, the Finnish Cultural Foundation
and the Emil Aaltonen Foundation.
I thank Palgrave Macmillan for accepting the manuscript and the edi-
tors Harriet Barker and Sharla Plant, who firmly and efficiently pushed the
project forward. I am grateful to Joan Nordlund for superb language revi-
sion as well as other suggestions that greatly improved the text. I would also
like to thank the series editors of the Palgrave Macmillan Studies in Family
and Intimate Life for their comments on an earlier version of the book.
Warm thanks go to my parents, Aili and Veini, as well as to my brother
Paul and his family for being there. Many friends both in Finland and
abroad have helped me to maintain life outside the book project. Special
thanks go to my oldest friends Maarit and Sirpa. My daughter Cleopatra
has had the biggest effect on my life. She has more or less grown up
with this ongoing book project. Her sense of humour and high spirits
are a constant source of joy. As she says, now that the book is finally
finished, I have no excuses for not cooking more tasty meals. I have not
only researched these issues but also lived them. I very much appreciate
the connections we have created with Cleopatra’s first mother Thapelo
and her extended family.
I am grateful to all the mothers (and some fathers) who took part in
the research, gave their time and shared with me such sensitive and pri-
vate issues. It must have been even more difficult for the South African
first mothers. I wish to thank the Finnish and the South African adoption
social workers and adoption agencies who assisted me. I am particularly
indebted to Pam Wilson and Katinka Pieterse for their help.
I dedicate this book to first mothers around the world who wonder
about the whereabouts of their children.
Contents
1 Introduction: The Global in the Family 1
2 Adoption and Family in the Global North and South 33
3 The Making of the Adoptive Family: Choosing Family 61
4 The Un-Making of the Family of Origin:
Adoption Social Workers as Intermediaries 93
5 First Mothers’ Stunted Choices 119
6 Inequality Among First Mothers: The Power of Resources 155
7 Re-Making Family: The Struggle Over Belonging 181
8 C ontact Over Time 215
9 Conclusion: Re-Kinning First Mothers 231
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xii Contents
Appendix: Characteristics of the Interviewed Adopters
and First Mothers 245
References 249
Index 271