Prof. Goodwin Featured Contributor to NYTimes.com’s Motherlode blog

In the New York Times' Motherlode's guest blog, Professor Michele Bratcher Goodwin offered insight into the dynamics of law and economics that play out in international adoptions, at times to the detriment of the children and parents involved. Goodwin’s commentary sheds light on contemporary fault lines in international adoptions that recently became publically evident in the case of Justin Hansen, the little boy who was adopted by an American woman and then returned to a Russian orphanage last week. Goodwin relays the stories of American adoptive parents and adoptees who have been victimized by murky practices that have rapidly developed in places like Russia, Guatemala, and India that put children and would-be parents at risk of exploitation. Goodwin also notes the overlapping zones of questionable adoption practices and human trafficking issues, including trafficking children for sex and organs.