Description
Book SynopsisLori Chamber''s fascinating study explores the legal history of adoption in Ontario since the passage of the first statute in 1921. This volume explores a wide range of themes and issues in the history of adoption including: the reasons for the creation of statutory adoption, the increasing voice of unmarried fathers in newborn adoption, the reasons for movement away from secrecy in adoption, the evolution of step-parent adoption, the adoption of Indigenous children, and the growth of international adoption.
Unlike other works on adoption, this book focuses explicitly on statutes, statutory debates, and the interpretation of statutes in court. In doing so, she concludes that adoption is an inadequate response to child welfare and on its own cannot solve problems regarding child neglect and abuse. Rather, Chambers argues that in order to reform the area of adoption we must first acknowledge that it is built upon social inequalities within and between nations.
Trade Review‘This is a timely and through analysis that will be of interest to scholars of legal and family history.’ -- Tarah Brookfield * The Journal of the History of Childhood and Youth vol 11:01:2018 *
"Chambers’s scholarship provides needed insights into the origins of adoption law, the dubious tactics of social workers…, the responsibilities of putative fathers, the sordid tale of child apprehension, the debate between closed and open adoptions, and the fight to be legally recognized as parents by step-parents, same-sex parents, and biological fathers." -- Debra Nash-Chambers, Wilfred Laurier University * University of Toronto Quarterly, vol 87 3, Summer 2018 *
Table of ContentsIntroduction Chapter One: "Such a Program of Legislation": Illegitimacy and Law Reform Chapter Two: "Doubtful of her Veracity": Procedures and Judgment under the Children of Unmarried Parents Act Chapter Three: "I did not bring this child into the world BY MYSELF": Stories of Pregnancy Chapter Four: "Best for Our Babies": The Adoption Mandate Chapter Five: "Haunted by Bills": Lone Motherhood and Poverty Chapter Six: "Known as MRS. S": Cohabitation and the Children of Unmarried Parents Act Conclusions Bibliography
