Force, fraud, and coercion : Bridging from knowledge of intercountry adoption to global surrogacy

This report discusses concerns raised by participants of Thematic Area 4 (Force, Fraud and Coercion) of the International Forum on Intercountry Adoption and Global Surrogacy held in August 2014. There has been a significant body of research on intercountry adoption practices over the past 30 years; force, fraud, and coercion have been identified in a small but important component of the literature. However, this knowledge in intercountry adoption has not yet truly bridged into research in global surrogacy with some recent exceptions. Learning from the past of ICA and connecting the evidence is particularly relevant due to the fact that the need for international law focused on global surrogacy and issues of parentage has been considered. The lessons learned from a history of corruption and human rights abuses are important to integrate when formulating future international law and regulations to protect vulnerable peoples in global surrogacy practices. Concepts of exploitation and human trafficking are explored with considerations of how to prevent, protect, and prosecute as emergent focal points of discourse. Effective prosecution of crimes, implications for a convention on global surrogacy, exploitation in global surrogacy arrangements, emotional safeguards for surrogate mothers, limited knowledge about the sense of origin, and experiences of children born through surrogacy are all areas in need of continued research

Global Commercial Surrogacy and International Adoption: Parallels and Differences

Over the decades, there have been numerous trends in the formation of family for those experiencing infertility. Adoption – initially domestic but now mostly international – has long been a prevailing method, with a dual outcome of also finding homes for parentless children. Those would-be parents with a stronger desire for genetic relatedness have turned to assisted reproductive technologies for the creation of their families. In the 21st century, capitalising on globalisation and advances in medical sciences and communication, global commercial surrogacy (GCS) is emerging as a dominant method of family formation. In seeking to publish this article in Adoption & Fostering, our primary objective was to provide its readership with an introductory look at GCS, thereby expanding an awareness of surrogacy to an audience whose work has traditionally been concerned with the care and protection of children through foster care and adoption. A secondary aim was to see where the long-standing field of adoption could potentially inform the burgeoning field of global commercial surrogacy. To achieve these objectives, we use international adoption and the adoption triangle as a framework, as we look at the similarities and differences between: (1) the adoptive and commissioning parents; (2) the birth mother and the surrogate; and (3) the adopted children and the children born of global surrogacy

An Interdisciplinary Approach to Developing Innovative Teaching Strategies For Responding to Global Disaster Disasters

This paper summarizes the development of an interdisciplinary Faculty Learning Community (FLC) bringing together the Virginia Commonwealth University, School of Social Work and Government and Public Affairs, Department of Homeland Security to develop an in depth, comprehensive pedagogical approach to the many issues associated with disaster risk reduction. As the title suggests, this is an interdisciplinary team that explores learning and demonstrates learning models. This particular FLC focuses on understanding the antecedent conditions and root causes of disaster events. We explore best practices to prevent, mitigate, and prepare for such events in the undergraduate and graduate curriculum with an emphasis on homeland security and social work. The FLC is an example of a non-traditional educational model providing content on disaster risk, response, and global impact. This particular FLC was committed to bringing together appropriate expertise from the academic setting as well as inviting community members and organizations into the classroom to share the “lived experience” and intuitive knowledge about disaster

Beyond Study Abroad: A Human Rights Delegation to Teach Policy Advocacy

Advancement of human rights is a core competency in the social work curriculum. Presented is a model to teach policy practice from a human rights perspective based on a violence-against-women delegation visit to Guatemala. Postdelegation policy advocacy responses included White House and State Department briefings on the problems, including femicide. Case examples of witnessed testimony about human rights violations, including rape, femicide, and human trafficking, reflect the unique and dynamic nature of social work practice in a global context. We link Council on Social Work Education core competencies in policy practice and human rights to experiential learning strategies used by the delegation and derive lessons learned to advance human rights education for the profession. © 2013 Council on Social Work Education