Adoption in the progressive era: Preserving, creating, and re-creating families

American Journal of Legal History

Volumn 43, Issue 3, 1999, Pages

  Guthrie, Chris ^a   Grossman, Joanna L ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0041633394     PISSN: 00029319     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/846158     Document Type: Review

References (12)

1. This is surprising because adoption is one of our oldest and most significant family law institutions. It dates back at least as far as the Code of Hammurabi, see Louis Quarles, The Law of Adoption - A Legal Anomaly, 32 MARQ. L. REV. 237, 240 (1949), and was practiced by numerous ancient peoples, including the Egyptians, Greeks, Japanese, and Romans, id at 237-40. In the modern era, adoption is common. In the United States, for instance, approximately three percent of families have an adopted child, see Figuratively Speaking, 83 ABA JOURNAL 16 (Jan. 1997) (citing ADOPTION FACTBOOK), and something on the order of one-third of the American population is affected by one or more adoptive relationships. See ADOPTION IN AMERICA, 1981: HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON AGING, FAMILY AND HUMAN SERVICES OF THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND HUMAN RESOURCES, 97th Cong., 1st Sess. 114, 119 (1981), cited in Jan Ellen Rein, Relatives by Blood, Adoptions, and Association: Who Should Get What and Why, 37 VAND. L. REV. 711, 712 n. 2 (1984).
2. This is surprising because adoption is one of our oldest and most significant family law institutions. It dates back at least as far as the Code of Hammurabi, see Louis Quarles, The Law of Adoption - A Legal Anomaly, 32 MARQ. L. REV. 237, 240 (1949), and was practiced by numerous ancient peoples, including the Egyptians, Greeks, Japanese, and Romans, id at 237-40. In the modern era, adoption is common. In the United States, for instance, approximately three percent of families have an adopted child, see Figuratively Speaking, 83 ABA JOURNAL 16 (Jan. 1997) (citing ADOPTION FACTBOOK), and something on the order of one-third of the American population is affected by one or more adoptive relationships. See ADOPTION IN AMERICA, 1981: HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON AGING, FAMILY AND HUMAN SERVICES OF THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND HUMAN RESOURCES, 97th Cong., 1st Sess. 114, 119 (1981), cited in Jan Ellen Rein, Relatives by Blood, Adoptions, and Association: Who Should Get What and Why, 37 VAND. L. REV. 711, 712 n. 2 (1984).
3. This is surprising because adoption is one of our oldest and most significant family law institutions. It dates back at least as far as the Code of Hammurabi, see Louis Quarles, The Law of Adoption - A Legal Anomaly, 32 MARQ. L. REV. 237, 240 (1949), and was practiced by numerous ancient peoples, including the Egyptians, Greeks, Japanese, and Romans, id at 237-40. In the modern era, adoption is common. In the United States, for instance, approximately three percent of families have an adopted child, see Figuratively Speaking, 83 ABA JOURNAL 16 (Jan. 1997) (citing ADOPTION FACTBOOK), and something on the order of one-third of the American population is affected by one or more adoptive relationships. See ADOPTION IN AMERICA, 1981: HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON AGING, FAMILY AND HUMAN SERVICES OF THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND HUMAN RESOURCES, 97th Cong., 1st Sess. 114, 119 (1981), cited in Jan Ellen Rein, Relatives by Blood, Adoptions, and Association: Who Should Get What and Why, 37 VAND. L. REV. 711, 712 n. 2 (1984).
4. This is surprising because adoption is one of our oldest and most significant family law institutions. It dates back at least as far as the Code of Hammurabi, see Louis Quarles, The Law of Adoption - A Legal Anomaly, 32 MARQ. L. REV. 237, 240 (1949), and was practiced by numerous ancient peoples, including the Egyptians, Greeks, Japanese, and Romans, id at 237-40. In the modern era, adoption is common. In the United States, for instance, approximately three percent of families have an adopted child, see Figuratively Speaking, 83 ABA JOURNAL 16 (Jan. 1997) (citing ADOPTION FACTBOOK), and something on the order of one-third of the American population is affected by one or more adoptive relationships. See ADOPTION IN AMERICA, 1981: HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON AGING, FAMILY AND HUMAN SERVICES OF THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND HUMAN RESOURCES, 97th Cong., 1st Sess. 114, 119 (1981), cited in Jan Ellen Rein, Relatives by Blood, Adoptions, and Association: Who Should Get What and Why, 37 VAND. L. REV. 711, 712 n. 2 (1984).
5. This is surprising because adoption is one of our oldest and most significant family law institutions. It dates back at least as far as the Code of Hammurabi, see Louis Quarles, The Law of Adoption - A Legal Anomaly, 32 MARQ. L. REV. 237, 240 (1949), and was practiced by numerous ancient peoples, including the Egyptians, Greeks, Japanese, and Romans, id at 237-40. In the modern era, adoption is common. In the United States, for instance, approximately three percent of families have an adopted child, see Figuratively Speaking, 83 ABA JOURNAL 16 (Jan. 1997) (citing ADOPTION FACTBOOK), and something on the order of one-third of the American population is affected by one or more adoptive relationships. See ADOPTION IN AMERICA, 1981: HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON AGING, FAMILY AND HUMAN SERVICES OF THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON LABOR AND HUMAN RESOURCES, 97th Cong., 1st Sess. 114, 119 (1981), cited in Jan Ellen Rein, Relatives by Blood, Adoptions, and Association: Who Should Get What and Why, 37 VAND. L. REV. 711, 712 n. 2 (1984).
6. See, e.g., C.M.A. McCauliff, The First English Adoption Law and its American Precursors, 15 SETON HALL L. REV. 656 (1986) (focusing on the history of the early American statutes of the 1850s and the first English adoption statute enacted in 1826); Yasuhide Kawashima, Adoption in Early America, 20 J. FAMILY L. 677 (1981-82) (examining adoption practices in America prior to the passage of adoption statutes in the mid-nineteenth century); Jamil S. Zainaldin, The Emergence of a Modern American Family Law: Child Custody, Adoption, and the Courts, 1796-1851, 73 N.W. L. REV. 1038 (1979) (analyzing the emergence of American adoption statutes in light of changes in conceptions of the family and child custody law); Stephen B. Presser, The Historical Background of the American Law of Adoption, 11 J. FAMILY L. 443 (1971) (examining the history of adoption to the mid-nineteenth century, including the treatment of adoption-related issues by state appellate courts in the 1870s and 1880s); Quarles, supra note 1 (providing a brief history of adoption law with particular attention to the 1858 statute enacted in Wisconsin); Catherine N. McFarlane, The Mississippi Law on Adoptions, 10 Miss. L.J. 239 (1938) (describing the origin of Mississippi's adoption statute, the first such statute enacted in America).
7. See, e.g., C.M.A. McCauliff, The First English Adoption Law and its American Precursors, 15 SETON HALL L. REV. 656 (1986) (focusing on the history of the early American statutes of the 1850s and the first English adoption statute enacted in 1826); Yasuhide Kawashima, Adoption in Early America, 20 J. FAMILY L. 677 (1981-82) (examining adoption practices in America prior to the passage of adoption statutes in the mid-nineteenth century); Jamil S. Zainaldin, The Emergence of a Modern American Family Law: Child Custody, Adoption, and the Courts, 1796-1851, 73 N.W. L. REV. 1038 (1979) (analyzing the emergence of American adoption statutes in light of changes in conceptions of the family and child custody law); Stephen B. Presser, The Historical Background of the American Law of Adoption, 11 J. FAMILY L. 443 (1971) (examining the history of adoption to the mid-nineteenth century, including the treatment of adoption-related issues by state appellate courts in the 1870s and 1880s); Quarles, supra note 1 (providing a brief history of adoption law with particular attention to the 1858 statute enacted in Wisconsin); Catherine N. McFarlane, The Mississippi Law on Adoptions, 10 Miss. L.J. 239 (1938) (describing the origin of Mississippi's adoption statute, the first such statute enacted in America).
8. See, e.g., C.M.A. McCauliff, The First English Adoption Law and its American Precursors, 15 SETON HALL L. REV. 656 (1986) (focusing on the history of the early American statutes of the 1850s and the first English adoption statute enacted in 1826); Yasuhide Kawashima, Adoption in Early America, 20 J. FAMILY L. 677 (1981-82) (examining adoption practices in America prior to the passage of adoption statutes in the mid-nineteenth century); Jamil S. Zainaldin, The Emergence of a Modern American Family Law: Child Custody, Adoption, and the Courts, 1796-1851, 73 N.W. L. REV. 1038 (1979) (analyzing the emergence of American adoption statutes in light of changes in conceptions of the family and child custody law); Stephen B. Presser, The Historical Background of the American Law of Adoption, 11 J. FAMILY L. 443 (1971) (examining the history of adoption to the mid-nineteenth century, including the treatment of adoption-related issues by state appellate courts in the 1870s and 1880s); Quarles, supra note 1 (providing a brief history of adoption law with particular attention to the 1858 statute enacted in Wisconsin); Catherine N. McFarlane, The Mississippi Law on Adoptions, 10 Miss. L.J. 239 (1938) (describing the origin of Mississippi's adoption statute, the first such statute enacted in America).
9. See, e.g., C.M.A. McCauliff, The First English Adoption Law and its American Precursors, 15 SETON HALL L. REV. 656 (1986) (focusing on the history of the early American statutes of the 1850s and the first English adoption statute enacted in 1826); Yasuhide Kawashima, Adoption in Early America, 20 J. FAMILY L. 677 (1981-82) (examining adoption practices in America prior to the passage of adoption statutes in the mid-nineteenth century); Jamil S. Zainaldin, The Emergence of a Modern American Family Law: Child Custody, Adoption, and the Courts, 1796-1851, 73 N.W. L. REV. 1038 (1979) (analyzing the emergence of American adoption statutes in light of changes in conceptions of the family and child custody law); Stephen B. Presser, The Historical Background of the American Law of Adoption, 11 J. FAMILY L. 443 (1971) (examining the history of adoption to the mid-nineteenth century, including the treatment of adoption-related issues by state appellate courts in the 1870s and 1880s); Quarles, supra note 1 (providing a brief history of adoption law with particular attention to the 1858 statute enacted in Wisconsin); Catherine N. McFarlane, The Mississippi Law on Adoptions, 10 Miss. L.J. 239 (1938) (describing the origin of Mississippi's adoption statute, the first such statute enacted in America).
10. See, e.g., C.M.A. McCauliff, The First English Adoption Law and its American Precursors, 15 SETON HALL L. REV. 656 (1986) (focusing on the history of the early American statutes of the 1850s and the first English adoption statute enacted in 1826); Yasuhide Kawashima, Adoption in Early America, 20 J. FAMILY L. 677 (1981-82) (examining adoption practices in America prior to the passage of adoption statutes in the mid-nineteenth century); Jamil S. Zainaldin, The Emergence of a Modern American Family Law: Child Custody, Adoption, and the Courts, 1796-1851, 73 N.W. L. REV. 1038 (1979) (analyzing the emergence of American adoption statutes in light of changes in conceptions of the family and child custody law); Stephen B. Presser, The Historical Background of the American Law of Adoption, 11 J. FAMILY L. 443 (1971) (examining the history of adoption to the mid-nineteenth century, including the treatment of adoption-related issues by state appellate courts in the 1870s and 1880s); Quarles, supra note 1 (providing a brief history of adoption law with particular attention to the 1858 statute enacted in Wisconsin); Catherine N. McFarlane, The Mississippi Law on Adoptions, 10 Miss. L.J. 239 (1938) (describing the origin of Mississippi's adoption statute, the first such statute enacted in America).
11. See, e.g., C.M.A. McCauliff, The First English Adoption Law and its American Precursors, 15 SETON HALL L. REV. 656 (1986) (focusing on the history of the early American statutes of the 1850s and the first English adoption statute enacted in 1826); Yasuhide Kawashima, Adoption in Early America, 20 J. FAMILY L. 677 (1981-82) (examining adoption practices in America prior to the passage of adoption statutes in the mid-nineteenth century); Jamil S. Zainaldin, The Emergence of a Modern American Family Law: Child Custody, Adoption, and the Courts, 1796-1851, 73 N.W. L. REV. 1038 (1979) (analyzing the emergence of American adoption statutes in light of changes in conceptions of the family and child custody law); Stephen B. Presser, The Historical Background of the American Law of Adoption, 11 J. FAMILY L. 443 (1971) (examining the history of adoption to the mid-nineteenth century, including the treatment of adoption-related issues by state appellate courts in the 1870s and 1880s); Quarles, supra note 1 (providing a brief history of adoption law with particular attention to the 1858 statute enacted in Wisconsin); Catherine N. McFarlane, The Mississippi Law on Adoptions, 10 Miss. L.J. 239 (1938) (describing the origin of Mississippi's adoption statute, the first such statute enacted in America).
12. Zainaldin, supra note 2, at 1085.