Karen Smith Rotabi is Associate Professor of Social Work at United Arab Emirates University. She has lived and worked in a number of countries. She frequently writes about her experiences in Central America. Her experience includes 2 years as a Peace Corps Volunteeer in Belize and then later training Peace Corps Volunteers in both Belize Guatemala. In 2009, Rotabi participated in the Guatemala Human Rights Commission delegation on Violence Against Women. Openly criticizing the intercountry adoption system in Guatemala, prior to major reforms, became a personal commitment after hearing from many sources about the grave human rights abuses of birth mothers, including one young woman who managed to cease the illegal adoption of her daughter after her highly publicized case of child kidnapping and DNA-fraud. It should be noted that Rotabi has herself worked with families seeking to adopt and her interest is in developing ethical systems which prevent child sales and abduction. Her leadership in this area of practice includes involvement of USA-implementation of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. Committed to global social work and human rights, these themes are found throughout her publications. The 2012 book entitled Intercountry Adoption: Policy, Practices, and Outcomes was co-edited by Rotabi with Judith L. Gibbons. You can follow Rotabi's work here.
As a former civilian social worker for the Air Force, I cannot help but weigh in on the national debate about how to reform the Department of Defense’s sexual assault policies.
Today, in post-conflict Guatemala, there is a war against women. At least two women die daily as a result of femicide, and the crime often includes torture and rape.
Three-year-old Russian adoptee Maxim Kuzmin’s death has been ruled accidental. Still, there may be more bad news to come on the Russian adoption front.
Anyone who follows inter-country adoption and its dramatic decline since 2004 can see that Russia’s ban on inter-country adoptions to the United States is the final slamming of a door that has been slowly closing for a number of years.
Press reports of the attack on Malala Yousafazi are focused on religious extremism and the Taliban’s crushing hold on some regions in Pakistan. I want to focus not only on Malala but also on how educating girls, one by one, can change the world.
Being one of many stories of force, fraud, and coercion, Loyda’s case is particularly compelling because all of the steps in the legal system have been followed. Still, there has been no justice.
Stories abound of children stolen from their families in countries of conflict and chaos. Beware of countries with a history of atrocities and don’t become complicit: The “blinders” are quite profound once you enter the adoption process and become committed to a child.
Court Orders U.S. Mother Must Provide Child Support for Abandoned Russian Adoptee. Start of a Trend?
This past week Torry Hansen was ordered, by a Tennessee judge to pay $150,000 child support for her adopted son, whom she returned to Russia by plane, unaccompanied.
Because much of my research has focused on reforming intercountry adoption and most especially Guatemala, I opened Siegal’s “Finding Fernanda” cautiously. By the end of this captivating read, it is impossible to see Alvarado as anything but a strong and resilient woman who is determined to fight circumstances of poverty and oppression.
There are so many courageous women around the world engaged in peace work at all levels, including protest. But they are often met with violence, rape, or torture.
