The Politics of Adoption argues that adoption is not a mere family question. It conveys a model of citizenship. Policies, jurisprudence, and social work define an ideal image of parenthood in the hope to better control the making of future citizens. In a context of laws and debates on bioethics, this model is more and more infused with representations of the fertile body. Adoptive parents are thus expected to behave as if they were biological parents. The Politics of Adoption maintains that gay marriage and adoption were controversial in Francebecausethey questioned the epistemological system ... More

The Politics of Adoption argues that adoption is not a mere family question. It conveys a model of citizenship. Policies, jurisprudence, and social work define an ideal image of parenthood in the hope to better control the making of future citizens. In a context of laws and debates on bioethics, this model is more and more infused with representations of the fertile body. Adoptive parents are thus expected to behave as if they were biological parents. The Politics of Adoption maintains that gay marriage and adoption were controversial in Francebecausethey questioned the epistemological system that articulates citizenship and procreation, a system widely shared across the political spectrum. The Politics of Adoption also shows that adoption works as a metaphor for national belonging and frames debates and policy-making on immigration. Last, The Politics of Adoption evidences a new type of governance, based on rhetoric of risk, and highly monitored models of social behaviors, to which citizens are expected to voluntarily identify. The Politics of Adoptionincludes a study of parliamentary debates since 1945, as well as French and European case law. It follows the emergence of the concept of “parenting” in the mass media. It also throws light on social work by developing a discursive analysis of the various types of justification deployed by agents of the Child Social Welfare Agency when accrediting a parent for adoption.