Social Work: 'Adoption activities on the internet: a call for regulation'.

Roby, Jini L. ; White, Holly

The internet has changed the way goods and services are now provided. Internet-based adoption services are currently flourishing, with varying degrees of regulation, depending on whether it is domestic infant adoption, public foster care adoption or international adoption. This regulation is especially lacking in domestic infant adoptions, with websites connecting prospective birth and adoptive parents, sometimes through an adoption brokerage service. International adoptions can also be beleaguered by unethical practices as the internet has expanded to become available in both developed and developing countries. These activities, although offering the benefits of privacy and convenience, also pose serious problems of potential fraud, exploitation, and, most important, lack of professional consideration of the child's best interest. This article explores the function of adoption-related websites, the brokering process (including chatrooms) and the potential pitfalls of internet-based adoption. The authors evaluate the landscape of current internet-based adoption activities, examine their benefits and risks and call for social work self-regulation and leadership.

55:3, July 2010, pp 203-12, USA