Familial Fitness : Disability, Adoption, and Family in Modern America

The first social history of disability and difference in American adoption, from the Progressive Era to the end of the twentieth century. Disability and child welfare, together and apart, are major concerns in American society. Today, about 125,000 children in foster care are eligible and waiting for adoption, and while many children wait more than two years to be adopted, children with disabilities wait even longer. In Familial Fitness , Sandra M. Sufian uncovers how disability operates as a fundamental category in the making of the American family, tracing major shifts in policy, practice, and attitudes about the adoptability of disabled children over the course of the twentieth century. Chronicling the long, complex history of disability, Familial Fitness explores how notions and practices of adoption have—and haven’t—accommodated disability, and how the language of risk enters into that complicated relationship. We see how the field of adoption moved from widely excluding children with disabilities in the early twentieth century to partially including them at its close. As Sufian traces this historical process, she examines the forces that shaped, and continue to shape, access to the social institution of family and invites readers to rethink the meaning of family itself. "Disability and child welfare, together and apart, are major concerns in American society. Today, about 125,000 children in foster care are eligible and waiting for adoption, and many children wait more than two years to be adopted; children with disabilities wait even longer. Familial Fitness illustrates the historical dynamics of disability, adoption, and family. It explores disability and difference in the twentieth-century American family, particularly how notions and practices of adoption have (and haven't) accommodated disability, and how the language of risk enters into that complicated relationship. It reveals how the field of adoption moved from widely excluding children with disabilities in the early twentieth century to partially including them at its close. During and after World War II, adoption professionals determined that disabled children's fitness rested on whether agencies and adopters regarded these children as desirable for placement (instead of on any intrinsic undesirability), and whether a growing number of programs and policies to facilitate placement were effective. The book traces this historical process, highlighting forces that overlap with and impact this history. The book ultimately reveals that concerns about, and actions related to, disability invariably shape experiences of familial belonging, fitness, and worth, and, as the author argues, also reflect deep feelings of reticence and love"-- Provided by publisher The first social history of disability and difference in American adoption, from the Progressive Era to the end of the twentieth century.0Disability and child welfare, together and apart, are major concerns in American society. Today, about 125,000 children in foster care are eligible and waiting for adoption, and while many children wait more than two years to be adopted, children with disabilities wait even longer. In Familial Fitness, Sandra M. Sufian uncovers how disability operates as a fundamental category in the making of the American family, tracing major shifts in policy, practice, and attitudes about the adoptability of disabled children over the course of the twentieth century. 0 Chronicling the long, complex history of disability, Familial Fitness explores how notions and practices of adoption have-and haven't-accommodated disability, and how the language of risk enters into that complicated relationship. We see how the field of adoption moved from widely excluding children with disabilities in the early twentieth century to partially including them at its close. As Sufian traces this historical process, she examines the forces that shaped, and continue to shape, access to the social institution of family and invites readers to rethink the meaning of family itself Contents 8 List of Figures 10 List of Abbreviations 12 A Note on Language 14 Introduction. Disability and Belonging in Adoption History 16 Part I. Expecting Normality: 1918–1955 40 Chapter 1. Exclusionary Practices in the Age of Eugenics and Child Welfare 42 Chapter 2. Risk Equivalence and the Postwar Family 84 Part II. Working toward Inclusion: 1955–1980 114 Chapter 3. Love, Acceptance, and the Narrative of Overcoming 116 Chapter 4. From Overcoming to Programmatic Solutions 148 Part III. Continued Obstacles: 1980–1997 178 Chapter 5. Institutional and Structural Barriers to the Adoption of Children with Disabilities 180 Chapter 6. The Limits of Inclusion 208 Epilogue. A Usable Past: Thinking about Contemporary Practice in Light of History 241 Acknowledgments 270 Appendix 1. Suitability of the Child for Adoption 276 Appendix 2. Chronology of Relevant Federal Bills and Their Provisions 282 Appendix 3. Handicapping Conditions of Children Listed on Adoption Exchanges in 1985 286 List of Archives 288 Notes 290 Index 374