The Construction of "Cold War Reality" through Intercountry Adoption Law: A top-down and bottom-up Analysis

U.S. intercountry adoption law was a fairly recent development, and matters related to foreign orphans were only partially covered under temporary, emergency immigration laws regarding refugees, such as the Displaced Persons Act of 1948 (DPA) and the Refugee Relief Act of 1953 (RRA). This paper presents a two-fold argument. Firstly, this series of special legislation regarding foreign orphans originated—not in World War I nor as a consequence of World War II—but in tandem with the Cold War along with other economic and military measures. Secondly, this Cold War policy was not imposed on the U.S. citizenry. It was a result of their own initiatives. Specifically looking at individuals who helped pave the legal framework and build adoption programs from West Germany, Japan, and South Korea in the 1950s, their efforts redefined families into humanitarian units and acknowledged the basic rights of children to a family. This in turn helped construct a certain "Cold War reality," as they justified U.S. foreign intervention.