International adoptions are both high-profile and controversial, with the celebrity adoptions and critically acclaimed movies such as Casa de los babys of recent years increasing media coverage and influencing public opinion. Neither celebrating nor condemning cross-cultural adoption, Karen Dubinsky considers the political symbolism of children in her examination of adoption and migration controversies in North America, Cuba, and Guatemala.

Babies Without Borders tells the interrelated stories of Cuban children caught in Operation Peter Pan, adopted Black and Native American children who became icons in the Sixties, and Guatemalan children whose 'disappearance' today in transnational adoption networks echoes their fate during the country's brutal civil war. Drawing from extensive research as well as from her critical observations as an adoptive parent, Karen Dubinsky aims to move adoption debates beyond the current dichotomy of 'imperialist kidnap' versus 'humanitarian rescue.' Integrating the personal with the scholarly, Babies Without Borders exposes what happens when children bear the weight of adult political conflicts.

Karen Dubinsky is Professor of History and Global Development Studies at Queen's University. She is the author and editor of several books, including Within and Without the Nation: Transnational Canadian History (2015, co-editors Adele Perry and Henry Yu), My Havana: The Musical City of Carlos Varela (2014, co-editors Caridad Cumana and Xenia Reloba), and Babies without Borders: Adoption and Migration Across the Americas (2010).

Karen Dubinsky's profile page

“Dubinsky's research is excellent? Her contribution to this sub-field in the burgeoning field of childhood studies is a fine one and this book is a must read for all serious scholars of childhood and adoption.?

British Journal of Canadian Studies: vol 24:02:2011

‘This is a great book that historians of foreign relations, family, the United States, Canada, and Latin America, along with those interested in adoption, should read and assign… Dubinsky uses her own experience to help produce a rich and insightful history of people, policies, and nations in the Americas.’

Histoire sociale /Social History; vol 45:89:2012