Citation

Leifsen E. Child. Soc. 2008; 22(3): 212-222.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, National Children's Bureau of the United Kingdom, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1099-0860.2008.00152.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Child trafficking activity often draws on formal administrative and legal resources. Formalisation implies considerable cooperation between public functionaries, lawyers and external actors. I argue that child rights advocates are forceful policy formulators who tend to ignore the public-external link because they focus on the external profit-seeking actors. The danger of this focus is a continuing production of inadequate policies, regulations and laws which are weak instruments in the control of a serious social and moral problem. I exemplify this by cases of irregularities in international adoption from Ecuador from the 1990s onwards.1