Americans share a common understanding of what adoption is, a common belief in the “facts” of adoption, a common view of themselves and the “other” in relation to adoption, and a common undifferentiated belief in adoption as the best solution to many child welfare problems. This American understanding reflects a naive blindness to the roles of self-interest in adoption, a disinterest in the power, privilege, gender inequality, class and wealth differentials that drive and have always driven adoption, as we understand it, and a common ignorance of the history of the institution of adoption.David Smolin and Desiree Smolin