Book Review: Familial Fitness: Disability, Adoption, and Family in Modern America by Sandra M. Sufian
The University of Chicago Press, £28 Sandra M. Sufian’s Familial Fitness examines the complex role of disability and divergence in US adoption practices from the Progressive Era to the end of the 20th century, trying to “understand past structures and forces that enabled or impeded the integration of children labelled disabled”.[i] In doing so, she incorporates an extensive archive that reveals the changing policies, practices, and attitudes toward the adoptability of children labelled disabled. By tracing which children were deemed eligible to enter the adoption system, she also reveals how social perceptions of disability reflected in adoption practices and ultimately resulted in drastically different material implications. In her analysis of the path from exclusion to the partial inclusion of children labelled disabled in the adoption process, she highlights the role of risk assessment. While risk minimization has always played a decisive role, it is particularly informative how risk was related […]