WHILE TRANSRACIAL ADOPTION has declined over the last twenty-five years, adoption of foreign children by Americans has increased. In 1967, fewer than two thousand children from other nations were adopted into American families. In recent years the average figure has been closer to eight thousand, and the total has at times topped ten thousand. The United States is one of several wealthy Western nations that accept many foreign-born adoptees; others include Canada, Australia, Sweden, and Great Britain.

In all these countries, people who support international adoption see it as a way to make the world a better place. At its best, international adoption saves children from misery or even death. One man who adopted two Third World children says that his greatest accomplishment is "to have saved two lives—I mean that literally." But others believe that international adoption is arrogance. In their view...