Evelyn Burns Robinson

In the following viewpoint, Evelyn Burns Robinson argues that adoption should be abolished because it is a punitive, permanent solution to the temporary challenges of unplanned parenthood. Convinced that adoption routinely separates disadvantaged families, she argues that support for struggling mothers should be increased to enable them to care for their children. Robinson is a former high school teacher and a social worker with the Association Representing Mothers Separated from their Children (ARMS) in Adelaide, South Australia. She is the author of Adoption and Loss: The Hidden Grief, in which she reflects upon her experiences as an adolescent mother who relinquished her first child.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to Robinson, what “humane alternative” to adoption was recently considered by the New Zealand government?
2. Why is the grief of adoption experienced by a...