David M. Smolin

David M. Smolin is the Harwell G. Davis Professor of Constitutional Law, and Director, Center for Children, Law, and Ethics, at Cumberland Law School, Samford University. He served as an independent expert for the Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) on intercountry adoption issues and served as an external expert for the International Social Service (ISS), on issues related to children’s rights, adoption, and surrogacy. He is a member of the core expert group that developed the Verona Principles on international standards for surrogacy. He serves as a special advisor for the Swiss NGO Child Identity Protection (CHIP). Many of his publications are available for free download at http://works.bepress.com/david_smolin/, with over 90,000 downloads. He received the Outstanding Scholar in Adoption Award from the St. John’s University Adoption Initiative in 2014. He presented at the 2010 and 2015 Hague Special Commissions on the Practical Operation of the Hague Adoption Convention; the Second International Symposium on Korean Adoption Studies in Seoul, South Korea; the State Supreme Court of Sao Paulo, Brazil; and the NALSAR University of Law, in Telangana, India.

 

Smolin, D. M. (2024). “Introduction: Out of the Fog: Responses and Remedies for the Hidden Illegality of Adoption Systems.” In E. Loibl & D. M. Smolin (Eds.), Facing the Past: Policies and Good Practices for Responses to Illegal Intercountry Adoptions, available at Facing the Past: Policies and Good Practices for Responses to Illegal Intercountry Adoptions – Maastricht University. 

Smolin, D. M. (2021). “The Case for Moratoria on Intercountry Adoption.” Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal, 30(2), available at Law Journal Library – HeinOnline.org.

Smolin, D. M. (2019). “The One Hundred Thousand Dollar Baby: The Ideological Roots of a New American Export.” Cumberland Law Review, 49(2), available at Law Journal Library – HeinOnline.org

Smolin, D. M. (2015). “Surrogacy as the Sale of Children: Applying Lessons Learned from Intercountry Adoption to the Regulation of the Surrogacy Industry’s Global Marketing of Children.” Pepperdine Law Review, available at Law Journal Library – HeinOnline.org

Smolin, D. M. (2013). “The Corrupting Influence of the United States on a Vulnerable Intercountry Adoption System: A Case Study of Ethiopia.” Utah Law Review, 2013(2), available at Law Journal Library – HeinOnline.org 

Smolin, D. M. (2012). “Of Orphans and Adoption, Parents and the Poor: A Scriptural and Theological Critique of the Evangelical Christian Adoption and Orphan Care Movement.” Regent Journal of International Law, 8(2), available at Law Journal Library – HeinOnline.org

Smolin, D. M. (2010). “Child Laundering and the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption: The Future and Past of Intercountry Adoption.” University of Louisville Law Review, 48(3), available at Law Journal Library – HeinOnline.org

Smolin, D. M. (2007). “Child Laundering as Exploitation: Applying Anti-Trafficking Norms to Intercountry Adoption Under the Coming Hague Regime.” Vermont Law Review, 32(1), available at Law Journal Library – HeinOnline.org

Smolin, D. M. (2007). “Intercountry Adoption and Poverty: A Human Rights Analysis.” Capital University Law Review, 36(2), available at Law Journal Library – HeinOnline.org

Smolin, D. M. (2006). “Child Laundering: How the Intercountry Adoption System Legitimizes and Incentivizes the Practices of Buying, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Stealing Children.” Wayne Law Review, 52(1), available at Law Journal Library – HeinOnline.org 

Smolin, D. M. (2005). “The Two Faces of Intercountry Adoption: The Significance of the Indian Adoption Scandals.” Seton Hall Law Review, 35(2), available at Law Journal Library – HeinOnline.org

Smolin, D. M. (2004). “Intercountry Adoption as Child Trafficking.” Valparaiso University Law Review, 39(2), available at Law Journal Library – HeinOnline.org