ABSTRACT
In the course of my research on transnational adoption in the late 1990s, I was given a letter written by a birth mother in Colombia to the adoptive parents of her infant son. The letter reads, in part, as follows:
Although my heart is breaking to have to give him away, I know that with you he will be much better off because my unstable situation makes it impossible for me to keep him, in addition to the lack of support of my family and his father … For this reason, with my heart in my hand, I pray that you will take good care of my child, since he is legally your child. Care for him as much as you can, guide him along a good path, love him as though he were your own.
