Abandoned or Kidnapped: adoptions and institutionalizations of children during the last military dictatorship in Argentina

Abstract

This article analyzes the handling of adoptions and institutionalizations of children of people who were detained or disappeared during the last military dictatorship in Argentina (1976-1983). People who had been appropriated as children were later located by the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo organization. The study is based on the reconstruction of three legal cases in which the kidnapping of the parents by Argentine security forces led to declaring their children to be “abandoned” – despite searches and complaints by their families. It takes a critical look at the legal categories, concepts and practices used in a context of action in a realm that is important to Social Work, courts for minors, where the decisions have been crucial in the resolution of the cases. The objective is to contribute to the debate about the problematic of adoption that encompasses the complex relationship between rights, kinship and politics.