Geographies of Child Adoption in Greece During the Economic Crisis (2011-2018): Spatial Thinking of Inequalities, Trends, and Policies
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
This paper aims to investigate an area previously unexplored by human geographers: the spatial and sociodemographic structure of adoptions in Greece during the economic crisis. The main purpose is twofold: (a) to examine potential inequalities emerging either from the gender and age of the adopted child or from the spatial distribution of the children and (b) to capture agglomeration or dispersion clusters of adoptions in Greece. The study employed panel data across the 13 regions of Greece for the period 2011-2018. To detect inequalities in adoptions, demographic and spatial indicators were used as well as specific inequality measures via statistical computing (R). Through thematic cartography and spatial analysis methods, the proximity effects in child adoption during the economic crisis were examined. The results led to the conclusion that crisis periods dramatically affect the rates of child adoption. Both gender and spatial inequalities were intertemporal and particularly high. Greece is marked by uneven geographies calling for new policy measures. Thus, the present paper could serve as a basis for an ‘adoption observatory’ in Greece.
Article Details
References
• Abraham, R. G., van den Bergh, S., & Nair, P. (2003). A New Approach to Galaxy Morphology. I. Analysis of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Early Data Release. The Astrophysical Journal, 588(1), 218–229. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/373919
• Anastasiou, E. (2020). Changes in Human Geography: Scenarios of counterurbanization in the context of economic crisis. Regional Science Inquiry, 12(1), 75–86. https://ideas.repec.org/a/hrs/journl/vxiiy2020i1p75-86.html
• Anastasiou, E., & Duquenne, M.-N. (2017). The return to the rural in Greece during the last decade: A methodological approach of the potential spatial patterns. In V. Janeska & A. Lozanoska (Eds.), Fifth International Conference of the Balkans demography: The population of the Balkans at the dawn of the 21st century (pp. 331–354). Institute of Economics – Skopje, Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje Prolet 1, 1000 Skopje, Republic of Macedonia. http://www.demobalk.org/Demobalk_conferences_seminars/Docs/Demobalk_Conferences_Seminars_Doc_00152_gr.pdf
• Anselin, L. (1995). Local Indicators of Spatial Association—LISA. Geographical Analysis, 27(2), 93–115. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1538-4632.1995.tb00338.x
• Balourdos, D., Demertzis, N., Pierrakos, G., & Kikilias, I. (2019). Η χαμηλή γονιμότητα στην Ελλάδα, δημογραφική κρίση και πολιτικές ενίσχυσης της οικογένειας [Low fertility in Greece, demographic crisis and family support policies]. Dianeosis. https://www.dianeosis.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/01/ekke_family_policies.pdf
• Bassett, E. M., & Williams, F. B. (1928). Zoning cases in the United States. Regional plan of New York and its Environs.
• Bilson, A., & Munro, E. H. (2019). Adoption and child protection trends for children aged under five in England: Increasing investigations and hidden separation of children from their parents. Children and Youth Services Review, 96, 204–211. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2018.11.052
• Broadhurst, K., Mason, C., Bedston, S., Alrouh, B., Morriss, L., McQuarrie, T., Palmer, M., Shaw, M., Harwin, J., & Kershaw, S. (2017). Vulnerable birth mothers and recurrent care proceedings: Final main report. Lancaster: University of Lancaster. Centre for Child and Family Justice Research. http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/recurrent-care/files/2017/10/mrc_final_main_report_v1.0.pdf
• Buchanan, A., & Kallinikaki, T. (2020). Meeting the needs of unaccompanied children in Greece. International Social Work, 63(2), 206–219. https://doi.org/10.1177/0020872818798007
• Chatjouli, Α., Daskalaki, Ι., & Kantsa, V. (2015). Out of Body, Out of Home: Assisted Reproduction, Gender and Family in Greece. (In)FERCIT and Alexandria Publications. https://www.sah.aegean.gr/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/out-of-body-final.pdf
• Corby, B., Millar, M., & Young, L. (1996). Parental participation in child protection work: Rethinking the rhetoric. The British Journal of Social Work, 26(4), 475–492. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.bjsw.a011120
• DePasquale, C. E., Donzella, B., & Gunnar, M. R. (2019). Pubertal recalibration of cortisol reactivity following early life stress: A cross‐sectional analysis. The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 60(5), 566-575. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.12992
• ELSTAT. (2019a). Adoptions. Hellenic Statistical Authority. https://www.statistics.gr/en/infographic-adoptions
• ELSTAT. (2019b). Divorce Statistics. Hellenic Statistical Authority. https://www.statistics.gr/en/infographic-divorces-2017
• ELSTAT. (2020). Greece in figures. October-December 2020. Hellenic Statistical Authority. https://www.statistics.gr/documents/20181/1515741/GreeceInFigures_2020Q4_EN.pdf/4d41d50e-2e28-6b19-8c44-5501c01c0882
• Eurostat. (May 2020). Fertility statistics. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/Fertility_statistics
• Fotiadi, I. (2019). Εθνικό μητρώο για τις υιοθεσίες [National Register for Adoptions]. Kathimerini. https://www.kathimerini.gr/society/1015025/ethniko-mitroo-gia-tis-yiothesies/
• GeoDa (1.18). (2020). [Spatial Data Analysis]. https://geodacenter.github.io
• Gianola, D., Perez-Enciso, M., & Toro, M. A. (2003). On marker-assisted prediction of genetic value: beyond the ridge. Genetics, 163(1), 347–365. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1462425/
• Government of the Hellenic Republic. (2018). Government Gazette (A85/16-05-2018). https://www.anynet.gr/legislation_pds/ΥΑ%2057758-2484-2018-ΚΑΝΟΝΙΣΜΟΣ%20ΛΕΙΤΟΥΡΓΙΑΣ%20ΕΣΑΝΥ.pdf
• Heynen, N. (2006). “But it’s Alright, Ma, it’s Life, and Life Only”: Radicalism as Survival. Antipode, 38(5), 916–929. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8330.2006.00486.x.
• Julian, M. M. (2013). Age at adoption from institutional care as a window into the lasting effects of early experiences. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 16, 101–145. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-013-0130-6
• Jurviste, U., Sabbati, G., Shreeves, R., & Dimitrova-Stull, A. (2016). Adoption of children in the European Union. European Parliamentary Research Service. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/BRIE/2016/583860/EPRS_BRI(2016)583860_EN.pdf
• Kearns, G., & Reid-Henry, S. (2009). Vital Geographies: Life, Luck, and the Human Condition. Annals of the Association of American Geographers, 99(3), 554–574. https://doi.org/10.1080/00045600902967177
• Labrianidis, L., & Pratsinakis, M. (2016). Greece’s new Emigration at times of Crisis (GreeSE Paper No.99). Hellenic Observatory, LSE. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/66811/
• Leinaweaver, J. (2015). Geographies of generation: Age restrictions in international adoption. Social & Cultural Geography, 16(5), 508–521. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2014.994669
• Leinaweaver, J., & van Wichelen, S. (2015). The geography of transnational adoption: Kin and place in globalization. Social & Cultural Geography, 16(5), 499–507. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2015.1033449
• Lewis, S., & Brady, G. (2018). Parenting under adversity: Birth parents’ accounts of inequality and adoption. Social Sciences, 7(12), 257. https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci7120257
• Merz, E. C., & McCall, R. B. (2011). Parent ratings of executive functioning in children adopted from psychosocially depriving institutions. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 52(5), 537–546. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2010.02335.x
• Merz, E. C., McCall, R. B., & Groza, V. (2013). Parent-Reported Executive Functioning in Postinstitutionalized Children: A Follow-Up Study. Journal of Clinical Child & Adolescent Psychology, 42(5), 726–733. https://doi.org/10.1080/15374416.2013.764826
• Miettinen, A., Rotkirch, A., Szalma, I., Donno, A., & Tanturri, M.-L. (2015). Increasing childlessness in Europe: time trends and country differences. Families and Societies Working Paper Series, 33. http://www.familiesandsocieties.eu/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/WP33MiettinenEtAl2015.pdf
• Mignot, J. F. (2019). Child Adoption in Western Europe, 1900–2015. In C. Diebolt, A. Rijpma, S. Carmichael, S. Dilli, & C. Störmer (Eds.), Cliometrics of the Family (pp. 333–366). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-99480-2_14
• Moran, P. A. P. (1950). Notes on Continuous Stochastic Phenomena. Biometrika, 37(1/2), 17–23. https://doi.org/10.2307/2332142
• Papadaki, E. (2020). Becoming mothers: Narrating adoption and making kinship in Greece. Social Anthropology, 28(1), 153–167. https://doi.org/10.1111/1469-8676.12751
• Papamichail, S. P. (2020). Child protection and secondary victimization : The Greek paradox. Dialogues in Clinical Neuroscience & Mental Health, 3(2), 91–98. https://doi.org/10.26386/obrela.v3i2.172
• Paxson, H. (2004). Making modern mothers: Ethics and family planning in urban Greece. University of California Press. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1ppdxj
• Rogerson, P. A. (2019). I Dream of Gini: Measures of Population Concentration and Their Application to US Population Distribution. In R. Franklin (Ed.), Population, Place, and Spatial Interaction. New Frontiers in Regional Science: Asian Perspectives (Vol. 40, pp. 1–17). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9231-3_1
• Smithson, R., & Gibson, M. (2017). Less than human: A qualitative study into the experience of parents involved in the child protection system. Child & Family Social Work, 22(2), 565–574. https://doi.org/10.1111/cfs.12270
• Stevens, C., Proctor, F., Rishworth, B., Boorman, A., Unwin, A., Featherstone, B., & Bilson, A. (2020). Rethinking child protection and adoption: Achieving social justice in practice. Critical and Radical Social Work, 8(1), 125–132. https://doi.org/10.1332/204986019X15663821773868
• Tobler, W. R. (1970). A Computer Movie Simulating Urban Growth in the Detroit Region. Economic Geography, 46, 234-240. https://doi.org/10.2307/143141
• Triseliotis, J. (2000). Υιοθεσία. Τάσεις, πολιτική, πρακτική [Adoption. Trends, Policy, Practice]. Grigori.
• United Nations. (2009). Child Adoption: Trends and Policies. United Nations. https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/publications/pdf/policy/child-adoption.pdf
• UNECE. (2019). Mean age of women at first marriage. United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. https://w3.unece.org/PXWeb/en/Charts?IndicatorCode=303
• Voukelatou, I. (2015). Ψυχοκοινωνική προσέγγισηη του θεσμού της υιοθεσίας στην Ελλάδα: αποτελέσματα απο ποσοτική και ποιοτική έρευνα [Psychosocial approach to the institution of Adoption in Greece: Results from Quantitative and Qualitative research]. 4th International Conference in Quantitative and Qualitative Methodologies in the Economic and Administrative Sciences, 349–356. http://econferences.teiath.gr/index.php/ICQQMEAS/ICQQMEAS2015/paper/viewFile/210/208
• White, M. J. (1986). Segregation and diversity measures in population distribution. Population Index, 52(2), 198–221. https://doi.org/10.2307/3644339
• Yngvesson, B. (2015) Migrant bodies and the materialization of belonging in Sweden, Social & Cultural Geography, 16(5), 536-551, https://doi.org/10.1080/14649365.2015.1009856