David M. Smolin
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David Mark Smolin is a professor of law at
Cumberland School of Law The Cumberland School of Law is an American Bar Association, ABA-accredited law school at Samford University in Homewood, Alabama, United States. It was founded in 1847 at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee and is the 11th oldest law sch ...
in
Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...
where he is the Harwell G. Davis Chair in Constitutional Law, director for The Center for Children, Law, and Ethics, former director of the Center for Biotechnology, Law, and Ethics, and faculty advisor for the Law, Science and Technology Society. Smolin deals with international adoption scandals (see child laundering) and is the creator of an informational website on international adoption called Adopting Internationally. He has been interviewed and submitted content on the subject to
National Public Radio National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...
,''Adoption Stories Gone Bad''
/ref>
ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...
,
Al Jazeera Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pro ...
,http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/peopleandpower/2009/06/20096249112454512.html Al Jazeera interview begins at 15:27
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
,
The Salt Lake Tribune ''The Salt Lake Tribune'' is a newspaper published in the city of Salt Lake City, Utah. The ''Tribune'' is owned by The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc., a non-profit corporation. The newspaper's motto is "Utah's Independent Voice Since 1871." History ...
,http://www.sltrib.com/ci_11700836
The Salt Lake Tribune ''The Salt Lake Tribune'' is a newspaper published in the city of Salt Lake City, Utah. The ''Tribune'' is owned by The Salt Lake Tribune, Inc., a non-profit corporation. The newspaper's motto is "Utah's Independent Voice Since 1871." History ...
, Adoption scandal has prompted only minor changes, 2-14-09
CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...
,
Radio Netherlands Radio Netherlands (RNW; ) was a public radio and television network based in Hilversum, producing and transmitting programmes for international audiences outside the Netherlands from 1947 to 2012. Its services in Dutch ended on 11 May 2012. Eng ...
and others. He presented on adoption issues at the Korean Women's Development Institute in Seoul, Korea, the Second International Symposium on Korean Adoption Studies in Seoul, Korea, and (as an independent expert) at
the Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...
Special Commission on the Practical Operation of the Hague Adoption Convention. His law review article, '' Child Laundering'', written in 2005, won Cumberland's inaugural Lightfoot, Franklin and White Faculty Scholarship Award for the most significant scholarly work published during the preceding year, and is consistently listed in the 10 Most Popular Articles in the bepress Legal Series. His own family's international adoption, discovery that their children were stolen, and ultimately successful, though arduous, six year search for the girls' original birth family in
India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
was featured on NPR's
Morning Edition ''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 a ...
, titled ''Adoption Stories Gone Bad,'' and by
ABC News ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...
.


Career

Smolin graduated first in his class and
Order of the Coif The Order of the Coif () is an American honor society for law school graduates. The Order was founded in 1902 at the University of Illinois College of Law. The name is a reference to the ancient English order of trial lawyers, the serjeants-at-la ...
from the
University of Cincinnati College of Law The University of Cincinnati College of Law is the law school of the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio. History The University of Cincinnati College of Law was founded in 1833 as the Cincinnati Law School. It is the fourth oldest conti ...
. He is an internationally recognized expert in the field of inter-country adoption, and a nationally recognized expert in
Bioethics Bioethics is both a field of study and professional practice, interested in ethical issues related to health (primarily focused on the human, but also increasingly includes animal ethics), including those emerging from advances in biology, me ...
and
Biotechnology Biotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that involves the integration of natural sciences and Engineering Science, engineering sciences in order to achieve the application of organisms and parts thereof for products and services. Specialists ...
,
Reproductive The reproductive system of an organism, also known as the genital system, is the biological system made up of all the anatomical organs involved in sexual reproduction. Many non-living substances such as fluids, hormones, and pheromones are al ...
Constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...
law, Family and Juvenile law, and Law and
Religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...
. He has testified before legislative committees in the
U.S. Congress The United States Congress is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a bicameral legislature, including a lower body, the U.S. House of Representatives, and an upper body, the U.S. Senate. They both ...
, as well as in five states on
constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these princ ...
issues. Smolin joined the Cumberland faculty in 1987 after clerking for Senior Judge George Edwards of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit from 1986 to 1987. Prior to that Smolin worked in a psychiatric hospital. He has also served as an adjunct professor at the
interdenominational Ecumenism ( ; alternatively spelled oecumenism)also called interdenominationalism, or ecumenicalismis the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships ...
Beeson Divinity School Beeson Divinity School of Samford University is an in-person, interdenominational, evangelicalism, evangelical divinity school located in Birmingham, Alabama, United States. The current dean is Douglas A. Sweeney. The school offers several degre ...
. Smolin is the author of over 35 articles, primarily published as
law review A law review or law journal is a scholarly journal or publication that focuses on legal issues. A law review is a type of legal periodical. Law reviews are a source of research, imbedded with analyzed and referenced legal topics; they also provide ...
s, though some of his works have appeared in journals such as ''
First Things ''First Things'' (''FT'') is a journal aimed at "advanc nga religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society", focusing on theology, liturgy, history of religion, church history, culture, education, society, politics, literat ...
''. Much of Smolin's academic work concerns international adoption,
child trafficking Trafficking of children, also known as child trafficking, is a form of human trafficking and is defined by the United Nations as the "recruitment, transportation, harbouring, or receipt of a child" for the purpose of slavery, forced labour, and ...
and child laundering.


Inter-country adoption


Al Jazeera interview - Stolen Babies - People and Power segment

On June 24, 2009 Smolin appeared in an interview with
Al Jazeera Al Jazeera Media Network (AJMN; , ) is a private-media conglomerate headquartered in Wadi Al Sail, Doha, funded in part by the government of Qatar. The network's flagship channels include Al Jazeera Arabic and Al Jazeera English, which pro ...
on the subject of stolen babies from
Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...
, (see
Human trafficking Human trafficking is the act of recruiting, transporting, transferring, harboring, or receiving individuals through force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of exploitation. This exploitation may include forced labor, sexual slavery, or oth ...
, Child laundering) after both the
US Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of federal laws and the administration of justice. It is equ ...
and the
Bureau of Consular Affairs The Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA) is a bureau of the United States Department of State reporting to the under secretary of state for management. The mission of the Bureau is to administer laws, formulate regulations and implement policies rel ...
at the
US State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...
declined to be interviewed and declined to comment on the subject. Smolin referred to his own situation involving his stolen adopted daughters and said that there is no easy solution to child laundering because it is usually successful and too often the
perfect crime A perfect crime is a crime that is undetected, unattributed to an identifiable perpetrator, or otherwise unsolved or unsolvable. The term is used colloquially in law and fiction (especially crime fiction) for both crimes committed as crimes foremo ...
. He went on to say that the Office of Children's Issues at the
State Department The United States Department of State (DOS), or simply the State Department, is an executive department of the U.S. federal government responsible for the country's foreign policy and relations. Equivalent to the ministry of foreign affairs o ...
should immediately facilitate
DNA testing Genetic testing, also known as DNA testing, is used to identify changes in DNA sequence or chromosome structure. Genetic testing can also include measuring the results of genetic changes, such as RNA analysis as an output of gene expression, or ...
of the children and mothers who claim their children were stolen. He said adoptive parents should attempt to acquire DNA testing of their adoptive children so that they can form partnerships with the birth family.


Celebrity adoptions and the subsidiarity principle

Smolin has said that celebrity adoptions highlight the problems with inter-country adoption. While not being expressly opposed to celebrity adoption or international adoption, Smolin believes in the need for an implementation of the subsidiarity principle as it relates to international adoption because the huge amount of money channeled into adopting a child pales in comparison to the relatively small amount of money that could, in many circumstances, be used to reunite broken families and improve conditions within the child's culture and country of origin. He states the need to:
Reform international adoption by putting a priority on keeping children in their original family and within their community.
Smolin also believes that without a safe adoption system, comparatively wealthy families seeking to adopt children from impoverished nations are in a position to exploit that poverty, and where $20–30,000 may be spent to adopt a child, several hundred dollars may be all that is needed to reunite a child with that child's family and substantially improve conditions within the child's community. In general he believes that one major problem with international adoption is that the adoptions system is corrupted by far too much money and that there are no real consequences for violating adoption regulations.


=Debate with Jane Aronson

= On June 16, 2009 Smolin debated Jane Aronson on the topic of celebrity adoptions for
CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...
. Both showed appreciation for one another with Smolin stating he admired Aronson's work in helping orphanages and improving international communities which are the sources for adoptive children, and Aronson stating "I'm glad to be on the program with you David because you're a smart and warm human being." Aronson stated the issue is poverty and that there is no social services network to provide for the families. Smolin's views are, in part, stated above.


Cumberland School of Law Symposium on International Adoption

On April 15, 2005 Smolin, with the cooperation of
Cumberland School of Law The Cumberland School of Law is an American Bar Association, ABA-accredited law school at Samford University in Homewood, Alabama, United States. It was founded in 1847 at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee and is the 11th oldest law sch ...
, hosted a Symposium on International adoption. The purpose was to "take advantage of the gathered expertise to explore the question of how international adoption can be reformed to ensure respect for the rights and dignity of birth families, children and adoptive families he adoption triad". Richard Cross, a senior special agent for
Immigration and Customs Enforcement The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE; ) is a federal law enforcement agency under the United States Department of Homeland Security. ICE's stated mission is to protect the United States from transnational crime and ille ...
CEassigned to the ICE Human Trafficking Unit in Seattle, Washington, spoke at the event:
Richard Cross, the lead federal investigator for the prosecution of Lauryn Galindo for visa fraud and money laundering involved in Cambodian adoptions, estimated that most of the 800 adoptions Galindo facilitated were fraudulent--either based on fraudulent paperwork, coerced/induced/recruited relinquishments, babies bought, identities of the children switched, etc.


Adopting Internationally website

Smolin and his wife launched Adopting Internationally website, a website meant to provide information regarding "the complex issues associated with international adoption." The site includes personal stories and academic analysis. The site is also based, in part, on the Smolin's personal experience in the field of international adoption, and the Smolins are unabashedly dedicated to reforming intercountry adoption "so that it may consistently and reliably assist all members of the adoption triad (birth families, adoptees, and adoptive families)."


Biotechnology, law and ethics

Smolin heads Cumberland Law School's Center for Biotechnology, Law, and Ethics, a center unlike any other of its kind in the United States.Center for Biotechnology, Law and Ethics Research focuses on contemporary bioethics dilemmas and issues related to the Center's Annual
Symposium In Ancient Greece, the symposium (, ''sympósion'', from συμπίνειν, ''sympínein'', 'to drink together') was the part of a banquet that took place after the meal, when drinking for pleasure was accompanied by music, dancing, recitals, o ...
, which is typically co-sponsored by the Cumberland Law Review. The Center has attracted numerous experts including ethicist Gregory Pence, atmospheric scientist
John Christy John Raymond Christy is a climate scientist at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) whose chief interests are satellite remote sensing of global climate and global climate change. He is best known, jointly with Roy Spencer, for the fir ...
, and U.S. Congressman
Artur Davis Artur Genestre Davis (; born October 9, 1967) is an American attorney and former politician who served as a Democratic Party (United States), Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives for from 2003 to 2011. He was also a ca ...
. Each year the Cumberland Law Review typically publishes an issue featuring articles by visiting speakers.


Human rights

Smolin is a
human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...
advocate but approaches the international movement with concerns, which can be summed up in the conclusion to his paper ''Will International Human Rights Be Used as a Tool of Cultural Genocide? The Interaction of Human Rights Norms,
Religion Religion is a range of social system, social-cultural systems, including designated religious behaviour, behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, religious text, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics in religion, ethics, or ...
,
Culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
, and
Gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...
'' published by the Journal of Law and Religion. Smolin's basic view regarding the scope of the international movement is that not all worthy human causes deserve to be labeled or acted upon as a right. He believes that doing so could erode or destroy the most basic human rights if the international movement gained enough power to enact all of its goals.


Background


Education

* BA Applied Psychology,
New College of Florida New College of Florida is a public university, public liberal arts college in Sarasota, Florida, United States. The college is a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges. New College has the smallest student enrollment in the State U ...
1980 * JD
University of Cincinnati College of Law The University of Cincinnati College of Law is the law school of the University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, Ohio. History The University of Cincinnati College of Law was founded in 1833 as the Cincinnati Law School. It is the fourth oldest conti ...
1986 (1st in class) * Clerk Senior Judge George Edwards, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 1986–87 * Fellow of the Southern Center for Law and Ethics


Personal life

Smolin was born in New York City, USA. His mother was the playwright Pauline Smolin, and his father was Michael Smolin, an environmental and process engineer. His brother
Lee Smolin Lee Smolin (; born June 6, 1955) is an American theoretical physicist, a faculty member at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, an adjunct professor of physics at the University of Waterloo, and a member of the graduate faculty of th ...
is a
theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experi ...
. His wife is Desiree Smolin. They have eight children, two of whom were adopted from India in 1998.


Articles

* ''Overcoming Religious Objections to the
Convention on the Rights of the Child The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (commonly abbreviated as the CRC or UNCRC) is an international international human rights treaty which sets out the civil, political, economic, social, health and cultural rights of ch ...
'', Emory International Law Review

* ''Child Laundering'', Wayne Law Revie

* ''Religion, Education, and the Theoretically Liberal State: Contrasting Evangelical and Secularist Perspectives'', 44 Journal of Catholic Studies 99 (2005

* ''Does Bioethics Provide Answers? Secular and Religious Bioethics and Our Procreative Future'', 35 Cumberland Law Review 473 (2005). * Nili Luo and David Smolin, ''Intercountry Adoption and China: Emerging Questions and Developing Chinese Perspectives'', 35 Cumberland Law Review 597 (2005). * ''The Two Faces of Intercountry Adoption: The Significance of the Indian Adoption Scandals'', 35 Seton Hall Law Review 403 (2005

* ''Intercountry Adoption as Child Trafficking'', 39 Valparaiso Law Review 281 (2005

* ''A Tale of Two Treaties: Furthering Social Justice Through the Redemptive Myths of Childhood'', Emory International Law Review, 17 Emory International Law Review 967 (2003). * ''Nontherapeutic Research with Children: The Virtues and Vices of Legal Uncertainty'', 33 Cumberland Law Review 621 (2003)

* ''Should a Ban on Reproductive Cloning Include a Ban on Cloning for Purposes of Research or Therapy?,'' 32 Cumberland Law Review 487 (2002). * ''Strategic Choices in the International Campaign Against Child Labor'', 22
Human Rights Quarterly ''Human Rights Quarterly'' (''HRQ'') is a quarterly academic journal founded by Richard Pierre Claude in 1982 covering human rights. The journal is intended for scholars and policymakers and follows recent developments from both governments and non ...
942 (2000) * ''Conflict and Ideology in the International Campaign Against Child Labour'', 16 Hofstra Labor and Employment Law Journal 383 (1999) * ''The Future of Genocide: A Spectacle for the New Millennium?'' 23
Fordham International Law Journal The ''Fordham International Law Journal'' is a student-run law journal associated with the Fordham University School of Law. According to the Washington and Lee journal rankings, it is the 4th most cited student-edited international and comparativ ...
460 (1999) * Review,
First Things ''First Things'' (''FT'') is a journal aimed at "advanc nga religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society", focusing on theology, liturgy, history of religion, church history, culture, education, society, politics, literat ...
(August/September 1999): 56-58.: ''The Problematics of Moral and Legal Theory'',
Richard A. Posner Richard Allen Posner (; born January 11, 1939) is an American legal scholar and retired United States circuit judge who served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit from 1981 to 2017. A senior lecturer at the University of Chicag ...
(Belknap/Harvard University Press)

* ''Will International Human Rights Be Used as a Tool of Cultural Genocide? The Interaction of Human Rights Norms, Religion, Culture and Gender'', Journal of Law and Religion, Vol. 12, No. 1 (1995–1996), pp. 143–17


Recent works

The first article won Cumberland Law School's first annual Lightfoot award for most significant scholarly paper published during the preceding year and is consistently listed in the 10 Most Popular Articles in the bepress Legal Series:Bepress 10 most popular
/ref>
Child Laundering: How the Intercountry Adoption System Legitimizes and Incentivizes the Practices of Buying, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Stealing Children
also published by the Wayne Law Review. * Unpublished
Child Laundering As Exploitation: Applying Anti-Trafficking Norms to Intercountry Adoption Under the Coming Hague Regime
* ''The Two Faces of Intercountry Adoption: The Significance of the Indian Adoption Scandals'', Seton Hall Law Review;

and * ''Intercountry Adoption as Child Trafficking'', Valparaiso Law Revie


Conferences

* Organizer and presenter, "The Baby Market: The Future of High-Tech and Low-Tech Markets in Children", February 14, 2008. * Speaker, Adoption Ethics and Accountability Conference, October 15–16, 2007, The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute and Ethica, Inc., Arlington, Virginia. * The Cultural Contexts of the
Stem Cell In multicellular organisms, stem cells are undifferentiated or partially differentiated cells that can change into various types of cells and proliferate indefinitely to produce more of the same stem cell. They are the earliest type of cell ...
Debate; Stem Cells: Diffusing the Rhetoric. North Carolina Central University School of Law,
Durham, North Carolina Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...
, April 13, 2007. Sponsored by Durham's Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Law Institute and the North Carolina Research Campus. * Speaker, Emory Law School, "What's Wrong With Rights for Children?" Oct. 20-21, 200
Emory Law School Conference


References


External links


Cumberland School of Law

Selected Works of David Smolin

Rushton Distinguished Lecture Series: Reforming Intercountry Adoption

Child Laundering: How the Intercountry Adoption System Legitimizes and Incentivizes the Practices of Buying, Trafficking, Kidnapping, and Stealing Children


with Jane Aronson {{DEFAULTSORT:Smolin, David M. Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American human rights activists 20th-century American lawyers American legal scholars American bioethicists New College of Florida alumni American children's rights activists International law scholars University of Cincinnati College of Law alumni 21st-century American lawyers 21st-century American male writers 20th-century American male writers