Critical Adoption Theory (CAT) is an alternative theoretical framework for adoption. It offers new interpretations of the emergence and development of adoption in Western societies during the twentieth century. In so doing, it lays bare the power relations that led mothers to sign adoption papers, and the factors that made children ‘adoptable’. Furthermore, CAT proposes revised theoretical foundations within which the experiences of adopted people and their mothers can be analysed and understood. It places structures, and not the psychological attributes of adopted individuals under the microscope. In contrast with several other theories concerning the experience of being adopted, CAT focuses on multi-level systemic factors and not adopted people’s psychologies. CAT offers new vocabulary and concepts for adopted people and mothers, and seeks to encourage critical analysis amongst affected people and academics alike.

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