Penn State Altoona News

Thursday, October 8, 2009 - 768 hits

Speaker offers thoughts on US/Guatemala adoptions

Penn State Altoona will welcome Dr. Karen Smith Rotabi, assistant professor of social work at Virginia Commonwealth University, on Thursday, October 29, 2009 from 12:15 - 1:15 p.m. in the Edith Davis Eve Chapel. Rotabi, who is also an appointed member of the US Hague Commission on Intercountry Adoption, will offer a presentation titled "Adoption Fraud and Implementation of the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption: The U.S. and Guatemala as a Case Example."

Rotabi's area of research is global social work practice and families impacted by war. An area of expertise is the implementation of the Hague Convention and the prevention of child sales and theft under the guise of adoption. Rotabi will be accompanied by Muna Hijazi, a program coordinator in North America for the nonprofit Highland Support Project, which does development work and service-learning exchanges with Guatemalan indigenous Maya of the Western Highlands. A native Virginian and of Palestinian heritage, Hijazi holds a BS from VCU Anthropology, Sociology, and Philosophy. Visit www.HagueEvaluation.com to learn more about Rotabi's research. Rotabi and Hijazi will meet with students immediately following their presentation.

The lecture, which is sponsored by the Women's Studies, Health and Human Development, Criminal Justice, Spanish, and Letters Arts and Sciences program, is free and open to the public. This is the second of three events in the Arts and Humanities International Semester Series. For more information, please contact Roselyn Costantino at RXC19@psu.edu.