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About Kristen E. Cheney

Kristen E. Cheney is Senior Lecturer of Children and Youth Studies for the International Institute of Social Studies. Dr. Cheney has participated in research, consultancy, and capacity-building projects in Africa, Europe, and the Middle East on issues from children’s rights to youth sexual and reproductive health. Her current research concerns the political economy of the ‘orphan industrial complex’ and its implications for child protection in developing countries.

Articles by Kristen E. Cheney

This week’s front page editor

Clare Sambrook, investigative journalist, co-edits Shine a Light.

European integration

Six countries. Six different paths to EU integration.

No to TTIP

The secretive EU-US trade deal explained

The Netherlands’ proposed ban on foreign adoption and the (ab)uses of ‘scientific expertise’

Kristen E. Cheney 10 November 2016

The scholarly work backing a Dutch board's recommendation to ban all foreign adoptions has been attacked as 'unscientific'. Does that argument hold water?

The cognitive dissonance between child rescue and child protection

Kristen E. Cheney 21 July 2015

‘Saving orphans’ has become an industry that irrevocably harms children and undermines the development of child welfare systems. We must replace the drive to rescue with the desire to protect.