White unwed mother : the adoption mandate in postwar Canada / Valerie J. Andrews.

"For the majority of "unwed mothers" in postwar Canada, having a child "out-of-wedlock" invariably meant being subject to the adoption mandate. Andrews describes the mandate as a process of interrelated institutional power systems which, together with socio-cultural norms, ideals of gender heteronormativity, and emerging sociological and psychoanalytic theories, created historically unique conditions in the post WWII decades wherein the white unmarried mother was systematically separated from her baby by means of adoption. Postwar elements that came together as a kind of "perfect storm" created an unprecedented locus in history wherein unmarried mothers surrendered their babies for adoption in the hundreds of thousands in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Canada and the United States."-- Provided by publisher.

"This volume uncovers and substantiates evidence of the mandate in Canada, interrogates social work policies and practices, revisits the semi-incarceral "homes for unwed mothers," and quantifies the mandate through an extensive review of provincial reports; ultimately finding that approximately 300,000 unmarried mothers in Canada were impacted by illegal and unethical adoption practices, human rights abuses, and violence against the maternal body."-- Provided by publisher.