Elizabeth Bartholet: Biographical Sketch

Elizabeth Bartholet is the Morris Wasserstein Public Interest Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, and Faculty Director of the Child Advocacy Program (CAP) which she founded in the fall of 2004.  She teaches civil rights and family law, specializing in child welfare, adoption and reproductive technology. Before joining the Harvard Faculty, she was engaged in civil rights and public interest work, first with the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, and later as founder and director of the Legal Action Center, a non-profit organization in New York City focused on criminal justice and substance abuse issues. Bartholet graduated cum laude from Radcliffe College and magna cum laude from Harvard Law School. Professor Bartholet’s publications include:

NOBODY’S CHILDREN: ABUSE AND NEGLECT, FOSTER DRIFT, AND THE ADOPTION ALTERNATIVE (Beacon Press, 1999); FAMILY BONDS: ADOPTION, INFERTILITY, AND THE NEW WORLD OF CHILD PRODUCTION (Beacon Press, 1999); " International Adoption: The Human Rights Position," 1 Global Policy ___ (forthcoming 2010); "The Racial Disproportionality Movement in Child Welfare: False Facts and Dangerous Directions," 51 Ariz. L. Rev. ___ (forthcoming Winter 2009); "International Adoption: The Child's Story," 24 Ga St. U. L. Rev. 333 ( 2008); "International Adoption: Thoughts on the Human Rights Issues," 13 Buff Hum. Rts. L. Rev. 151 (2007); “Where Do Black Children Belong? The Politics of Race Matching in Adoption,” 139 Penn L. Rev. 1163 (1991); “Beyond Biology: The Politics of Adoption & Reproduction,” 2 Duke J. Gender L. & Pol’y 5 (Spring 1995); and “Application of Title VII to Jobs in High Places,” 95 Harv. L. Rev. 945 (1982).

Professor Bartholet has won several awards for her writing and her related advocacy work in the area of adoption and child welfare. Other awards include a “Media Achievement Award” in 1994 and the Radcliffe College Humane Recognition Award in 1997.

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