The Expert is Professor of Social Work at California State University- Monterey Bay. She has extensive international experience, with an emphasis on Guatemala, El Salvador and Somalia. Her practice in these countries is oriented to child protection as well as violence against women. She has worked as an expert witness, mainly for Guatemala, but recent work in Somalia has expanded her area of expertise. She has an extensive publication history, with an orientation to human rights.
LGBTQ, Child abuse, Sexual abuse/assault, gender-based violence/domestic violence, human trafficking; likelihood of homelessness or destitution; Healthcare Access/Health systems capacity, Mental Illness; adoption
The Expert has served as an expert witness for over 20 reports on Guatemala.
PUBLICATIONS: Books & Special Issues
Fronek, P., & Rotabi-Casares, K. S. (Eds.) (2022). Social work in health emergencies: Global perspectives. Abingdon, England: Routledge.
Rotabi, K. S., & Bromfield, N. F. (2017). From intercountry adoption to global surrogacy: A human rights history and new fertility frontiers. Abingdon, England: Routledge.
Gibbons, J. L., & Rotabi, K. S. (Eds.) (2012). Intercountry adoption: Policies, practices, and outcomes. Surrey, England: Ashgate Press.
Rotabi, K. S., & Gibbons, J. L. (2009). Special issue: Intercountry adoption. International Social Work, 52(5).
~Above 2012 edited book won a Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award for 2013. The book then went into paperback reprint with Routledge in 2016~
PEER REVIEWED MANUSCRIPTS Note: * indicates student co-authorship.
Monico, C., Rotabi-Casares, K. S., & Bunkers, K. M. (in press). The national adoption system and child protection in Guatemala: Looking back and examining today. Adoption Quarterly.
Neville*, S. E., Zidan, T. A., Williams, A., & Rotabi-Casares, K. S. (2022). Child maltreatment and protection in Arab Gulf Cooperation Council countries: A scoping review. Child Abuse and Neglect. Available from
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0145213422004586?dgc…
Abu Sarhan, T., Sloan, L. M., Rotabi, K. S., & Al Falasy, S. J. (2021). Social work codes of ethics in the Arab-Muslim world: A comparison to the IFSW Code of Ethics. British Journal of Social Work.
Fronek, P. F., Rotabi, K. S., & Common*, R. (2021). Intercountry adoption swimming against the tide: Restitution in Samoa. Childhood.
Fronek, P. F., & Rotabi, K. S. (2020). The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on intercountry country adoption and international commercial surrogacy. International Social Work.
Neville*, S. E., & Rotabi, K. S. (2020). Developments in U.S. intercountry adoption policy since its peak in 2004. Adoption Quarterly, 23(2), 1-21.
Sloan, L., Ross, B., Rotabi, K. S., & Barise, A. (2020). Developing the child protection workforce: Collaborative development of Somalia’s certificate, diploma and bachelor degree of social work. British Journal of Social Work.
Mónico, C., Rotabi, K. S., & Lee, J. (2019). Forced child-family separations in the southwestern U.S. border under the "zero tolerance" policy: Preventing human rights violations and child abduction into adoption (Part 1). Journal of Human Rights and Social Work. Available from https://rdcu.be/btchE
Mónico, C., Rotabi, K. S., Lee, J., & Vissing, Y. (2019). Forced child-family separations in the southwestern U.S. border under the "zero-tolerance" policy: The adverse impact on well-being of migrant children (Part 2). Journal of Human Rights and Social Work. Available from https://rdcu.be/byEEe
Rotabi, K. S., & McGinnis, H. (2019). Adoption: Intercountry. In C. Franklin (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Social Work Online. New York, NY: Oxford University.
Fronek, P. F., Common*, R., Rotabi, K. S., & Statham, J. (2019). Identifying and addressing risk in the implementation of alternative care policies in Cambodia.
Journal of Human Rights and Social Work, 4(2), 140-144.
Mónico, C., & Rotabi, K. S., & Abu Sarhan, T. (2019). International aid, relief and humanitarian assistance. In C. Franklin (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Social Work Online. New York, NY: Oxford University.
Rotabi, K. S., Mandayam, G., Manoharan, A., & Mehendale, A. (2019). Building an effective child protection system in India: Integrating a rights-based perspective in social work education within a strategy of developing professional association. Journal of Human Rights and Social Work, 4(2), 128-139.
Bunkers, K., Bradford, N. E., & Rotabi, K. S. (2018). Lost in translation: Cultural interpretations of family in East Africa and implications for children’s care: Examples from Ethiopia and Uganda. Brown Journal of World Affairs, XXIV (11), 119-131. Available from http://bjwa.brown.edu/24-2/lost-in-translation-cultural-interpretations- of-family-in-east-africa-and-implications-on-childrens-care/
San Román, B., & Rotabi, K. S. (2017). Rescue, red tape, child abduction, illicit adoptions and discourse: Intercountry adoption attitudes in Spain. International Social Work, 62(1), 198-211.
Rotabi, K. S., Mapp, S., Cheney, K., Fong, R., & McRoy, R. (2017). Regulating commercial global surrogacy: The best interests of the child. Journal of Human Rights and Social Work, 2(3), 64-73.
Sloan, L. M., Bromfield, N. F., Matthews, J., & Rotabi, K. S. (2017). Social work education in the Arabian Gulf: Challenges and opportunities. Journal of Religion and Spirituality in Social Work: Social Thought, 36 (1-2), 199-214.
Rotabi, K. S., Bromfield, N. F., Lee, J., & Abu Sarhan, T. (2017). The care of orphaned and vulnerable children in Islam: Exploring kafala with Muslim unaccompanied refugee minors in the United States. Journal of Human Rights and Social Work, 2(1), 16-24. doi 10.1007/s41134-017-0027-2
Rotabi, K. S., Roby, J. L., & Bunkers, K. M. (2017). Altruistic exploitation: Orphan tourism and global social work. British Journal of Social Work, 47(3), 648-665.
Scherman, R., Misca, G., Rotabi, K. S., & Selman, P. F. (2016). Parallels between international adoption and global surrogacy: What the field of surrogacy can learn from adoption. Adoption & Fostering. 40(1), 20-35.
Netting, F. E., O’Connor, M. K., Cole, P., Hopkins, K., Jones, J.L., Kim, Y., Leisey, M., Mulroy, E., Rotabi, K.S., Thomas, M.L., Weil, M.O., & Wike, T. (2016). Reclaiming and reimagining macro social work education: A collective biography. Journal of Social Work Education, 52(2).
Weng, S., Rotabi, K. S., McIntosh*, E., High*, J. G., Pohl*, A., & Herrmann*, A. (2015). A Virginia Wounded Warrior and school of social work partnership: The “MISSION: Healthy Relationships” project and student engagement. Journal of Social Work Education, 51, (Supp.1), S44-58. doi:10.1080/10437797.2015.1001284
Ross*, B., Rotabi, K. S., & Maksud, N. (2015). From the evidence of violence against children to a prevention-oriented response in Malawi: Planning for social services with a public health model for social work engagement. Global Social Welfare: Research, Policy and Practice, 2(4), 147-158.
O’Connor, M. K., Netting, F. E., Cole, P., Hopkins, K., Jones, J.L., Kim, Y., Leisey, M., Mulroy, E., Rotabi, K. S., Thomas, M.L., Weil, M.O., & Wike, T. (2015). Voice and community in the corporate academy: A collective biography. Affilia, 30(1), 9-25.
Rotabi, K. S., Bromfield, N. F., & Fronek, P. (2015). International private law to regulate commercial global surrogacy practices: Just what are social work’s practical policy recommendations? International Social Work, 58 (4), 575-581.
Bromfield, N. F., & Rotabi, K. S. (2014). Global surrogacy, exploitation, human rights and international private law: A pragmatic stance and policy recommendations. Global Social Welfare: Research, Policy and Practice. doi: 0.1007/s40609-014-0019-4
Roby, J. L., Pennell, J., Rotabi, K. S., Bunkers, K. M., & Ucles, S. (2014). Pilot training and contextual adaptation of the family group conferencing model: Early evidence from Guatemala. British Journal of Social Work. doi: 10.1093/bjsw/bcu053.
Mónico, C.C., & Rotabi, K. S. (2014). International aid, relief and humanitarian assistance. In C. Franklin (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Social Work Online. New York, NY: Oxford University. doi: 10.1093/acrefore/ 9780199975839.013.870
Rotabi, K. S. (2013). Adoption: Intercountry. In C. Franklin (Ed.), Encyclopedia of Social Work Online. New York, NY: Oxford University. doi: 10.1093/acrefore/ 9780199975839.013.870
Roby, J. L., Rotabi, K. S., & Bunkers, K. M. (2013). Social justice and intercountry adoptions: The role of the U.S. social work community. Social Work, 58(4):295-303. doi: 10.1093/sw/swt033
Leisey, M., Cole, P., Hopkins, K., Jones, J.L., Kim, Y., Mulroy, E., Netting, F.E., O’Connor, M.K., Rotabi, K.S., Thomas, M.L., Weil, M.O., & Wike, T. (2013, Winter). On the making of female macro social workers. Reflections: Narratives of the Helping Professions.
Rotabi, K. S., Pennell, J., Roby, J. L., & Bunkers, K. M. (2012). Family group conferencing as a culturally adaptable intervention: Reforming intercountry adoption in Guatemala. International Social Work, 55(3), 402-416. doi: 10.1177/0020872812437229
Rotabi, K. S. (2012). Child adoption and war: “Living disappeared” children and the social worker’s post-conflict role in El Salvador and Argentina. International Social Work, 57(2), 169-180. Doi: 10.1177/0020872812454314
Costantino, R., Rotabi, K. S., & Rodman, D. (2012). Violence against women and asylum seeking: Global problems and local practices applied to Guatemalan women immigrating for safety. Advances in Social Work. Available from http://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork/article/viewFile/1974/2465
Rotabi, K. S., & Bromfield, N. F. (2012). Intercountry adoption declines lead to new practices of global surrogacy in Guatemala: Global human rights concerns in the context of violence and the era of advanced fertility technology. Affilia, 27(2), 129-141. doi: 10.1177/0886109912444102
Bromfield, N. F., & Rotabi, K. S. (2012). Human trafficking and the Haitian child abduction attempt: Policy analysis and implications for social workers and NASW. Journal of Social Work Values and Ethics, 9(1).
Rotabi, K. S. (2012). El uso de la fuerza, el fraude y la coerción en algunas adopciones en Guatemala: Los casos graves de secuestros que cuestionan el principio del “interés superior del menor” [Force, fraud, and coercion in some Guatemalan adoptions: High-profile abduction cases challenge the ‘best interests of the child’]. Scripta Nova, XVII(395). Available from http://www.ub.edu/geocrit/sn/sn-395/sn-395-24.htm
Rotabi, K. S., & Gibbons, J. L. (2012). Does the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption adequately protect orphaned and vulnerable children and their families? Journal of Child and Family Studies. 21(1), 106-119. doi: 10.1007/s10826-011-9508-6
Jones, J. L., Rotabi, K. S., Levy, J., & Gray*, L. (2012). An interdisciplinary approach to developing innovative teaching strategies for responding to global disasters. Advances in Social Work. Available from http://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork/article/viewFile/1961/245
Rotabi, K. S., & Bunkers, K. M. (2011). In the era of reform: A review of social work literature on intercountry adoption. Sage Open. doi:0.1177/2158244011428160. Available from http://sgo.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/11/14/2158244011428160.full#aff-1. A corresponding podcast interview about this publication is available at http://sgo.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/11/14/2158244011428160/suppl/DC1
Rotabi, K. S., & Bergquist, K. J. S. (2010). Vulnerable children in the aftermath of Haiti’s earthquake of 2010: A call for sound policy and processes to prevent international child sales and theft. Journal of Global Social Work Practice. Available from https://www.academia.edu/626135/Vulnerable_children_in_the_aftermath_of_Haiti_s_Earthquake
Rotabi, K. S., & Heine*, T. M. (2010). Commentary on Russian child adoption incidents: Implications for global policy and practice. Journal of Global Social Work Practice. Available from https://www.academia.edu/7155231/Commentary_on_Russian_child_adoption_incide nts_Implications_for_global_policy_and_practice
Rotabi, K. S., & Gibbons, J. L. (2009). Editorial. [Special Issue: Intercountry Adoption]. International Social Work, 52(5), 571-574.
Rotabi, K. S. (2008). Adoption: Making it transparent but keeping it efficient in Guatemala. Americas Quarterly, Winter, 98-99.
Rotabi, K. S. (2008). Intercountry adoption baby boom prompts new U.S. standards. Immigration Law Today, 27(1), 12-19. Available from https://www.academia.edu/650021/Intercountry_adoption_baby_boom_prompts…
Rotabi, K. S., Morris*, A. W., & Weil, M. O. (2008). International child adoption in a post-conflict society: A multi-systemic assessment of Guatemala. Journal of Intergroup Relations, XXXIV(2), 9-41.
Rotabi, K. S. (2008). Face-to-face with disability and poverty in Central America: Learning from amputees about social support and resilience. Reflections: Narratives of Professional Helping, 14 (1), 55-61.
Robinson, L. C., Carroll, E. B., Orthner, D., Matthews, W., & Rotabi, K. S. (2008). Essential life skills for military families: Mobilizing the Cooperative Extension Service in North Carolina. Journal of Family & Consumer Sciences, 100(1), 52-56.
Rotabi, K. S. (2008). Ecological theory origin from natural to social science or vice versa? : A brief conceptual history for social work. Advances in Social Work, 8 (1), 113-123. Available from http://journals.iupui.edu/index.php/advancesinsocialwork/article/viewArticle/135
Edwards*, E. H., Vaughn*, J., & Rotabi, K. S. (2005). Child abuse investigation and treatment for deaf and hard of hearing children: Ethical practice and policy. The Social Policy Journal, 4 (3/4), 57-71.
Rotabi, K. S., Weil, M. O., & Gamble, D. N. (2004). Teaching policy practice in a global context. The Social Policy Journal, 3 (4), 69-86.
PUBLICATIONS: Book Chapters
Mandayam, G., Ochieng, S., Bunkers, K. M., Long, S., Kobayashi, Y., & Rotabi-Casares, K. S. (2022). Social innovation as the need of the hour in health emergencies. In P. Fronek & K. S. Rotabi-Casares (Eds.). Social Work in Health Emergencies: Global Perspectives. Abingdon, England: Routledge.
Rotabi, K. S. (2020). From intercountry adoption in Guatemala to commercial global surrogacy in Gujarat and beyond: Human rights lessons learned. In A. Banerjee & D. Castillo (Eds.). South of the Future. Syracuse, NY: Syracuse University Press.
Cheney, K. E., & Rotabi, K. S. (2017). ‘Addicted to Orphans’: How the global orphan industrial complex jeopardizes local child protection systems. In T. Skelton, C. Harker & K. Horschelmann (Eds.). Geographies of Children and Young People: Conflict, Violence and Peace (pp. 89-107). New York: Springer Reference. doi:10.1007/978-981-4585-98-9 3-1
Rotabi, K. S., & Goswami*, L. (2016). International surrogacy rights and the needs of the surrogate mothers. In. C. Baglietto, N. Cantwell, M. Dambach (Eds.) Responding to Illegal Adoptions: A Professional Handbook (pp. 172-179). Geneva, Switzerland: International Social Services. Available from https://issuu.com/issirc/docs/iss_illegal_adoption_handbook
Rotabi, K. S. (2016). Social considerations. In. C. Baglietto, N. Cantwell, M. Dambach (Eds.) Responding to Illegal Adoptions: A Professional Handbook (pp. 82-122). Geneva, Switzerland: International Social Services. Available from https://issuu.com/issirc/docs/iss_illegal_adoption_handbook
Ross*, B., Rotabi, K. S., & Maksud, N. (2016). Violence against children in Malawi and social work. In M. Gray (Ed.). Handbook of Social Work and Social Development in Africa. Abingdon, England: Routledge.
Rotabi, K. S., & Mónico, C. (2016). Intercountry adoptions: Legal and policy issues affecting adoption practice. In R. Fong & R. McRoy (Eds.) Transracial and Intercountry Adoptions: Cultural Guidance for Professionals and Educators. New York: Columbia University Press.
Rotabi, K. S., Mónico*, C. C., & Bunkers, K. B. (2015). At this critical juncture in the era of reform: Reviewing 35 years of social work literature on intercountry adoption. In R. Ballard, N. Goodno, R. Cochran & J. Milbrandt, (Eds.). The Intercountry Adoption Debate: Dialogues Across Disciplines. Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
Rotabi, K. S., Armistead, L., & Monico, C.C. (2015). Sanctioned government intervention, “misguided kindness,” and child abduction activities of U.S. citizens in the midst of disaster: Haiti’s past and its future as a nation subscribed to the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. In R. Ballard, N. Goodno, R. Cochran & J. Milbrandt, (Eds.). The Intercountry Adoption Debate: Dialogues Across Disciplines (pp. 629-650). Newcastle upon Tyne, UK: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
O’Connor, M.K., Leisey, M., Cole, P.L., Hopkins, K., Jones, J.L., Kim, Y., Mulroy, E., Netting, F.E., Rotabi, K.S., Thomas, M.L., Weil, M.O., & Wike, T. (2014). A collective biography: Women social work academics. Sage Research Methods Cases. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. http://dx.doi.org/10.4135/978144627305014532194
Rotabi, K. S. (2012). Fraud in intercountry adoption: Child sales and abduction in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Guatemala. In J. L. Gibbons & K. S. Rotabi (Eds.). Intercountry adoption: Policies, practices, and outcomes (pp. 67-76). Surrey, England: Ashgate Press.
Bunkers, K. M., Rotabi, K. S., & Mezmur, B. (2012). Ethiopia: Intercountry adoption risks and considerations for informal care. In J. L. Gibbons & K. S. Rotabi (Eds.). Intercountry adoption: Policies, practices, and outcomes (pp. 131-142). Surrey, England: Ashgate Press.
Gibbons, J. L., & Rotabi, K. S. (2012). Looking to the future. In J. L. Gibbons & K. S. Rotabi (Eds.). Intercountry adoption: Policies, practices, and outcomes (pp. 311-316). Surrey, England: Ashgate Press.
Gibbons, J. L., & Rotabi, K. S. (2012). Best practices in implementing the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption. In J. L. Gibbons & K. S. Rotabi (Eds.). Intercountry adoption: Policies, practices, and outcomes (pp. 255-264). Surrey, England: Ashgate Press.
Mónico*, C., & Rotabi, K. S. (2012). Truth, reconciliation and searching for the disappeared children of civil war: El Salvador’s search and reunion model defined. In J. L. Gibbons & K. S. Rotabi (Eds.). Intercountry adoption: Policies, practices, and outcomes (pp. 301-310). Surrey, England: Ashgate Press.
O’Connor, M. K., & Rotabi, K. S. (2012). Perspectives on child welfare: Ways of understanding roles and actions of current USA adoption agencies involved in intercountry adoptions. In J. L. Gibbons & K. S. Rotabi (Eds.). Intercountry adoption: Policies, practices, and outcomes (pp. 77-88). Surrey, England: Ashgate Press.
Rotabi, K. S. (2011). Intercountry adoption. In L. M. Healy & R. J. Link (Eds.). Handbook of International Social Work: Human Rights, Development, and the Global Profession (pp. 188-205). London, UK: Oxford University Press.
PUBLICATIONS: Reports and Other Media
Rotabi, K. S. & Monico, C. (June, 2020). Eighteen facts that you should know about current immigration policies and procedures, including separation of children from their families, loss of children in the system and asylum seeking. Newsletter, National Association of Social Work-California Chapter.
Rotabi, K. S., Mandayam, G., Manoharan, A. & Mehendale, A. (March, 2019). Strengthening professional social work and the child protection system in India: A vision for social work education, training and a national professional association. International Social Services: IRC Monthly Review.
Rotabi, K. S. (February, 2019). Parent child separation on the southwestern border. NASW California Newsletter. Available at https://naswcanews.org/parent-child- separation-on-the-southwestern-border/
Brady, S. R., Leisey, M., Coles, D. C., Perkins, N. H., Lee, J., Monico, C., Mann-Williams, A., Rotabi, K. S. &Young, J. A. (2017). Letter to the editor: Respecting multiple epistemologies in social work. Journal of Social Work Education.
Rotabi, K. S. & Hübinette, T. (2017). Orphaned and vulnerable Romany children and their protection: Child adoption, foster care, and child rights. AFIN. Available from https://ddd.uab.cat/pub/afin/afinENG/afin_a2017m6n95iENG.pdf
Rotabi, K. S. (2015). Supporting and strengthening mid-cadre child protection professionals at the District Child Protection Unit level: Considering system linkages, strengths, gaps, and capacity building for systems convergence. Unpublished and completed for UNICEF-India.
Rotabi, K. S. (2015). Desk review: Child protection systems development including social work education and training models in action, the importance of social work associations for professional practice and educational standards, and evidenced-based innovations in child protection with considerations for India. Unpublished and completed for UNICEF-India.
Rotabi, K. S. (October, 2015). Fuerza, Fraude y Coacción: Enlazando desde el Conocimiento de la Adopción Internacional a la Gestación Subrogada Global [Force, fraud and coercion: bridging from knowledge in intercountry adoption to global surrogacy], AFIN, 76, 1-15.
Rotabi, K. S. (December, 2014). Force, fraud, and coercion: Bridging from knowledge of intercountry adoption to global surrogacy. (K.E Cheney, Ed.) ISS Working Paper Series / General Series (Vol. 600, pp. 1–30). International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University (ISS). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1765/77403
Rotabi, K.S. (April, 2014). Intercountry adoption of Russian children [invited]. In A. Hund (Ed.) Antarctica and the Arctic Circle: A geographic encyclopedia of the earth's polar regions. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
Rotabi, K. S. (February, 2014). Intercountry adoption and the Hague Convention [invited]. Adoption Today, pp. 12-13.
Rotabi, K. S. (October, 2012). The Second Russian-American Child Welfare Forum: Opening remarks of the Russian child rights commissioner about intercountry adoption, responses, and the spirit of child protection collaboration between the two nations [invited]. APSAC Advisor. Available from http://www.socmag.net/?p=776
Rotabi, K. S. (June, 2012). Baseline study and literature review: Child protection risk and protective factors, institutional capacity to respond, and social work training and education in Afghanistan 2002-2012. Unpublished and completed for Hunter College School of Social Work/Boston College/NSDP/UNICEF Program to Develop National Skills Standards, Curricula and Syllabi for the Establishment of Professional Social Work for Afghanistan.
Rotabi, K. S. (April, 2011). De Guatemala a Etiopía: Modificaciones en la adopción internacional, nuevas vulnerabilidades y cambios en Etiopía [From Guatemala to Ethiopia: Shifts in intercountry adoption practices, new vulnerabilities, and changes in Ethiopia]. Adopciones, Familias, Infancias [Adoptions, Families, Childhoods]. Available from http://www.afin.org.es/
Rotabi, K. S. (June, 2010). From Guatemala to Ethiopia: Shifts in intercountry adoption leave Ethiopia vulnerable for child sales and other unethical practices. Social Work and Society News Magazine. Available from https://unc.academia.edu/KarenSmithRotabi
Rotabi, K. S. (August, 2009). Guatemala City: Hunger protests amid allegations of child kidnapping and adoption fraud. Social Work and Society News Magazine. Available from https://unc.academia.edu/KarenSmithRotabi
Rotabi, K. S. (2007). Eugene P. Odum [invited]. In M. Melosi (Ed.). Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 248-249.
Rotabi, K. S., & Bunkers, K. M. (2008, November). Intercountry adoption reform based on the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoption: An update on Guatemala in 2008. Social Work and Society News Magazine. Available from https://unc.academia.edu/KarenSmithRotabi
Rotabi, K. S., & Morris, A. W. (2007, July). Adoption of Guatemalan children: Impending changes under the Hague Convention for Intercountry Adoption. Social Work and Society News Magazine. Available from https://unc.academia.edu/KarenSmithRotabi