DNA Mystique, The: The Gene as a Cultural Icon. Dorothy Nelkin, with M. Susan Lindee. 1996. 276p. Henry Holt & Co. What explains society’s fascination with the gene? DNA in popular culture has been granted extraordinary powers of agency and control, appearing as an explanation of personality, a source of crime and other social problems, the cause of academic failure, and the basis of financial success. It appears as a scientific guide to social policy, a way to locate responsibility, and to delegate blame: “it’s all in the genes.” In The DNA Mystique, Nelkin and Lindee explore the striking presence of the gene in popular culture, where DNA has become a powerful, deterministic—even magical—entity, the essence of life, and the secular equivalent of the soul. Drawing on stories and metaphors from film, television, news reports, comic books, ads, and even cartoons, the authors reveal how science and culture intersect to shape the social meaning of the gene. Nelkin and Lindee describe how the gene is appropriated to define the proper family, predict future behavior, and advance common stereotypes of gender and race. They show how social problems and opportunities have disappeared behind the image of the double helix, which looms so large in the popular imagination. And they show how cultural interpretations of the gene influence individual expectations, institutional practices, and social policies. Their analysis then addresses a critical issue: What does this fascination with genetics mean for reproductive practices? Does the DNA mystique portend a “new eugenics”—a dangerous science that locates solutions to social problems in biological controls? — From the Publisher

Decision Making in Child Welfare Services: Intake & Planning. Theodore J Stein & Tina L Rzepnicki. 1984. 192p. (International Series in Social Welfare). Kluwer Academic Publisher.

Dependent Child, The: A Story of Changing Aims & Methods in the Care of Dependent Children. Henry W Thurston. 1930. 337p. Columbia University Press.

Deprived Child & Adoption, The. Mary Ellison. 1963. 159p. Pan Piper (London). Information on the process of adoption in England as well as an overview, including some history of the problems of child deprivation and adoption.

Developing Adoption Support & Therapy: New Approaches For Practice. Angie Hart & Barry Luckock. 2004. 224p. Jessica Kingsley Publishers (UK). Adoption is currently taking centre stage in family policy in the UK and USA, with new legislation that places emphasis on providing and maintaining permanent family homes for children separated from their families of origin. This book explores the challenges of adoption and how best to support families coping with these demands. Angie Hart and Barry Luckock draw together adoptive parents’ experiences, professional practice and empirical research to provide an integrative account of adoption support services. Using three fictional families, they illustrate issues such as the adoption of older children, single, lesbian and gay adoptive parenting and the importance of openness in adoptive relationships. The authors bring sociological and anthropological perspectives to bear on current developmental psychology models of trauma and attachment and examine the effectiveness of various therapeutic interventions. Developing Adoption Support and Therapy will make current research and legislation on adoption support accessible to therapists, parents, social work practitioners and managers alike.

Developmental Psychology for Family Law Professionals: Theory, Application & the Best Interests of the Child. Benjamin Garber, Ph.D. 2009. 404p. Springer Publishing Co. The goal of every family law professional and mental health practitioner is to improve family court outcomes in the best interests of the child. This book will assist readers in meeting this critical goal. Developmental Psychology for Family Law Professionals serves as a practical application of developmental theory to the practice of family law. This book helps family law and mental health professionals gain a broader understanding of each child’s unique needs when in the midst of family crisis. It presents developmental theories with which professionals might better assess the developmental needs, synchronies, and trajectories of a given child. Ultimately, this book presents guidelines for making appropriate legal decisions and recommendations for children who have experienced crises such as abuse, neglect, relocation, divorce, and much more. Key topics include: Custodial schedules; Foster and adoptive care; Post-divorce disputes; Termination of parental rights; Psychological assessment and diagnosis; Incarcerated parents and visitation rights; Relocation and “distance parenting”; Visitation resistance and refusal/reunification; Parental Alienation/alignment and estrangement; and Theories of cognitive, language, and social development. About the Author: Benjamin D. Garber, Ph.D., is a New Hampshire licensed psychologist, state certified Guardian ad litem and parenting coordinator. His practice in clinical, consulting, and forensic psychology assists families, agencies, schools and communities to better understand and meet the needs of children, particularly in the context of conflicted family transitions. Dr. Garber serves the courts by providing training, consultation, expert witness and custody assessment services. He is the founder of Parenting Coordinators of New Hampshire (www.PCANH.org), a non-profit organization of family law professionals. He also has a personal website, www.healthyparent.com. Dr. Garber is the author of Keeping Kids Out of the Middle: Child-Centered Parenting in the Midst of Adult Conflict, Separation and Divorce (Health Communications, Inc; October, 2008), which speaks to caregivers about the critical importance of co-parenting regardless of the legal status of their relationship. He also served as consulting psychologist for Your Toddler Month By Month (Penguin Books, 2007). He has published articles in journals such as Family Court Review, Journal of Forensic Psychology Practice, Journal of Child Custody, Professional Psychology, Psychotherapy, and more.

Diagnosis, Assessment & Treatment of Foster & Adopted Children: A Guide for Parents & Practitioners. Christopher J Alexander, PhD. 2009. 238p. Christopher J Alexander, PhD & Associates. As a group, foster and adopted children are at greater risk for developing mental health problems than are other youth. Trauma, abuse, neglect, loss, and abandonment can result in numerous psychological problems, and thus we see elevated rates of mental health diagnoses being assigned to these kids and teens. This typically includes ADHD, posttraumatic stress disorder, depression, and anxiety. Many others meet the criteria for longstanding conditions such as autism, learning disorders, or mental retardation. Child psychologist, Christopher J. Alexander, Ph.D., acquaints the reader with how mental health diagnoses are determined and given to foster and adopted children. He identifies the risk factors for developing a mental health condition and spells out the different treatment options currently being used with these children and their families. Foster and adoptive parents will gain a better understanding of what the different diagnostic terms mean, as well as options for helping their child. About the Author: Christopher J. Alexander, Ph.D. works as a child psychologist in Rio Rancho, NM. In his private practice, Dr. Alexander works primarily with foster and adopted children and their families, providing a range of professional services. This includes psychological and neuropsychological evaluations, parent-child bonding assessments, pre- and post-placement consultation, clinical supervision, and professional training. Dr. Alexander serves as an expert witness for District Courts on child welfare matters, including child placement, termination of parental rights, sibling placement, mental health diagnosis, and parent-child bonding. Dr. Alexander frequently presents at child welfare conferences, addressing issues of diagnosis, assessment, and treatment. Dr. Alexander is on the Board of Namaste Child and Family Development Center, an organization in New Mexico which provides treatment foster care and outpatient clinical services. He is also Adjunct Faculty at Southwestern College in Santa Fe. Dr. Alexander is author of the book, Welcome Home: A Guide for Foster, Adoptive, and Treatment Foster Parents (2005).

Does Family Preservation Serve a Child’s Best Interests?. Howard Altstein & Ruth G McRoy. 2000. 152p. (Controversies in Public Policy). Georgetown University Press. In this new volume, two distinguished professors of social work debate the question of whether family preservation or adoption serves the best interests of abused and neglected children. Arguing the merits of keeping families together whenever possible, Ruth G. McRoy examines the background, theory, and effectiveness of family preservation programs. She provides practical recommendations and pays particular attention to the concerns of African American children. Claiming that there is insufficient evidence that family preservation actually works, Howard Altstein counters that children from truly dysfunctional families should be given the chance for stable lives through adoption rather than left in limbo. Combining the insights of an economist and a political scientist, this new textbook uses real-world cases to provide students with the institutional and political dimensions of policy problems as well as easily understood principles and methods for analyzing public policies. About the Authors: Howard Altstein is a professor in the School of Social Work at the University of Maryland in Baltimore. Ruth G. McRoy is director of the Center for Social Work Research, Distinguished Teaching Professor, and Ruby Lee Piester Centennial Professor in Services to Children and Families, at the University of Texas at Austin.

Dynamics of Adoption, The: Social & Personal Perspectives. Ilan Katz & Amal Treacher, editors. 2000. 240p. Jessica Kingsley Publishers (UK). Documenting experiences representative of all those involved in the adoption process—adoptee, adoptive and birth parent and professional—and informed by psychoanalytic and social and cultural theory perspectives, this important addition to the literature on adoption highlights a new dimension in social policy, welfare work and personal accounts in this field. The Dynamics of Adoption shows that fantasy and emotion are integral parts of the experience and affect the nature of thought itself. Applying this to the complexity of the adoption experience, it combines personal accounts with chapters by professionals. The personal accounts present detailed reflection on the feelings expressed, shedding new light on the problems of loss, feelings of abandonment and the dynamics of attachment. Using a more conceptual and clinical framework the viewpoints of the professionals are also used to explore the feelings and fantasies of the families involved producing new insight into the vexed dynamics involved in adoption. This book will enable practitioners, policy makers and families themselves to appreciate the many layers of the difficult process of adoption, and to apply this understanding creatively to their own decisions and experiences.

Early Experience: Myth & Evidence. Ann M and AD Clark, Editors. 1976. 314p. Free Press. This book challenges one of the most widely held and influential assumptions in psychology. This is the belief that the child’s social experiences in the first few years of life exert a disproportionate influence on later development.

Eastern European Adoption: Policies, Practice, & Strategies for Change. Josephine A Ruggiero. 2007. 176p. AldineTransaction. Between 1990 and 2004, more than 68,000 children born in Eastern Europe were adopted into American families. Almost two-thirds of these children came from Russia. And in contrast to children adopted from Korea, China, Central America, and South America, most of the Russian children were not infants, but between one and four years old. This volume addresses adoption policies and practices as they pertain to adopted children from Eastern Europe, children who have histories of “pre-adoption adversity.“ Drawing on her decade-long experience as an adoptive parent of siblings born in Russia and her expertise as an applied sociologist, Josephine Ruggiero examines the central issues involved in international adoptions, focusing on older children as well as siblings, and suggesting needed changes in policy and practice. Regardless of whether children are adopted domestically or internationally, age is a significant factor in their ability to adjust to and function well in their new families. Only about three in ten Russian adoptees joined their new families as infants. Pre-adoption experiences are also significant factors in a child’s ability to adjust and function well in a new family. Countries differ in risk factors that may figure into the likelihood of adoptees adapting to life in a new family. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, serious medical conditions, emotional problems, behavioral problems, attachment issues, learning disabilities, and exposure to family violence must be considered as potential risk factors in adoptions. Pre-adoption adversity is less likely when children come from birth families that are economically poor but have bonded with them. At a time when adoption has finally “come out of the closet” and the definition of the family is changing dramatically, Eastern European Adoption takes a much-needed look at current adoption policies and practices and how well they do or do not work. Ruggiero draws on the literature on older-child and sibling adoption, and data from a questionnaire survey she designed and conducted with 121 adoptive parents. Ruggiero’s examples from real adoptive families give a human face to the issues, needs, and strategies she discusses. About the Author: Josephine Ruggiero is a Professor of Sociology at Providence College in Providence, RI. Dr. Ruggiero is also a social researcher and, along with her husband, the adoptive parent of a sibling group of three Russian-born children who joined their family in September of 1994. Dr. Ruggiero has given presentations on issues in older-child adoptions and related issues at adoption conferences in Massachusetts and Rhode Island as well as at the national meeting of the American Sociological Association.

Educator’s Guide to Adoption, An. 2000. 22p. Baby pictures ... Family Trees ... Family Life ... Cultural Heritage. These popular school assignments can be difficult, if not impossible, for adopted children. An Educator’s Guide to Adoption will help teachers to increase their understanding of families built by adoption. It gives them the tools to deal with possibly awkward situations and provides resources for integrating lessons about family diversity into the standard curriculum. Every family with school-aged adopted children needs a copy of this book to educate the educators.

Emotional Disturbance in Adopted Adolescents: Origins & Development. Ruth G McRoy, Harold D Grotevant, & Louis A Zurcher. 1988. 226p. Praeger. A report of research on two groups of residentially placed, emotionally disturbed adolescents compared on the basis of their adoptive status. A post hoc comparison with a nondisturbed adoptive group is also included. Although the research revealed few statistically significant differences between the adopted group and the group raised by the biological parents, McRoy, Grotevant, and Zurcher examine factors related to adoption that may contribute to the development of emotional difficulties. The authors’ suggestions are worthy of consideration by professionals in the field; however, because of the lack of group differences, they are based on a shaky foundation. The theoretical reviews of potential sources of difficulty in adoption are well done and informative, and the presentation of the perspectives of both adoptees and adoptive parents is also laudable. — Choice About the Authors: Ruth G. McRoy is Associate Professor of Social Work and Ruby Lee Piester Centennial Fellow in Services to Children and Families at the University of Texas at Austin. Harold D. Grotevant is Professor of Home Economics and Psychology and head of the division of Child Development and Family Relationships at the University of Texas at Austin. Louis A. Zurcher, Jr., was Ashbel Smith Professor of Social Work and Sociology at the University of Texas, Austin.

Emotional Experience of Adoption, The: A Psychoanalytic Perspective. Debbie Hindle & Graham Shulman, eds. 2008. 304p. Routledge. Adoption is an extremely complex and emotionally demanding process for all those involved. This book explores the emotional experience of adoption from a psychoanalytic perspective, and demonstrates how psychoanalytic understanding and treatment can contribute to thinking about and working with adopted children and their families. Drawing on psychoanalytic, attachment and child development theory, and detailed in-depth clinical case discussion, The Emotional Experience of Adoption explores issues such as: the emotional experience of children placed for adoption, and how this both shapes and is shaped by unconscious processes in the child’s inner world; how psychoanalytic child psychotherapy can help as a distinctive source of understanding and as a treatment for children who are either in the process of being adopted or already adopted; and how such understanding can inform planning and decision making amongst professionals and carers. The Emotional Experience of Adoption explains and accounts for the emotional and psychological complexities involved for child, parents and professionals in adoption. It will be of interest and relevance to anyone involved at a personal level in the adoption process or professionals working in the fields of adoption, social work, child mental health, foster care and family support. Compiler’s Note: The evidence suggests that this volume was initially titled Psychoanalytic Approaches to Adoption.

Endangered Children: Dependency, Neglect, & Abuse in American History. LeRoy Ashby. 1997. Twayne Publishers. Endangered Children traces the history of dependent, neglected, and abused children from the colonial era to the present. LeRoy Ashby poses the question “Who speaks for the children?” He finds that the adults who spoke for children throughout American history did so with specific agendas in mind. The welfare of endangered children has become a salient issue during periods of social crisis. Economic anxiety, concerns about the family, and racial and religious tensions have been played out in the debate about dependent, neglected, and abused children. Ashby explores the issues of adoption, foster care, orphanages, family privacy versus state intervention, discrimination, and federal benefits to the poor through careful social and historical analysis and the presentation of compelling case studies.

Enhancing Early Attachments: Theory, Research, Intervention, & Policy. Lisa J Berlin, Yair Ziv, Lisa Amaya-Jackson, & Mark T Greenberg, eds. 2005. 357p. (Duke Series in Child Development & Public Policy). Guilford Publications, Inc. Synthesizing the latest theory, research, and practices related to supporting early attachments, this volume provides a unique window into the major treatment and prevention approaches available today. Chapters address the theoretical and empirical bases of attachment interventions; explore the effects of attachment-related trauma and how they can be ameliorated; and describe a range of exemplary programs operating at the individual, family, and community levels. Throughout, expert authors consider cross-cutting issues such as the core components of effective services and appropriate outcome measures for attachment interventions. Also discussed are policy implications, including how programs to enhance early child-caregiver relationships fit into broader health, social service, and early education systems.

Epiphany & Her Friends: Intuitive Realizations That Have Changed Women’s Lives. Jo Ann Brown-Scott. 2007. 370p. BookSurge Publishing. As women, we are constantly reinventing ourselves through the various roles we experience in the decades of our lives. Our struggle is to truly know ourselves; to define ourselves at the core of our being, and make choices that accurately represent our intention to be productive human beings who make positive differences in the world. Epiphany and Her Friends will awaken your heart and mind to the simple truth that listening to the inner voice of your higher self, in startling moments of intuitive realization, is an infallible guide for living your authentic life. Powerful, true stories, told by women of all ages, provide inspirational support, as if in casual, candid conversation among friends. You will meet the lonely, the lost, the attacked, the betrayed, the recovering, the grieving, the enlightened, the gifted, the giving, the poor and the privileged. As their epiphanies are revealed, you will learn to recognize your own. Chapter 23, “The Guy in the Sky,” tells the story of, Dae Helena Leckie, a rough-cut stone who becomes a diamond of a woman in the painful growing-up process of a young girl. A parenmt’s suffocating over-protectiveness reults in a daughter’s difficult struggle to overcome insecurity, gain confidence, define herself as a person separate and unique from her mother and finally grasp the meaning of her life. This life-long quest for self-knowledge ultimately leads to her spiritual awakening and transformation, away from severe religiosity to joyful spirituality, and an acute awareness of a loving, forgiving God and His noble purpose for her life—that of finding ideal parents for adoptive children. About the Author: Jo Ann Brown-Scott is an artist and a writer. She received a BFA from the University of Colorado combined with studies in psychology and English literature and has worked in marketing and interior design. She currently lives in Northern California and has most recently exhibited her contemporary, mixed media collage art in Colorado and throughout the western United States.

Erotic World of Faery, The. Maureen Duffy. 1972. Hodder & Stoughton (UK). Should we beleve in faries? What happens to fairy tales in an age of reason? Who was the origional wicked stepmother? Is Hansel and Grettel a story of childhood adventure, or brother-sister incest? How is a fifteenth century changeling fable related to a twentieth century adoption fantasy? Is The Little Mermaid a simple underwater fairy tale, or an allegory of homosexual castration fear? Drawing on the whole range of British legend, folklore, superstition and fairytales, Maureen Duffy turns her formidable talents toward an unusual subject: the eroticism, both veiled and obvious, in this tradition. The voluptuousness of fantasy underlies and pervades all forms of imaginative creativity—oral, literary and pictorial—ranging from the blatantly earthy and phallic representations of ancient, pre-Christian times to the unique sensual outlets in as new a form as science fiction. The Fundamental sexuality of Faery—the whole body of British fable, myth and fantasy—is the engrossing subject of this book. About the Author: Maureen Duffy is a notable contemporary British poet, playwright and novelist. She has also published a literary biography of Aphra Behn, and The Erotic World of Faery a book-length study of eroticism in faery fantasy literature. After a tough childhood, Duffy took her degree in English from King’s College London. She went on to be a schoolteacher from 1956 to 1961, and edited three editions of a poetry magazine called the sixties. She then turned to writing full-time as a poet and playwright after being commissioned to produce a screenplay by Granada Television. Her first novel, written at the suggestion of a publisher, That’s How It Was (1962), was published to great acclaim. Her first openly lesbian novel was The Microcosm (1966), set in the famous lesbian Gateways club in London. To date she has published around 30 works, including five volumes of poetry. Her Collected Poems, 1949-84 appeared in 1985. Her work has often used Freudian ideas and Greek Myth as a framework. Her novel Gor Saga was televised in 1988 in a three part miniseries called First Born staring Charles Dance. She is said to have been Britain’s first lesbian to “come out” in public, and made public comments during the debates around homosexual law reform. In 1977 she published The Ballad of the Blasphemy Trial, a broadside against the trial of the Gay News newspaper for “blasphemous libel.” She has been active in a variety of groups representing the interest of writers, and is currently the President of the European Writers’ Congress, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. She is deeply interested in issues around enforcing traditional forms of intellectual property law. Her most recent novel Alchemy (2005) is out in paperback from Harper Perennial. It tells the story of a young lawyer, Jade Green asked to defend a mysterious case of dismissal from the teaching staff of a fundamentalist college and, in parallel, that of Amyntas Boston, a young woman in the household of the Countess of Pembroke in 1603 accused of witchcraft for wearing men’s clothes and practising as a physician.

Ethics in American Adoption. L Anne Babb. 1999. 264p. Bergin & Garvey. Today in the United States there is a lack of consensus about what constitutes ethical practice in adoption. Although ethics in adoption is a hot topic, adoption specialists and professionals are unsure about how to serve the best interests of children who need to be adopted and how birth parents, adoptive parents, and adult adoptees ought to be served. This failure to identify and prioritize ethical standards in adoption has resulted in a lack of ethical decision-making and inadequate—and sometimes fraudulent— treatment of those seeking adoption-related services. Based on the first research study to specifically study ethics in adoption practice, this book offers an in-depth exploration of the history of values in adoption, various codes and standards of practice affecting adoption work nationally and internationally and presents a suggested list of ethical standards specific to adoption work. About the Author: L. Anne Babb is Executive Director of a nonprofit adoption advocacy center, the Family Tree Adoption and Counseling Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

Ethics of Embryo Adoption & the Catholic Tradition, The: Moral Arguments, Economic Reality & Social Analysis. Sarah-Vaughan Brakman & Darlene Fozard Weaver, Editors. 2008. 308p. Springer. At last, a comprehensive collection of essays that examines and advances ethical evaluations of the controversial and increasingly popular practice of embryo adoption. In the United States alone, 400,000 frozen embryos created for in vitro fertilization exist but are no longer desired for that purpose. What are we morally obliged or permitted to do about these spare embryos? More of their genetic parents are considering donating these embryos to others to gestate and raise. This practice is politically volatile (figuring in debates about embryonic stem cells) and medically and morally complex. At the present time within the Roman Catholic Church there is no official teaching on embryo adoption. Catholic ethical analyses grapple with the way embryo adoption comports with respect for embryonic human life yet challenges Catholic moral critiques of assisted reproductive technologies. This volume is the first to bring together leading philosophers and theologians to engage Catholic debates about embryo adoption in an interactive format. The editors, a philosopher bioethicist and a moral theologian, provide a helpful overview of the practice and the arguments surrounding embryo adoption. They engage neglected Catholic ethical resources and issues to advance the current debate and chart new directions in Catholic moral thinking about this intriguing practice. The volume also includes a description of embryo adoption from a physician practitioner along with reflections from a couple who successfully adopted an embryo.

Everything Conceivable: How Assisted Reproduction Is Changing Our World. Liza Mundy. 2007. 432p. Knopf. Skyrocketing infertility rates and the accompanying explosion in reproductive technology are revolutionizing the American family and changing the way we think about parenthood, childbirth, and life itself. In this riveting work of investigative reporting, Liza Mundy, an award-winning journalist for The Washington Post, captures the human narratives, as well as the science, behind what is today a controversial, multibillion-dollar industry, and examines how the huge social experiment that is assisted reproduction is transforming our most basic relationships and even our destiny as a species. Based on in-depth reporting from across the nation and around the world, using riveting anecdotal material from doctors, families, and children—many of them now adults—conceived through in vitro fertilization, Mundy looks at the phenomena created by assisted reproduction and their ramifications. Never before in the history of humankind has it been possible for a woman to give birth to an infant who is genetically unrelated to her. Never before has it been possible for a woman to be the genetic parent of children to whom she has not given birth. Never before has the issue of choice had such kaleidoscopic implications. If you support reproductive freedom, does that mean you support everything being offered in the reproductive marketplace? Thawing frozen embryos and letting them expire? Selecting the sex of your baby? Conceiving triplets and “reducing” the pregnancy down to twins? Everything Conceivable explores the personal impact on individuals using assisted reproduction to conceive, and the moral, ethical, and pragmatic decisions they make on their journey to parenthood. It looks at the vast social consequences: for hospital neonatal wards, for family structure, for schools, for our notion of genetic relatedness and whether it matters, for adoption; for our nation as a whole, and how we think about the earliest human life-forms. The book explores questions of social justice: the ethics of buying or borrowing some part of the reproductive process, as with egg donation and surrogacy. It looks at entirely new family structures being created by families who have conceived using sperm donors, so that children may have half-siblings around the country with whom they are, or are not, in contact. And it looks toward the future, to the impact today’s technology may have on coming generations. Fascinating, commanding, keenly observed and reported, rich in personal drama as well as in the science of evolution and reproduction, Liza Mundy’s Everything Conceivable is a groundbreaking consideration of the changes sweeping through our culture and the world. About the Author: Liza Mundy received her A.B. degree from Princeton University and an M.A. at the University of Virginia. She is a feature writer at The Washington Post Magazine and her work was selected by Oliver Sacks for inclusion in The Best American Science Writing 2003. She has won awards from the Sunday Magazine Editors Association, among others. She lives in Arlington, VA, with her husband and two children.

Expanding the Options in Child Placement: Israel’s Dependent Children in Care from Infancy to Adulthood. Anita & Eugene Weiner. 1990. 184p. University Press of America. On the basis of a 14-year follow-up study of 268 infants in residential care, the authors evaluate the relative merits of adoption, foster care, return to parents or extended family. They stress the significance of the absentee parent, of social work intervention, the advantages of late adoption and make a case for a new look at residential group care as a viable alternative for dependent children in placement. This is the only study to follow up over 14 years an entire population of infants in residential care. It contains comprehensive data on all placement alternatives to which these children were exposed including adoption. It evaluates the comparative impact of each of these placement paths on the subsequent life of the children and their families. About the Authors: Anita Weiner is Senior Lecturer in the School of Social Work at Haifa University in Haifa, Israel. Eugene Weiner is Senior Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the same university.

Exploration of Caseworkers’ Perceptions of Adoptive Applicants. Trudy Bradley. 1967. 225p. CWLA.

Exploring Adoptive Family Life: The Collected Adoption Papers of H David Kirk. Beve Tansey, ed. Introduction by Rael Jean Isaac. 1988. 247p. Ben-Simon. This book of David Kirk’s writings on adoption was assembled in celebration of his 70th birthday. These papers span over four decades of research and publication. They are divided into four main areas: the beginning of the shared fate theory of adoption; the theory as it applies to social work; the theory in the context of medicine, counseling psychology, and law; and, how the theory was developed and what research instruments were used. Exploring Adoptive Family Life provides and in-depth picture of adoption that is exceptionally clear and readable.

Facilitating Developmental Attachment: The Road to Emotional Recovery & Behavioral Change in Foster and Adopted Children. Daniel A Hughes. 1997. 272p. Jason Aronson, Inc. This book shows how to work successfully with emotional and behavioral problems rooted in deficient early attachments. In particular, it address the emotional difficulties of many of the foster and adopted children living in our country who are unable to form secure attachments. Dr. Daniel Hughes maps out a treatment plan designed to help the child begin to experience and accept, from both the therapist and the parents, affective attunement that he or she should have received in the first few years of life.

Fairbridge: Empire & Child Migration. Geoffrey Sherington & Chris Jeffrey. 1998. 304p. Routledge. This study investigates the motives for the establishment of the Fairbridge child migration scheme, examines its history in Australia and Canada, and outlines the experiences of many of the former child migrants.

Families & Adoption. Harriet Gross & Marvin Sussman, eds. 1997. 258p. Haworth Press. A skillful blend of personal adoption experiences and research studies, Families and Adoption explores the special issues adoption presents and how all parties involved can work together to improve placement decisions, ensure that a woman is confident in her decision to relinquish her child, and help families select the most appropriate adoption arrangement. The book’s strength, however, is that it doesn’t just look at the initial considerations of adoption; it prepares you for the issues that will arise along the way.

Families By Law: An Adoption Reader. Naomi R Cahn & Joan Heifetz Hollinger. 2004. 282p. New York University Press. Since the mid-19th century, American law has recognized adoption as a way to create parent-child relationships. As the product of law, rather than blood, adoptive families have become a focal point for debates about the meaning of family, the rights and responsibilities of parents, and the best interests of children. Families by Law brings together diverse perspectives on contemporary aspects of adoption law and practice. Following a historical overview of adoption in American law and society, the reader presents different responses to concerns about who may place children for adoption, the status of birth parents, who may adopt, and the legal and psychosocial consequences of adoption. The new frontiers of adoption are explored: from transracial and intercountry adoption, adoption by same-sex couples, and the adoption of children with special needs, to the movements for opening records and maintaining post-adoption contact between adoptive and birth families. The relationship between adoption and assisted reproductive technologies is discussed, as are feminist, economic, and philosophical perspectives on adoption and procreation. The volume includes statutes and cases, advocacy organization statements, and pieces from legal scholars, social scientists, philosophers, psychologists, and sociologists in order to provide a wealth of information about the contemporary dimensions of adoption. Families by Law provides undergraduates, as well as law, social welfare, and public policy graduate students and others interested in family relationships with a multifaceted context for understanding the complexities of contemporary family life. About the Author: Naomi Cahn is Associate Profesor of Law at The George Washington University and Joan Heifetz Hollinger is Visiting Professor of Law at the University of California, Berkeley.

Family & Social Change: Essays in Sociology & Social Welfare Adminstration. S A Adebagbo, T U Obinyan & ’Lai Olurode. 1986. 96p. Tap Print. Co. (Nigeria).

Family Bonds: Adoption & the Politics of Parenting. Elizabeth Bartholet. 1993. 276p. Houghton Mifflin. See, Family Bonds: Adoption, Infertility, and the New World of Child Production, below.

Family Bonds: Adoption, Infertility, & the New World of Child Production. Elizabeth Bartholet. 1999. 288p. Beacon Press. The world of reproductive technology is exploding. What was once a finite process—with an end point that used to be defined as doctors’ repeated inability to enable couples to produce a baby using their own genetic material—is now an elastic one, expanding to the degree that patients have the time, money and emotional wherewithal to explore a multitude of other options, many using third-party eggs, sperm, embryos and wombs. While this often grueling cycle of treatment goes on, there is one very logical choice for the infertile that is often overlooked, even discouraged: adoption. In Family Bonds, acclaimed family law specialist Elizabeth Bartholet tells her own story of infertility and adoption, recounting the poignant tale of how she moved from an “obsession” with getting pregnant to the realization that adoption is a desirable alternative. Originally published in 1993, it is the first book to have examined these two phenomenon together—the infertility treatments that are pushed too far and the ever-increasing number of children in need of permanent homes. Inspired by her own experience, Bartholet calls for a reform of the policies that govern adoption, and the social attitudes that consider adoptive families to be inferior to biological ones. She also argues that there must be some regulation of infertility treatments. “We need to correct the societal bias that pushes those interested in parenting to produce new life at all costs, without regard to the needs of children who already exist.” she writes. “And we need to begin to address the issues that the new reproductive technologies have thrust upon us—issues that are central to the meaning of life, parenting, and family.” Those issues are at the core of Family Bonds. Bartholet’s own concept of parenting and family changed drastically one morning when, after a decade of infertility treatment, she woke up and realized that there were children out there waiting to be parented. She climbed on a plane and flew to Lima, Peru, where she adopted her son, Christopher. Two years later, she returned to Lima to adopt Michael.

Family in Transition. Arlene S & Jerome H Skolnick. 1997. (9th ed). Longman. An interdisciplinary collection of current and classical readings, Family in Transition explores the many transformations taking place in families today. Additions to this revision include readings on culture and sexuality; Bailey’s inquiry into the origins of the sexual revolution in the ’60s and ’70s; Schwartz’s report on equal marriage; and patterns of child care.

Family Matters: Adoption & Foster Care in Children’s Literature. Ruth Meese. 2009. 180p. Libraries Unlimited. To help librarians and teachers gain a deeper understanding of this sensitive subject, Family Matters: Adoption and Foster Care in Children’s Literature takes a close look at 115 works of children’s literature that have themes related to adoption and foster care, including many that have received the Newberry Award, Caldecott Award, or other prestigious honors from the American Library Association. Family Matters is not just a digest of titles. It is an expert resource for addressing adoption and foster care in the classroom, both as a literary subject and as a personal issue with students. The book opens with an historical overview of adoption and foster care, then reviews level-appropriate titles by age group—K-grade 2, grades 3-5, and grades 6-8. Coverage includes discussions of the impact of adoption and foster care on normal development, as well as suggestions for safe language to use in the classroom, and fun, effective activities for each title.

Family Matters: Secrecy & Disclosure in the History of Adoption. E Wayne Carp. 1998. 288p. Harvard University Press. Family Matters cuts through the sealed records, changing policies, and conflicting agendas that have obscured the history of adoption in America and reveals how the practice and attitudes about it have evolved from colonial days to the present. Amid recent controversies over sealed adoption records and open adoption, it is ever more apparent that secrecy and disclosure are the defining issues in American adoptions—and these are also the central concerns of E. Wayne Carp’s book. Mining a vast range of sources (including for the first time confidential case records of a twentieth-century adoption agency), Carp makes a startling discovery: openness, not secrecy, has been the norm in adoption for most of our history; sealed records were a post-World War II aberration, resulting from the convergence of several unusual cultural, demographic, and social trends. Pursuing this idea, Family Matters offers surprising insights into various notions that have affected the course of adoption, among them Americans’ complex feelings about biological kinship versus socially constructed families; the stigma of adoption, used at times to promote both openness and secrecy; and, finally, suspect psychoanalytic concepts, such as “genealogical bewilderment,” and bogus medical terms, such as “adopted child syndrome,” that paint all parties to adoption as psychologically damaged. By the Same Author: Adoption in America: Historical Perspectives (2004).

Family of Adoption, The. Joyce Maguire Pavao. 1998. 256p. Beacon Press. Pavao is a nationally known family and adoption therapist who works with adoptive children and their families. Her authority and insight come from her combined experience both as a professional therapist and as an adopted child. In The Family of Adoption, Pavao describes the grief processes, dilemmas, and potentials for healing of birth mothers and adoptive parents. A strong advocate for adopted children, she discusses the difference between secrecy and privacy—a crucial distinction in adoption—and lends a strong voice to the movement for openness. Pavao is the first specialist to clearly identify and demonstrate predictable, understandable developmental stages and challenges for every adoptee (pointing out, for example, that adopted children tend to daydream, and may have a more challenging adolescence), and elucidates patterns that adoptive parents may witness as their children grow. As adoption becomes more discussed and less taboo, the emotional road maps become clearer for adoptive families, birth mothers, and children of adoption. The Family of Adoption is a gentle, essential addition to the literature that will help guide families of adoption along the path. — Ericka Lutz, Amazon.com

Family Planning Accessibility & Adoption: The Korean Population Policy & Program Evaluation Study. James A. Palmore, Lee-Jay Cho, Chai B Park, & Mui T Yap. 1987. 125p. (Papers of the East-West Population Institute, No. 108). East-West Center.

Finding Families: An Ecological Approach to Family Assessment in Adoption. Ann Hartman. 1979. 108p. Sage.

Finding Family, Finding Ourselves: A History of Adoption in Canada. Veronica Strong-Boag. 2006. 352p. Oxford University Press Canada. This is a broad survey of the history of adoption in Canada. Strong-Boag uses the analytic lenses of race, class, religion, and gender to examine the historical meaning of adoption, for adoptive and biological parents and for children. About the Author: Veronica Strong-Boag is at University of British Columbia.

Follow-Up Study of Adoptive Families, A. R Brenner. 1951. Child Adopt Research Committee.

Follow-Up Study of Adoptions: Placement Functioning of Adopted Children, Volume 2. J Hoopes. 1970. CWLA.

For the Love of a Child: The Gladney Story: 100 Years of Adoption in America. Ruby Lee Piester. 1987. Eakin Press. History of the Edna Gladney Agency of Ft. Worth, Texas—a story of 100 years of adoption in America.

Forbidden Love, The: Genetic Sexual Attraction. Barbara Gonyo. 2001. Barbara Gonyo, the unofficial head of the GSA movement in America, spent 13 years struggling with the incestuous feelings sparked for her 26-year-old birth son after he found her. Gonyo founded the Truth Seekers in Adoption support group. “I found every combination of couple coming forward,” she said. “There were mothers and sons, fathers and daughters, and even same-sex siblings who had never had any history of homosexuality before meeting. All were ashamed because of how society treated the issue of incest, but many felt that what they were doing was natural and were simply completely unable to control their feelings,” she said. — Quoted from The Observer (London), Sunday, May 4, 2003 (Read the complete article). Available directly from the Author via her website.

Forced Adoption. Ian Josephs. 2008. 236p. (2009. 430p. 2nd Edition). Lulu.com (UK). Forced Adoption is a book that exposes the secret family courts, the gagging of parents and worse still the forced adoption of their children for such trivial reasons as “risk of emotional abuse.” All conclusions are sourced from Parliamentary Questions, the BBC, ITV and reputable newspapers such as The Times, the Daily Telegraph and the Daily Mail. I did not believe that secret courts and forced adoptions in a money-driven industry could exist until I verified actual cases. Free legal advice and help is offered to all parents who are victims of this iniquitous system. For further information, visit the Author’s website. Also available in a shortened (170p.) version.

Formed Families: Adoption of Children with Handicaps. Laraine Masters Glidden, ed. 1990. 242p. Haworth Press. Explores the changes over the past several decades regarding adoption of children with handicaps, and summarizes the present status of principles, practice, and outcomes with regard to these adoptions. Contents: Correlates of Out-of-Home Placement of Handicapped Children: Who Places and Why, by Jan Blacher, Ph.D. and Barbara E. Bromley, Ph.D.; History of the Adoption of Children with Handicaps, by Elizabeth S. Cole, MSW, ACSW; Legal Issues in the Adoption of Children with Handicaps, by Alice Bussiere, J.D.; Administrative and Policy Issues, by Ann Coyne, MSW, Ph.D.; Trends in National Data on the Adoption of Children with Handicaps, by Penelope L. Maza, Ph.D.; Better Me Than Somebody Else: Families Reflect on Their Adoption of Children with Developmental Disabilities, by Jane Marx, MSW, ACSW; The Wanted Ones: Families Adopting Children with Mental Retardation, by Laraine Master Glidden, Ph.D.; Family Bonding with High-Risk Placements: A Therapy Model that Promotes the Process of Becoming a Family, by Ellen E. Pinderhughes, Ph.D. and Karen F. Rosenberg, MSSA.

Foster Care: Child, Adoption and Safe Families Act, Child protection, Complex post- traumatic stress disorder, Elevate (organization), Foster care adoption, Legal guardian, Reactive attachment disorder. Frederic P Miller, Agnes F Vandome & John McBrewster, eds. 2009. 68p. Alphascript Publishing. Foster care is a system by which a certified, stand-in “parent(s)” cares for minor children or young people who have been removed from their birth parents or other custodial adults by state authority. Responsibility for the young person is assumed by the relevant governmental authority and a placement with another family found. There can be voluntary placements by a parent of a child into foster care. Foster care is just a short-term alternative while on the way to determining one of the three permanent plans for the child. According to Dorsey, et al., the three permanent plans are: “Reunification with the biological parent, conversion of the foster home to a legally permanent guardianship or adoption, or placement of the child into another legally permanent family” (p. 1404). Foster placements are monitored until the birth family can provide appropriate care or the rights of the birth parents are terminated and the child is adopted. A third option, guardianship, is sometimes utilized in certain cases where a child cannot be reunified with their birth family and adoption is not right for them.

Foster Care & Families: Conflicting Values & Policies. Ruth Hubbell. 1981. Temple University Press.

Foster Child, The: From Abandonment to Adoption, 1978. Joseph R Carrieri. 1977. 528p. (New York law and practice course handbook series). Practicing Law Institute. Prepared for distribution at the foster child, from abandonment to adoption program, January 21, 1977, New York City.

Foster Child, The: From Abandonment to Adoption, 1980. Joseph R Carrieri. 1980. 395p. (New York law and practice course handbook series). Practicing Law Institute. Prepared for distribution at The foster child, from abandonment to adoption program, May 2, 1980, New York City.

Foster Child, The: From Abandonment to Adoption, 1989. Joseph R Carrieri. 1989. 361p. (New York law and practice course handbook series). Practicing Law Institute. Prepared for distribution at The foster child from abandonment to adoption program, March 21, 1989, New York City.

Foster Family Care. A selected bibliography compiled by Margaret M Otto. 1936. 4p. Russell Sage Foundation.

Foster Home & the Boarded Out Child, The. DM Dyson. 1947. George Allen & Unwin (London).

Foster Home Care & Adoption in Canada. H Philip Hepworth. 1980. 243p. Canadian Council on Social Development.

Foster Home Care in Massachusetts: A Study of Foster Children, Their Biological & Foster Parents. Alan R Gruber. 1973. 113p. Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Governor’s Commission on Adoption & Foster Care.

Foster Parent Handbook. Mary Rapshaw. 2002. 557p. Writer’s Showcase Press. A mom, dad, house and dog do not make a home. Every day, there are children who experience this sad fact when they are removed from their home due to neglect or abuse. Not every foster child has a foster family. In some regions, foster children must wait for long periods of time in shelter care. More than one-half million children in the United States rely on foster families to provide a safe and loving home. Many wonderful and caring families would like to open their homes to these children, but are clueless about how to get started. There are many misconceptions, myths and misunderstandings surrounding foster care. These concerns must be shattered and waiting children must be nurtured. This book details for prospective foster parents the requirements, qualifications and screening process. Step by step, foster parents are guided through the crucial decisions and directed to the vital information they will need to foster parent effectively. Foster Parent Handbook provides an indispensible guide for navigating through the foster care system. It is designed for use by prospective foster parents, those who are currently foster parents and professionals providing foster care services.

Fostering Now: Messages From Research. Ian Sinclair. 2005. 174p. Jessica Kingsley Publishers (UK). Fostering Now brings together authoritative research on foster care in the UK. Succinct overview of a wide range of research projects and highlights the main implications for policymakers and all professionals involved in the fostering process. Drawing on the varied experiences and views of foster children, social workers, foster carers and parents, this book looks at how placement outcomes are influenced by factors such as foster carers’ parenting styles, contact with the child’s own parents, and the child’s gender, ethnicity, age and physical and emotional health. Other important areas examined include care given by relatives, the effects of foster care on education, and what happens to foster children when they return home. Fostering Now identifies the most significant challenges currently faced by foster care and draws out the key messages for policy and practice. It offers important insights into the state of foster care today, and suggests how it can be improved in future. This book is essential reading for social workers, policy makers, academics and foster carers. Consultant Editor: Carolyn Davies, Institute of Education. Carolyn was formerly Chief Research Officer in Social Care at the Department of Health and then at the Department for Education and Skills. She led the commissioning and oversight of the studies reviewed in this book. Carolyn has a strong interest in the effective dissemination and utilisation of high quality research.

Fostering Changes: Treating Attachment-Disordered Foster Children. Richard Delaney. 1991. 94p. RJ Delaney; 2005 (2nd Edition). 140p. Wood N Barnes; 2006 (3rd Edition). Wood N Barnes. Written for foster parents, caseworkers, and mental health professionals, Fostering Changes is a practical book for those who care for, treat, and live with emotionally disturbed foster children. These children are often the victims of physical abuse, neglect, sexual exploitation, and abandonment. This book provides a clear description of the foster child’s attachment and bonding difficulties, a thorough explanation of why foster parents often feel stymied in their attempts to reach the disturbed child, and a concise framework for the child’s treatment.

Franklin County Ohio Adoptions, 1852-1901. W Louis Phillips. 1988. 72p. Heritage Books. In Ohio, the legal procedure of adopting children was authorized on 29 March 1859 by an act of the General Assembly. The first adoption in Franklin County occurred on 27 July 1859 when James Rice, aged three years, son of Jeremiah and Mary Ann Rice, was adopted by John J. and Lydia Wilson. For the period of 1859 through 1901, there were approximately three hundred and forty adoptions in Franklin County, Ohio. All of these appear in the Probate Court Journals and most of them appear in the Probate Court Complete Record as well. All of these records are available on microfilm or as originals at the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus. The abstracts included in this compilation identify the adoptees, the natural and adoptive parents, the adoptee’s new name if the name was changed, and the date of the adoption. A reference code identifies the source where the complete record can be found if desired. *** On 26 January 1987, Judge Richard B. Metcalf of the Franklin County Probate Court sent a letter to Dennis East, State Archivist, in which instructions were contained regarding the opening of all Franklin County adoption records prior to 1 January 1926. Also, all adoption records between 1 January 1926 and 1 January 1964, if intermingled with other Probate Court records, were to be opened; if they were not intermingled, such records were to be closed.

Freudian Ethic. Richard Lapiere. 1960. Allen & Unwin (UK).

Friendly Debate Across the Waters on the Subject of Adoption, A. J Paton & S Lipson. 1992. 26p. Orphan Voyage.

From Child Abuse to Permanency Planning: Child Welfare Services Pathways & Placements. Richard P Barth, Mark E Courtney, Jill Duerr, & Vicky N Albert. 1994. 312p. (Modern Applications of Social Work). Aldine de Gruyter. More than two million child abuse reports are filed annually on behalf of children in the United States. Each of the reported children becomes a concern, at least temporarily, of the professional who files the report, and each family is assessed by additional professionals. A substantial number of children in these families will subsequently enter foster care. Until now, the relationships between the performance of our child welfare system and the growth and outcomes of foster care have not been understood. In an effort to clarify them, Barth and his colleagues have synthesized the results of their longitudinal study in California of the paths taken by children after the initial abuse report: foster care, a return to their homes, or placement for adoption. Because the outcomes of child welfare services in California have national significance, this is far more than a regional study. It provides a comprehensive picture of children’s experiences in the child welfare system, and a gauge of the effectiveness of that system. The policy implications of the California study have bearing on major federal and state initiatives to prevent child abuse and reduce unnecessary foster and group home care.

From Child Welfare to Child Well-Being: An International Perspective on Knowledge in the Service of Policy Making. Sheila Kamerman, Shelley Phipps & Asher Ben-Arieh, eds. 2009. 440p. Springer. This unique volume is an outstanding tribute to Al Kahn one of the most influential researchers on children welfare in the 20th century and an impressive collection of 23 chapters written by leading researchers in the field. The book provides an exceptional opportunity to “experience” the history of the last 50 years of child welfare as well as its current status and future. The book chapters take us through the movement, from a deficit-oriented policy to a developmental model, from a targeted and selective strategy to a universal approach, from child welfare to child well being. Chapters contributed by world renowned experts from 6 countries and 4 continents, are organized in 5 clusters. The first one, which includes Al Kahn last written contribution to the field, looks at how children and families have changed over time as did the research on their well being. The next cluster of chapters focuses specifically on the traditional child welfare system. Following are several chapters on different theoretical perspectives in children welfare and well being. The fourth cluster of chapters focus on economic support for child and family well-being. Finally, the last cluster of chapters advance the agenda moving toward discussion of child well being. This book is a must for anyone interested in children welfare and well being in research, practice, advocacy and policy making arenas.

God-Sent Child, The: The Bitter Adoption of Baby David. Kim Westad. 1994. Viking/Penguin Books. The story of a child who captured hearts across the country, and whose future would be decided by a panel of judges who never met him. A case study of interracial adoption in Alberta that displays many gaping holes in the Social Services program in Canada.

Governing the Hearth: Law & the Family in Nineteenth-Century America. Michael Grossberg. 1985. 417p. University of North Carolina Press. This book offers legal historians and those studying the history of the family an excellent starting point for analyses of 19th century laws and legal interpretations as well as a useful background for understanding contemporary family law. Topics discussed include common law marriage, adoption, rights of illegitimate children, birth control, abortion, and women’s rights, among others.

Great American Birth Rite, The. William & Joanna Woolfolk. 1975. 294p. The Dial Press. Birth and babies are big business, and the principal customer—the baby—is one consumer who never gets consulted! Interviewing hundreds of doctors, nurses, midwives, scientists, businessmen, psychologists, hospital personnel, department store executives, sociologists, politicians and ... parents, the authors expose the pressures of the commercialization of sentiment. Includes chapters on adoption and illegitimacy.

Great Arizona Orphan Abduction, The. Linda Gordon. 1999. 480p. Harvard University Press. In 1904, New York nuns brought forty Irish orphans to a remote Arizona mining camp, to be placed with Catholic families. The Catholic families were Mexican, as was the majority of the population. Soon the town’s Anglo-Americans, furious at this “interracial” transgression, formed a vigilante squad that kidnapped the children and nearly lynched the nuns and the local priest. The Catholic Church sued to get its wards back, but all the courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, ruled in favor of the vigilantes. The Great Arizona Orphan Abduction tells this disturbing and dramatic tale to illuminate the creation of racial boundaries along the Mexican border. Clifton/Morenci, Arizona, was a “wild West” boomtown, where the copper mines and smelters pulled in thousands of Mexican immigrant workers. Racial walls hardened as the mines became big business and whiteness became a marker of superiority. These already volatile race and class relations produced passions that erupted in the “orphan incident.” To the Anglos of Clifton/Morenci, placing a white child with a Mexican family was tantamount to child abuse, and they saw their kidnapping as a rescue. Women initiated both sides of this confrontation. Mexican women agreed to take in these orphans, both serving their church and asserting a maternal prerogative; Anglo women believed they had to “save” the orphans, and they organized a vigilante squad to do it. In retelling this nearly forgotten piece of American history, Linda Gordon brilliantly recreates and dissects the tangled intersection of family and racial values, in a gripping story that resonates with today’s conflicts over the “best interests of the child.”

Growing in the Dark: Adoption Secrecy & Its Consequences. Janine M Baer. 2004. 157p. Xlibris Corporation. Generations of adults who were adopted as children have been kept in the dark about their original identities by an archaic law. Passed in 1935 in California and subsequently in most other states, the law that seals birth records sweeps adoption’s emotional complexities under the rug, making it possible for parents to keep adoption a secret from their children. In this atmosphere of secrecy, myths about adoption and fears about birth parents have become part of our collective view of adoption. In addition, the crimes of baby traffickers are not easily traced as a result of sealed records. In the last few years there is a new if still cautious trend toward openness as the number of states that allow adopted adults the unconditional right to see their original birth certificates has increased from two to five: Alaska, Oregon, Kansas, Alabama and, starting in January 2005, New Hampshire. For adopted people, it is not a matter of nature VERSUS nurture, but of nature VIA nurture, the two inextricably working together as they do for all people. This book calls for an end to denying or maligning “nature” in adopted people by maintaining secrecy. Growing in the Dark takes readers back to the beginning—before there were birth certificates to seal. It follows the evolution of adoption law in California, through the mandating of birth certificates and later the sealing of birth certificates to all sides involved in an adoption. Anyone interested in the evolution of adoption policy will learn something valuable from this book—adopted adults, historians, social workers, lawyers, psychotherapists, reproductive rights advocates, birth parents, and people who have adopted children. About the Author: Janine Baer is an adoptee who published the progressive Chain of Life newsletter from 1989 to 1997 to articulate a vision of adoption that minimizes exploitation of the economically or socially desperate and maximizes cooperation and understanding. Growing in the Dark is based in part on her master’s thesis from San Francisco State University, “The History and Consequences of Sealing Adoption Records.”

Guide to Adoption for Health Care & Counseling Professionals. Kathryn Creedy. 2003. 35p. Guide to Adoption is designed for counselors and other professionals involved with women with unplanned pregnancies. It describes the realities of adoption and how to create an adoption plan. It urges professionals to help women with an unplanned pregnancies formulate an adoption plan.

Handbook of Adoption: Implications for Researchers, Practitioners, & Families. Rafael A Javier, Amanda L Baden, Frank A Biafora, & Alina Camacho-Gingerich, eds. 2006. 584p. Sage Publications, Inc. While most mental health and behavioral health professionals have encountered adoption triad members—birth parents, adoptive parents, and adopted persons—in their clinical practice, the vast majority have had no formal or informal training on adoption issues. The Handbook of Adoption: Implications for Researchers, Practitioners, and Families is the first book to specifically address the many dimensions of adoption-related issues which can and do affect adoption triad members, specifically in the United States. Includes contributions from nationally known experts: Prominent authors who are directly involved in adoption-related research and practice provide insight from personal and professional experience. Theory and real-life examples come together in the “Treatment Issues” and in the “Training and Education” sections of each chapter. Reviews the major theoretical, historical, and research issues of adoption: The book begins by addressing the historical and theoretical issues surrounding adoption, thus providing the reader with a comprehensive review of the adoption landscape from past to present and setting the stage for topics addressed in the remainder of the book. Reflects upon many issues affecting adoption triad members: The contributing authors address issues pertaining to transracial adoption; special issues in adoption such as foster care, single parents, and special needs; training and education issues; assessment and treatment issues; and much more. This extensive resource is designed for researchers, practitioners, students and families interested in learning more about and working with adoption triad members. It will be particularly relevant in counselor education programs, departments of social work and policy, and marriage and family counseling programs which emphasize developing clinical skills with a variety of clients. About the Editors: Rafael Javier, Ph.D. holds numerous appointments, including on the clinical faculty at the Downstate Medical Center in New York, St. John’s University, NYU Medical School, and several institutes and family counseling centers. He is a very prolific author, having written and edited many books and journal articles in the fields of interpersonal violence, family, language and cognition and diversity. Amanda L. Baden earned her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Michigan State University. Currently, she is assistant professor of Counseling at Montclair State University. She has published widely in the area of counseling and adoption.

Handbook of Borderline Disorders. Peter Hartocollis, MD, PhD, ed. 1977. 535p. International Universities Press. Includes section: “The contribution of the adoption studies to an understanding of the phenomenology and etiology of borderline schizophrenias” by Paul H Wender.

Handling Child Custody Cases. Ann M Haralambie. 1983. 621p. (Family Law Series). McGraw Hill.

Handling Child Custody, Abuse & Adoption Cases. Ann M Haralambie. 1993. (Rev edition). Set of 2 Volumes, wuth Supplements. McGraw Hill. This one-stop resource combines coverage of the law with proven trial strategies and hands-on practice tools in child custody, abuse, and adoption cases. Author Ann M. Haralambie, a certified domestic relations specialist, discusses a full range of crucial topics, such as establishing parentage, proving abuse, terminating parental rights, drafting mediation agreements, and awarding joint custody.

Heathcare Professional’s Adoption Guide, The: A Resource Guide for Clinicians, Social Workers, and Healthcare Providers, Covering the Many Aspects of Adoption. Mardie Caldwell. 2007 16p. American Carriage House. Hospitals play a vital role in helping women who are considering an adoption plan, often referred to as “birth mothers.” The Healthcare Professional’s Adoption Guide will assist you with: The Steps to Make an Adoption Plan Successful; Positive Adoption Language; How To Avoid Putting Your Facility At Legal Risk; Sudden Situations; and Resources For Additional Help. Remember, no child is unadoptable and it is never too late for a woman to choose adoption. If you are interested in free adoption inservice training for your medical staff, contact the National Adoption Answer Line at 800-923-6602. About the Author: Mardie Caldwell, C.O.A.P., is the Founder and CEO of Lifetime Adoption and the host of the popular Internet radio talk show, Let’s Talk Adoption with Mardie Caldwell. She is an adoption professional and expert who assists in over 120 adoptions per year and is an author, educator and lecturer. She has appeared on CNN, CBS, ABC, NBC, Fox, the BBC, PBS, Dr. Laura and numerous other radio and TV shows. She has been quoted and consulted for print articles in national and local newspapers, and publications including Parenting and Adoptive Families magazines. An adoptive mother and infertility patient, Caldwell has experienced firsthand the joys and challenges of adoption. It became her lifes work when she realized the critical importance of safe and secure adoptions.

Heredity & Environment in 300 Adoptive Families: The Texas Adoption Project. Joseph Horn & John Loehlin. 2010. 276p. Aldine Transaction. This book presents the results of a 35-year research project involving 300 families, each of whom adopted at least one child at birth from a Texas home for unwed mothers during the period of 1962-1970. The book weaves together information about the birth parents of the adopted children; information about the adoptive parents; and information about the children in these families. Children adopted at birth have two sets of parents. Birth parents provide their adopted-away child with a genetic endowment, but do not participate in shaping the child’s environment. Adoptive parents do not contribute genetically, but are otherwise in charge of directing the child’s development. If adopted children grow up to resemble birth parents they have never seen, the clear inference is that hereditary factors have had an influence. Environmental factors are implicated whenever children resemble their adoptive parents, but not the birth parents. The Texas Adoption Project was designed to investigate the impact of genetic and environmental factors. This unique and innovative longitudinal study is written for specialists and the educated public. An introductory guide is provided for the non-specialist reader explaining the form and statistical content of the tables. Additional technical material for specialists is contained in appendices. This important contribution to the literature on adoption will also be of interest to those interested in the relative weight of genetics and environment in human development.

Hidden Road Just Beyond the Bushes, A: The Theory of Adoption Dynamic/Unresolved Abandonment & the Family. MA Zagata. 2005. 52p. Publish America. A Hidden Road Just Beyond the Bushes is a fresh theoretical look at the adoptee or someone who might be suffering from unresolved abandonment syndrome, a condition that was researched and discovered by an adoptee. It explains the rational theory of suppressed unresolved abandonment and why it happens. It looks at the effects that occur when unresolved abandonment is present in an individual and how it often dictates actions and affects family interaction. It discusses recognizable outward signs and looks at possible avenues of treatment. A Hidden Road Just Beyond the Bushes discusses the theory of natural and learned love and how love affects the adoptee or the individual suffering from unresolved abandonment issues. It looks at the reasons some individuals seek to escape negative feelings through the discovery and use of addictions. And finally, it explains that although this is just a beginning to the research in this new field, it may be the key to a new perspective and approach to an ever-growing problem.

Home for Foundlings, A. Marthe Jocelyn. 2005. 120p. Tundra Books. From the Inside Flap: Thousands of mothers carried their babies to the gates of the Foundling Hospital desperate to save them from the cruel streets of eighteenth-century London. Each baby was left with a personal “token”—identification if a repentant mother ever returned to reclaim her child. Captain Thomas Coram, himself childless, was inspired by the sight of babies abandoned on dung heaps to petition the king for support in building a home for England’s poorest children. Coram’s vision saved countless children’s lives. A Home for Foundlings describes the hospital Captain Coram founded, the luminaries involved—including Handel, Hogarth, and Dickens—and the daily lives of the foundlings themselves. Full of archival photos and materials, and published in cooperation with the newly established Foundling Museum in London and Lord Cultural Resources, A Home for Foundlings is a fascinating, heartbreaking, and timely book. Author Marthe Jocelyn’s text has particular resonance: her grandfather, Arthur Jocelyn, was raised in the Foundling Hospital. About the Author: Marthe Jocelyn is an award-winning author and illustrator who worked for many years as a toy designer before turning her hand to writing. Although this is her first work of non-fiction, she has written five novels, including the critically acclaimed works of historical fiction Mable Riley and Earthly Astonishments. Marthe Jocelyn lives in New York City and Stratford, Ontario with her husband, artist Tom Slaughter, and their daughters.

How Do You Find a Polish Boy by the Name of Smith?: Three Score Ten & Then They Found Him. Donald F Smith. 1989. 126p. DF Smith.

How Foster Children Turn Out: A Study & Critical Analysis of 910 Children Placed in Foster Homes, Who Are Now Eighteen Years of Age or Over. Sophie Van Senden Theis. 1974. 240p. (Repr of 1924 ed). Ayer Co Pubs.

How They Fared in Adoption: A Follow-Up Study. Benson Jaffee & David Fanshel. 1970. 384p. Columbia University Press.

Identity Formation in the Adopted Adolescent. Leslie M Stein & Janet L Hoopes. 1985. 83p. CWLA.

Illegitimacy, Sexuality & the Status of Women. Derek Gill. Illustrated by Simon Colverson. 1977. 362p. Basil Blackwell (UK). Illegitimacy, Sexuality & the Status of Women is a sociological and historical examination of changes in the incidence of illegitimacy in the ninteenth and twentieth centuries with particular reference to the recent increase in illegitimacy in Great Britain, and to extensive case-studies in Aberdeen. These changes are related to alterations in patterns of and atttitudes towards sexual behaviour in British society over the past 150 years, and the struggle for the second stage of female emancipation: sexual and economic freedom. The book analyses the demographic characteristics of women who conceive outside marriage, and go on to bear an illegitimate child. These women are compared to and contrasted with women who marry between conception and confinement, and those who resolve the situation by abortion. The different circumstances of women who keep, and women who release their illegitimate children for adoption are also discussed. The subsequent fate of the illegitimate child is examined in comparison with children born legitimate, but who later experience periods of single-parentness.

Human Embryo Adoption: Biotechnology, Marriage, & the Right to Life. Rev Thomas V Berg, LC, & Edward James Furton, eds. 2006. 364p. The National Catholic Bioethics Center and The Westchester Institute for Ethics & the Human Person. What should we do with the hundreds of thousands of frozen human embryos held in fertility clinics around the world? One solution would be adoption. Would such a course of action be moral? That is the question faced in this volume. The leading thinkers in Catholic bioethics divide into two opposing camps in a great debate over biotechnology, sexuality, marriage, and the right to life.

Illinois Divorce & Family Lawyers & Law. Leading American Attorneys. 1997. 138p. American Research Corp.

“I’m Here Waiting”—Birth Relatives’ Views on Part II of the Adoption Contact Register for England & Wales. Audrey Mullender & Sarah Kearn. 1997. 196p. British Association for Adoption & Fostering. Has the Adoption Contact Register raised expectations it cannot fulfil? Why does the Register give all the impetus to make contact to the adopted person? Does the current system fail to recognise the rights and feelings of the birth relatives who must wait possibly for a link that may never be made? This is the first research study to examine the views of birth relatives who have used Part II of the Adoption Contact Register for England and Wales. Through the responses of 1, 784 birth parents, siblings and other relatives, it explores the depth and complexity of the emotions of those involved and highlights the anomalies created by current legislation. Birth mothers speak of a fundamental need to know that their child is alive and well. Birth fathers feel overlooked by placing and support agencies. Many siblings argue a moral right to contact a brother or sister who may have been placed before they were born. Calling for major changes to create a more sensitive system in the context of “openness”, this study will make a valuable contribution to current debates arising from draft adoption legislation and will influence improvements in placement practice and post-adoption work.

Imagining Adoption: Essays on Literature & Culture. Marianne Novy, ed. 2000. 312p. University of Michigan Press. Imagining Adoption brings together for the first time analyses of literary portrayals of adoption. It begins to identify writings—by George Eliot, Edward Albee, Barbara Kingsolver, ordinary adoptive mothers, and adoptee activists—that could be called the literature of adoption, and to explore what these writings share and what they debate. Adoption plots dramatize cultural tensions about definitions of family and the importance of heredity, along with changing constructions of illegitimacy, infertility, maternal instinct, and homosexuality. Since adoption often brings together people from groups usually widely separated—by economics, ethnicity, and increasingly, nation of birth—its use in fiction can contrast their worlds and can protest against their split and/or against the victimization of one group by the other. Some contributors argue that adoption affects the imagination of several adoptee authors (Albee, Winterson, McPherson, Kay) even when dealing with other topics. But most importantly this anthology shows how complex and varied are the ways in which people have written about adoption itself. The essays analyze adoption as depicted in a range of works, including nineteenthcentury novels (George Eliot and Anthony Trollope); children’s literature (Anne of Green Gables, Charlotte’s Web); contemporary fiction (Louise Erdrich, Jeanette Winterson, Barbara Kingsolver, Margaret Laurence); poetry (Sandra McPherson, Jackie Kay); and film (Secrets and Lies, Losing Isaiah). They examine personal narratives by “home children,” magazine articles by adoptive mothers, adoptee rights newsletters, and scholarly arguments about transracial and transnational adoption. The contributors contextualize their literary and rhetorical analyses with reference to historical research; feminist, Foucauldian, psychoanalytic, and postcolonial theory; and personal experience. About the Editor: Marianne Novy is Professor of English and Women’s Studies, University of Pittsburgh. She is author of Love’s Argument: Gender Relations in Shakespeare and Engaging with Shakespeare: Responses of George Eliot and Other Women Novelists, and has edited three anthologies on women’s responses to Shakespeare: Women’s Re-Visions of Shakespeare, Cross-Cultural Performances, and Transforming Shakespeare. — From the Dust Jacket Flyleaves

Immigration & Adoption. Claudia Mortimore. 1994. 128p. Trentham Books (UK). Intended for all those involved in the adoption process this study covers the grey area between immigration law and the law on adoption. The book provides an analysis of the law and practice, discussing the proposed reforms of adoption law and suggesting that there are real problems of inequality and discrimination which need to be tackled by a comprehensive reassessment of policy in this field.

In Crisis With DYFS. Arnold D Herman. 1992. Northwest Publishing Inc. Details the author’s experiences in dealing with foster children and the foster care system, revealing in explicit detail, the love, hate and most of all the hurt that was a constant boarder in their home. About the Author: Arnold D. Herman directs Experience Counts Inc. Mr. Herman and his wife have raised a total of 32 teenagers. Five were their own children. Twenty-two were children placed in their home by the New Jersey Division of Youth & Family Services (DYFS). He was given custody of two more by the New Jersey Family Court System. Two others were relatives, and one was a neighborhood girl who came to spend a weekend and stayed for two and one-half years. Twenty-eight of the teenagers were female. Most of them were hard to handle abused youngsters who had been in multiple homes or residential placements before coming to him. Mr. Herman was a certified trainer of prospective foster parents for NJ’s DYFS Agency, specializing in teaching methods of handling adolescent acting out behavior. He served as a member of the Monmouth County. NJ Court System’s Child Placement Review Board for more then a decade. In addition to In Crisis with DYFS, he has written magazine articles on methods of communicating with teenagers. and advice columns for various newspapers under the heading, “Dealing with Parents and Teens.”

In Quest of Foster Parents: A Point of View on Homefinding. Dorothy Hutchinson. 1943. 145p. Columbia University Press.

In Search of Origins: The Experiences of Adopted People. John Triseliotis. Foreword by Jane Rowe. 1973. 177p. Routledge & Kegan Paul. This is a British study of adopted people who were searching either for their original parents or for information about their genealogy and background. Based upon the findings of a research study of individuals who visited Register House in Edinburgh to see their birth registration, it describes the reasons and motivations for the search, the adoptees’ account of relationships within their families, their self-perception and identity, when and how they came to know about their adoption. It tells the outcome of their searches and the adoptees’ reactions to their findings, including meetings with some of their original parents.

In Their Own Voices: Transracial Adoptees Tell Their Stories. Rita James Simon & Rhonda Roorda. 2000. 480p. Columbia University Press. Nearly forty years after researchers first sought to determine the effects, if any, on children adopted by families whose racial or ethnic background differed from their own, the debate over transracial adoption continues. In this collection of interviews conducted with black and biracial young adults who were adopted by white parents, the authors present the personal stories of two dozen individuals who hail from a wide range of religious, economic, political, and professional backgrounds. How does the experience affect their racial and social identities, their choice of friends and marital partners, and their lifestyles? In addition to interviews, the book includes overviews of both the history and current legal status of transracial adoption.

In Their Parents’ Voices: Reflections on Raising Transracial Adoptees. Rita J Simon & Rhonda M Roorda. 2007. 218p. Columbia University Press. Rita J. Simon and Rhonda M. Roorda’s In Their Own Voices: Transracial Adoptees Tell Their Stories (2000) shared the experiences of 24 black and biracial children who had been adopted into white families in the late 1960s and 70s. The book has since become a standard resource for families and practitioners. Now, in this companion volume, we hear from the parents of these remarkable families and learn what it was like for them to raise children across racial and cultural lines. These candid interviews shed light on the issues these parents encountered, what part race played during thirty plus years of parenting, what they learned about themselves, and whether they would recommend transracial adoption to others. Combining trenchant historical and political data with absorbing firsthand accounts, Simon and Roorda once more bring an academic and human dimension to the literature on transracial adoption. About the Authors: Rita J. Simon is a University Professor in the School of Public Affairs and the Washington College of Law at American University in Washington, D.C. She has published 37 books and edited 19 and is currently the editor of Gender Issues. Rhonda M. Roorda works at an educational advocacy organization in Lansing, MI, and writes for Fostering Families TODAY and Adoption TODAY magazines.

In Their Siblings’ Voices: White Non-Adopted Siblings Talk About Their Experiences Being Raised with Black & Biracial Brothers & Sisters. Rita J Simon & Rhonda M Roorda. 2009. 248p. Columbia University Press. In Their Siblings’ Voices shares the stories of 20 white non-adopted siblings who grew up with black or biracial brothers and sisters in the late 1960s and 1970s. Belonging to the same families profiled in Rita J. Simon and Rhonda M. Roorda’s In Their Own Voices: Transracial Adoptees Tell Their Stories and In Their Parents’ Voices: Reflections on Raising Transracial Adoptees (see above), these siblings offer their perspectives on the multiracial adoption experience, which, for them, played out against the backdrop of two tumultuous, politically charged decades. Simon and Roorda question whether professionals and adoption agencies adequately trained these children in the challenges presented by blended families, and they ask if, after more than 30 years, race still matters. Few books cover both the academic and the human dimensions of this issue. In Their Siblings’ Voices helps readers fully grasp the dynamic of living in a multiracial household and its effect on friends, school, and community. About the Authors: Rita J. Simon is a University Professor in the School of Public Affairs and the Washington College of Law at American University in Washington, DC. She has published 43 books, edited 19, and is currently the editor of Gender Issues. Rhonda M. Roorda was adopted into a white family and raised in the Washington, DC., metropolitan area. The author of a chapter in the Handbook of Adoption: Implications for Researchers, Practitioners, and Families (“Moving Beyond the Controversy of the Transracial Adoption of Black and Biracial Children,” pp. 133-148), she currently works at an educational advocacy organization in Lansing, MI.

In Touch With Parents Training Pack (C). British Agencies for Adoption & Fostering, eds. 1989. St Mut.

Incidence of Adopted Children at a Diagnostic Centre & Two Residential Treatment Centres. Prepared by Ken Beckett. 1977. 36p. Ministry of Human Resources, Adoption Section (Vancouver, BC).

Independent Adoptions, A Follow-Up Study. Helen Leland Witmer, et al. 1963. 463p. Russell Sage Foundation.

Indian Child Welfare Act Handbook: A Legal Guide to the Custody & Adoption of Native American Children. BJ Jones, Mark Tilden & Kelly Gaines-Stoner. 2008. 350p. (2nd Ed.) American Bar Assocaition. This is one-of-a-kind guide to the Indian Child Welfare Act of 1978, enacted to ameliorate the problem of the removal of Native American children from their homes by state welfare agencies and private agencies and to ensure that those children would be placed in homes that reflect their cultures and traditions. Now revised and updated, it examines case law from courts around the country—this is not an issue confined to reservations and their border towns. It explains the history of the act and how is applied, as well as its procedural requirements. Includes appendices on CD-ROM.

Infertility & Adoption: A Guide for Social Work Practice. Deborah Valentine, ed. 1988. 190p. Haworth Press. Table of Contents: Foreword by Ann Hartman; “Women, Motherhood, and Infertility: The Social and Historical Context” by Rita Rhodes; “Implications for Social Work Practice” by Sharon N. Covington; “Coping with Infertility” by Jeanne Fleming and Kenneth Burry; “Reproductive Losses and Grieving” by Patricia Conway Deborah Valentine; “Support to Persona experiencing Infertility: Family and Friends Can Help” by Patricia Payne Mahlstedt and Page Townsend Johnson; “Vulnerability to Crises During the Life Cycle of the Adoptive Family” by Dorothy W. LePere; “The Institution of Adoption: Its Sources and Perpetuation” by Leroy H. Pelton; “Open Adoptions: Practice and Policy Issues” by Ruth G. McRoy and Harold D. Grotevant; “Placeemnt Disruptions: Perspectives of Adoptive Parents” by Deborah Valentine, Patricia Conway and Jerry Randolph; “Post-Legal Adoption Services: A Lifelong Commitment” by Marietta E. Spencer; “Teleconference Technology in Adoption: Utilizing Educational Television to Adoption Preparation” by Robert L. Howell; Index

Infertility Treadmill, The: Feminist Ethics, Personal Choice, & the Use of Reproductive Technologies. Karey A Harwood. 2007. (Studies in Social Medicine). The University of North Carolina Press. Combining attention to lived experience with the critical tools of ethics, Harwood explores why many women who use high-tech assisted reproduction methods tend to use them repeatedly, even when the results are unsuccessful. With a compassionate look at the individual decision making behind the desire to become pregnant and the use of assisted reproductive technologies (ART), Harwood extends the public conversation beyond debates about individual choice by considering the experiences of families and by addressing the broader ethical problems presented by these technologies. Incorporating the personal narratives of women who are members of RESOLVE, the nation’s leading organization for people who are infertile, Harwood demonstrates that repeated unsuccessful attempts to use ART may ironically help women come to terms with their infertility. Yet ART is problematic for a number of reasons, including the financial, physical, and emotional costs for women and their families as well as the effects of these technologies on the health and well-being of the children conceived. Issues such as consumerism, workplace norms that encourage delayed childbearing, and narrow definitions of family all come into play. By considering both emotional and ethical dimensions, Harwood offers a humanistic account of infertility and its resolution in a twenty-first-century American context. About the Author: Karey Harwood is assistant professor of philosophy and religion at North Carolina State University.

Inside the Adoption Agency: Understanding Intercountry Adoption in the Era of the Hague Convention. Jean Nelson-Erichsen. 2007. 102p. iUniverse, Inc. Inside the Adoption Agency provides a glimpse inside the fascinating world of international adoption and explains the Hague Convention on Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption, which is revolutionizing a process that was previously uncontrolled and marred by scandal. About the Author: Jean Nelson Erichsen, MA, LBSW, is a co-founder of the first international adoption agency based in Texas. Erichsen and her husband, Heino R. Erichsen, have also participated in U.S. State Department Study Groups for the Hague Convention and the proposal of the Treaty at the Hague, Holland. See also, My Portable Life (2009)

2nd Edition

Insight into Adoption: What Adoptive Parents Need to Know About the Fundamental Differences Between a Biological & an Adopted Child—And Its Effect. Barbara Taylor Blomquist. 2001. 123p. (2009. 195p. 2nd Edition; Subtitled: Uncovering and Understanding the Heart of Adoption). Charles C Thomas Pub Ltd. Adoption is intended to be, and should be, a fulfilling, beautiful, rewarding, and enriching aspect in anyone’s life. Many times, however, there are pitfalls and a lack of resources to turn to for help, advice, and answers on the subject. This book deals with these pitfalls which may not be obvious to the unenlightened adoptive parent who was basically handed a child and told to “Make him your own.” The goal of this book is to help adoptive parents understand some potentially challenging factors so they can deal with them positively and to help parents comprehend the thinking process of their child. It will also be an invaluable resource to social workers, teachers, and counselors so that they may approach their adopted clients in an enlightened way once they understand an adopted child has issues in his life unique to the adoptive process. Adoptive parents reading this book can gain a different insight into their child’s reasoning, and this information can be used to avert some potential problems they might otherwise face. It includes all the issues that adoptive families should be told about, and it is based primarily upon real life experiences relating equally to both sexes. In particular, it will apprise the non-adopted person, the adoptive parent, so he can look at the obstacles his adopted child may be facing. Then he, as a parent, can begin to understand his child’s behavior. Once the true source of the adopted child’s pain is discovered, parents can reach the “ah, ha” moment we have all experienced. With understanding comes a new attitude and the impetus to change the whole atmosphere from negative to positive. The child and his parents will still have issues to deal with, but the source has been uncovered and issues can be faced openly. Readers will appreciate that the book is designed to flow in the first person as if the author was talking directly with them.

Intercountry Adoptees Tell Their Stories. Heather Ahn-Redding & Rita J Simon. 2007. 360p. Lexington Books. Intercountry Adoptees Tell Their Stories reflects the thoughts and experiences of adult transracial adoptees. The authors conducted in-depth interviews in order to understand and examine the adoptees’ attitudes towards identity, culture, race, and parenting within a multicultural household. The men and women interviewed in this study offer the readers a detailed and personal glimpse into their worlds. They represent a range of positive and negative adoption stories and describe the complexities of ethnic identity formation. Each experience related in this volume is unique not only in demographic characteristics, but in the journey each participant has undertaken in his or her transition to adulthood and identity formation. What emerges from the interviews is a broad collection of voices speaking out from all corners of the country about their adoption. About the Authors: Heather Ahn-Redding is Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at High Point University, North Carolina. Rita J. Simon is Professor of Justice, Law and Society at American University.

Intercountry Adoption: Developments, Trends & Perspectives. Peter Selman, ed. 2000. 545p. British Agencies for Adoption and Fostering (UK). The issues surrounding intercountry adoption are complex, with probably 30,000 children moving every year between 100 countries. Is this in the child’s best interests? What are the rights of the child in this situation? Who adopts from overseas, and why? And what are the outcomes? The passing of the Adoption (Intercountry Aspects) Act 1999 has focussed attention on this—relatively rare—aspect of UK adoption practice and the UK is now expected to ratify the 1993 Hague Convention on the Protection of Children and Co-operation in Respect of Intercountry Adoption some time early in 2001. This timely book provides information and raises a wide range of issues relating to policy and practice, informed by research and the experience of countries with a longer and more extensive experience of intercountry adoption than the UK. The issues are placed in context by bringing together the findings of research into outcomes, the views of both States of origin and receiving States, the perspectives of the Hague Convention and the UK government and the voice of adoptive parents, adoptees and birth parents. The main focus is on the responsibilities of receiving countries in ensuring that intercountry adoption is carried out in the best interests of the child, but the book also looks at issues of race and gender, the position of relinquishing mothers, the implications of adopting an institutionalised child and at patterns of adoption world-wide. Sections cover: The development of overseas adoption: background including key demographic, legal, ethical and sociological issues; Research into outcomes: children adopted into the UK from Romania; follow up studies of children adopted from abroad in the Netherlands, Sweden and Norway; The UK experience: the legal framework; the growth of parents groups; the work of the Overseas Adoption Helpline (now called the Intercountry Adoption Centre) and other non-governmental organisations; the approach of one local authority and the issue of home studies; A world-wide perspective: experience from other receiving countries including the United States, South Australia, the Netherlands and Sweden and a sending country, India; and Personal perspectives on intercountry adoption: the direct voice of members of the adoption triangle including an adoptive parent, adoptees and birth mothers in the third world. This unique anthology provides fascinating insights into a controversial and topical issue, as well as many possible lessons—both positive and negative—for those involved in developing services in the UK. It will be essential reading for social work practitioners and managers as well as for parents considering overseas adoption and for other professionals involved in the process. About the Author: Peter Selman is Senior Lecturer in Social Policy at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne and chair of the Network for Intercountry Adoption. He has published widely on many aspects of adoption. Contributors include eminent researchers, adopters, adoptees and practitioners.

Intercountry Adoptions: Laws & Perspectives of “Sending” Countries. Eliezer D Jaffe, ed. 1994. 235p. Gefen Books. With the drastic decrease in the number of adoptable babies from Western nations, the incidence of foreign adoptions from the developing nations of South America, Eastern Europe and Asia has greatly increased. This book, written by adoption workers and legal scholars from twelve “sending” countries, presents, for the first time, details of those countries’ adoption laws and procedures as well as international agreements governing foreign policy. An important and long-awaited reference book for potential adoptive couples, child care workers and social service agencies.

International Adoption: A Legal Research Guide. Shawn C. Stevens. 2004. 67p. William S Hein & Co. This research guide is intended to help those doing research on the different aspects of international adoption, particularly the legal aspects. Prospective adoptive parents need to understand the international adoption process and the legal requirements, costs, and pitfalls that go along with the process. This guide briefly examines both the advantages and disadvantages of international adoption and offers citations to primary and secondary sources as well as to additional resources of benefit to both prospective parents and researchers.

International Adoption: An Issue of Pediatric Clinics. Lisa Albers, Dana Johnson, Jerri Ann Jenista, & Elizabeth Barnett. 2005. 240p. Saunders. As the numbers of internationally adopted children increase in the US, so does the likelihood that these children will be seen in health care settings, schools, and the community. This volume will provide an overview of international adoption and will provide information about preparation of families for international adoption; initial assessment of internationally adopted children, including screening for infectious diseases, updating immunizations, and assessing developmental status; special medical and development issues; working with school systems and assessing traditional and alternative therapies; and a discussion of long-term challenges and outcomes for internationally adopted children. This volume will be of value to health professionals, teachers, therapists, and those who are involved in any way with internationally adopted children and young adults and their families.

International Adoption: Global Inequalities & the Circulation of Children. Diana Marre & Laura Briggs, eds. 2009. 312p. New York University Press. In the past two decades, transnational adoption has exploded in scope and significance, growing up along increasingly globalized economic relations and the development and improvement of reproductive technologies. A complex and understudied system, transnational adoption opens a window onto the relations between nations, the inequalities of the rich and the poor, and the history of race and racialization. Transnational adoption has been marked by the geographies of unequal power, as children move from poorer countries and families to wealthier ones, yet little work has been done to synthesize its complex and sometimes contradictory effects. Rather than focusing only on the United States, as much previous work on the topic does, International Adoption considers the perspectives of a number of sending countries as well as other receiving countries, particularly in Europe. The book also reminds us that the U.S. also sends children into international adoptions—particularly children of color. The book thus complicates the standard scholarly treatment of the subject, which tends to focus on the tensions between those who argue that transnational adoption is an outgrowth of American wealth, power, and military might (as well as a rejection of adoption from domestic foster care) and those who maintain that it is about a desire to help children in need. About the Editors: Diana Marre is senior researcher in Social Anthropology at the Instituto de Infancia y Mundo Urbano in Barcelona. She is co-editor of La Adopción y el Acogimiento. Laura Briggs is Associate Professor and Department Head, Gender and Women’s Studies, University of Arizona.

International Advances in Adoption Research for Practice. Gretchen Miller Wrobel & Elsbeth Neil, eds. 2009. 358p. Wiley-Blackwell. This is a unique compilation of cross-cultural and international attitudes towards adoption research and outcomes.
•   Whilst informal adoption of children has probably always existed across all human societies, this work is timely in that interest in the role of legal adoption as both a child welfare solution and as a means of alternative family formation for adults wanting to become parents has never been higher.
•   This book is an edited collection of 13 papers based on invited keynote presentations or paper symposia presentations given at the Second International Conference on Adoption Research (ICAR2) 2006
•   It gives a unique Cross-cultural look at adoption from worldwide, multidisciplinary community of distinguished and emerging adoption researchers.
•   International appeal, with different countries laws, attitudes and outcomes fully explored.

International Children’s Rights. Sara Dillon. 2009. 1,008p. Carolina Academic Press. This book provides an exciting and comprehensive look at the main themes legal and political affecting international children’s rights today. Designed for use in both graduate and law school settings, it is divided into seven major topics: the role of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, child labor, children in the global sex industry, children without parental care, children and punishment, children and armed conflict, and finally children’s rights as interpreted and applied in regional human rights systems. Sara Dillon has brought together a wide variety of writings so that students will understand the underlying controversies relating to each unit. These include academic articles, United Nations reports, evidence provided by non-governmental organizations, and material from many other sources. Introductory sections and notes and questions frame the readings, and facilitate use of the book as a teaching tool. About the Author: Sara Dillon is a professor at Suffolk University Law School.

International Korean Adoption: A Fifty-Year History of Policy & Practice. Kathleen Ja Sook Bergquist, M Elizabeth Vonk, Dong Soo Kim & Marvin D Feit, eds. 2007. 300p. Haworth Press. International Korean Adoption: A Fifty-Year History of Policy and Practice explores the long history of international transracial adoption. Scholars present the expert multidisciplinary perspectives and up-to-date research on this most significant and longstanding form of international child welfare practice. Viewpoints and research are discussed from the academic disciplines of psychology, ethnic studies, sociology, social work, and anthropology. The chapters examine sociohistorical background, the forming of new families, reflections on Korean adoption, birth country perspectives, global perspectives, implications for practice, and archival, historical, and current resources on Korean adoption. International Korean Adoption provides fresh insight into the origins, development, and institutionalization of Korean adoption. Through original research and personal accounts, this revealing text explores how Korean adoptees and their families fit into their family roles—and offers clear perspectives on adoption as child welfare practice. Global implications and politics, as well as the very personal experiences are examined in detail. This source is a one-of-a-kind look into the full spectrum of information pertaining to Korean adoption. Topics include: adoption from the Korean perspective; historical origins of Korean adoption in the United States; adjustments of young adult adoptees; marketing to choosy adopters; ethnic identity; perspectives on the importance of race and culture in parenting; birth mothers’ perspectives; sociological approach to race and identity; representations of adoptees in Korean popular culture; adoption in Australia and the Netherlands; and much more. International Korean Adoption: A Fifty-Year History of Policy and Practice is illuminating reading for adoptees, adoptive parents, practitioners, educators, students, and any child welfare professional.

Inuit Adoption. D Lee Guemple. 131p. 1979. (National Museum of Man, Mercury Series, Canadian Ethnology Service Paper #47). National Museums of Canada (Ottawa). A description and analysis of the social and cultural aspects of traditional and modern adoptive practices and their affect on Inuit social organization.

Issues in Adoption in Ireland. Harold J Abramson. 1984. 76p. Economic & Social Research Institute (Ireland).

Jewish Child is Born, A: The History & Ritual of Circumcision, Redemption of Firstborn Son, Adoption, Conversion & Choosing & Giving Names. Nathan Gottlieb. 1960. Bloch Publishing Company.

Joining New Families: Adoption & Fostering in Middle Childhood. Alan Rushton, Cherilyn Dance & Deborah Mayes. David Quinton, eds. 1999. John Wiley & Sons, Inc (UK). Joining New Families is based on a research study which followed 61 children who were placed, between 5 and 9 years old, with adoptive or permanent foster families. Most of the children had previously been maltreated. The study focused on the problems and strengths that these children brought to their new families; how the new families coped; and the factors associated with the placements becoming stable and secure. The authors provide a detailed presentation of the findings from this unique study and highlight the implications for policy and practice. Presenting new information and recommendations for future placements, Joining New Families is a valuable resource for anyone involved in establishing permanent placements for older children.

Journey of the Adopted Self: A Quest for Wholeness. Betty Jean Lifton. 1994. 328p. Basic Books. In attempting to discover who they are and where they come from, adoptees face a lifelong search for truth. This book explores the inner psychological world of adopted people and shows that their search for biological and historical roots can be a journey toward wholeness. Journey of the Adopted Self draws on a study of adult adoptees as well as the author’s personal experiences to illuminate how adoptees form a sense of self. This book was the winner of the 1994 Pact Press Award in the category of special interest to adoptees. By the same author: Twice Born: Memoirs of an Adopted Daughter (1977), I’m Still Me (1981), Lost & Found: The Adoption Experience (1988), Tell Me a Real Adoption Story (1994).

Journeys After Adoption: Understanding Lifelong Issues. Jayne E Schooler & Betsie L Norris. 2002. 312p. Bergin & Garvey. What can we learn about the experience of adoption from those who have taken that journey? How can those touched by adoption navigate successfully through the issues of search, reunion, and aftermath? Will those answers have a positive impact on adoption today? Drawing upon the experiences of dozens of triad members—adopted persons, birth parents, and adoptive parents—the authors offer insight into the concerns, issues, joys, and pain experienced by those who lives are framed by adoption. About the Author: Jayne E. Schooler is an affiliate trainer with the Institute for Human Services in Columbus, Ohio, where she played a major role in the development of adoption training curriculum for professionals and families used nationwide. Jayne has over twenty years of experience in child welfare, first as a foster parent, then as an adoptive parent, adoption professional and educator. She is the author of The Whole Life Adoption Book (1993), Searching for a Past (1995), and co-author of the award-winning Telling the Truth to Your Adopted or Foster Child (Bergin & Garvey, 2000). Batsie Norris is an adoptee who searched for and reunited with her birthparents in 1986. An RN working in child psychiatry at the time, Betsie felt her reunion was the most profound experience of her life and developed a commitment that others should not have to face these issues without support. She founded Adoption Network Cleveland in 1988. By the Same Author: Searching for a Past: The Adopted Adult’s Unique Process of Finding Identity (1995); Telling the Truth to Your Adopted or Foster Child, with Betsy Keefer (2000); and Mom, Dad... I’m Pregnant: When Your Daughter or Son Faces an Unplanned Pregnancy (2004).