Key Issues in Irish Family Law. Paul A O’Connor. 1988. 236p. The Round Hall Press (Dublin). Contents include: Nullity, Adoption, Support Obligations in the Family, Marriage and Property Rights.

Kindness of Strangers, The: The Abandonment of Children in Western Europe from Late Antiquity to the Renaissance. John Boswell. 1988. 488p. Pantheon. This is a study of child abandonment in Europe from the Hellenistic period through the thirteenth century. The author argues that the practice was widespread during the period among all social classes but that most abandoned children survived. Some were adopted or accepted as oblates in monasteries. Others were sold into slavery or prostitution. According to Boswell, parents generally abandoned their children out of necessity. “At no point did European society as a whole entertain serious sanctions against the practice. ... Christianity may well have increased the rate of abandonment, {he maintains}, both by insisting ... on the absolute necessity of procreative purpose in allhuman sexual acts, and by providing, through churches and monasteries, regular and relatively humane modes of abandoning infants.”

Kinship by Design: A History of Adoption in the Modern United States. Ellen Herman. 2008. 368p. University of Chicago Press. What constitutes a family? Tracing the dramatic evolution of Americans’ answer to this question over the past century, Kinship by Design provides the fullest account to date of modern adoption’s history. Beginning in the early 1900s, when children were still transferred between households by a variety of unregulated private arrangements, Ellen Herman details efforts by the U.S. Children’s Bureau and the Child Welfare League of America to establish adoption standards in law and practice. She goes on to trace Americans’ shifting ideas about matching children with physically or intellectually similar parents, revealing how research in developmental science and technology shaped adoption as it navigated the nature-nurture debate. Concluding with an insightful analysis of the revolution that ushered in special needs, transracial, and international adoptions, Kinship by Design ultimately situates the practice as both a different way to make a family and a universal story about love, loss, identity, and belonging. In doing so, this volume provides a new vantage point from which to view twentieth-century America, revealing as much about social welfare, statecraft, and science as it does about childhood, family, and private life. About the Author: Ellen Herman is professor of history at the University of Oregon.

Kinship Care: Fostering Effective Family & Friends Placements. Elaine Farmer & Sue Moyers. 2008. 254p. Jessica Kingsley Publishers (UK). Children are frequently cared for by relatives and friends when parents, for whatever reason, are unable to care for their children themselves. Yet there has been very little information about how well children do when placed with kin or how safe they are in these placements. This book compares formal kinship care to traditional foster placements in order to ascertain which children are placed with kin, in what circumstances, how well such children progress, and how often these placements disrupt. The authors explore whether children placed with family and friends fare better or worse than other foster children, what services are provided and needed, and how kin care is experienced by carers, children and social workers. This book will be essential reading for social workers, policy makers, students and all those working with looked-after children, and will enable local authorities to make informed decisions about where best to place children and the support needed by family and friend carers.

Kinship With Strangers: Adoption & Interpretations of Kinship in American Culture. Judith Modell. 1994. 280p. University of California Press. Adoption challenges our understanding of the core symbols of kinship in American culture: birth, biology, and blood. Through the lens of anthropological theory, Judith Modell examines these symbols and the way they affect people who experience the “fictive” kinship of adoption. Her findings are timely and profoundly moving and contribute valuable insights to the current debate about removing the veil of secrecy from adoption records and procedures. Modell draws on interviews with birth parents, adoptive parents, and adoptees, some of whom are involved in reforming the adoption process. That reform—the opening of records, the acknowledgment of a biological and a legal parent, the blending of families that are related only through a child—spotlights the very meanings of mother and father, “blood,” and identity in this country. Thus her book complements other recent anthropological literature that argues for a radical rethinking of the way we define, and use, those concepts. Certain rhetorical motifs emerge in the language used by members of the adoption triad: “surrender” is the critical motif for birth parents, “telling” for adoptees, “love at first sight” for adopting parents, and “reunion” for the search process. Throughout, we hear the words of those involved in adoption, and we come to understand the ambiguities regarding love and responsibility, nurture and competence, well-being and wealth—concepts that underlie the “transaction in parenthood” in American culture. Modell’s findings should have important ramifications for policy, practice, and individual participation in the adoption experience. About the Author: Judith S. Modell is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Carnegie Mellon University and author of Ruth Benedict: Patterns of a Life (1983).

Korean Adoption & Inheritance: Case Studies in the Creation of a Classic Confucian Society. Mark Peterson. 1998. 284p. (Cornell East Asia Series Volume 80). East Asia Program Cornell University. The cases in Korean adoption and inheritance reveal steps in the transition called “Confucianization” that took place mostly in the seventeenth century. The transition from partible inheritance, equally divided between sons and daughters, to primogeniture; the attempt to use soja as heirs; the movement toward agnatic adoption as the way to provide an heir when there were no children, or when there were only daughters born into the household are all covered in numerous cases from the official history, from government records, and from private documents. About the Author: Mark Peterson is Professor of Korean Studies at Brigham Young University. Within Korean studies he researches and publishes in the areas of social history, contemporary Korean society, and classic Korean novels.

Korean Adoption Issue Between Modernity & Coloniality, The: Transnational Adoption & Overseas Adoptees in Korean Popular Culture. Tobias Hübinette. 2009. 240p. Lambert Academic Publishing (Germany). This is a study of representations of adopted Koreans in Korean popular culture between 1991-2001. The study is carried out by examining and reading how adopted Koreans are represented in four feature films and four popular songs. After having given the cultural background to adoption in Korean tradition, the history of international adoption from Korea, an account of the development of the adoption issue in the political discourse and the appearance of adopted Koreans in Korean popular culture, the first reading takes up the gendering of the colonised nation and the maternalisation of roots, drawing on theories of nationalism as a gendered discourse. The second reading examines the issue of hybridity and the relationship between Koreanness and Whiteness, related to the notions of third space, mimicry and passing. Linked to studies of national division, reunification and family separation, the third reading looks at the adopted Koreans as symbols of a fractured and fragmented nation. The fourth and last reading focuses on the emergence of a global Korean community with regards to theories of globalisation, diasporas and transnationalism.

Labouring Children: British Immigrant Apprentices to Canada, 1869-1924. Joy Parr. 1980. 181p. Croom Helm (UK). Between 1868 and 1925, 80,000 British children, mostly under 14 years of age, were brought to Canada to work as agricultural labourers and domestic servants.

Large Sibling Groups Adoption Experiences. Dorothy Le Pere. 1986. CWLA.

Law & Psychological Practice. Robert Schwitzgebel. 1980. John Wiley.

Law as to Children and Young Persons, The: Child adoption and juvenile courts in Scotland, as contained in the Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act, 1937, the Adoption of Children (Scotland) Act, 1930, and other cognate statutes and relative statutory rules and orders. DL Trotter & KC Thomas. 1938. 420p. William Hodge & Company, Ltd (Edinburgh).

Law for You: Practical Law for the Layman. Foster Furcolo, LLB. 1987. 249p. Acropolis Books Ltd. This complete easy-to-use legal reference if for every home and includes information about adoption, alimony, arrest, bail, bankruptcy, contracts, credit, divorce, drugs, equal rights, indictments, lawyer’s fees, police records, taxes, trusts, warranties, welfare, wills, workmen’s compensation, and glossary of legal terms. This new edition has five new chapters about buying a home, condominiums and cooperatives, live-in partnerships, business law, and retirement.

Law of Adoption, The. Margaret C Jasper. 2008. 224p. (Oceana’s Legal Almanac Series Law for the Layperson). Oxford University Press, USA. According to the National Adoption Clearinghouse, more than 120,000 children are adopted in the United States each year. This almanac sets forth the various types and circumstances of adoption, the adoption process, and the state and federal laws governing adoption. Consent requirements and the rights of putative fathers are also examined, and the pros and cons of open adoptions, i.e., where contact with the birth family is maintained, are explored. This almanac also discusses the costs and tax benefits of adoption, and the availability of adoption assistance for special needs children. Post-adoption considerations, such as access to birth records and inheritance issues are also set forth in this almanac. This almanac also presents an overview of international adoption. The Appendices provide applicable statutes, forms, resource directories, and state summaries for comparison, as well as other pertinent information and data. The Glossary contains definitions of many of the terms used throughout the almanac. About the Author: Margaret C. Jasper is an attorney engaged in the general practice of law in South Salem, NY, concentrating in the areas of personal injury and entertainment law. Ms. Jasper holds a Juris Doctor degree from Pace University School of Law, White Plains, NY, is a member of the New York and Connecticut bars, and is certified to practice before the United States District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and the United States Supreme Court. Ms. Jasper has been appointed to the law guardian panel for the Family Court of the State of New York, is a member of a number of professional organizations and associations, and is a New York State licensed real estate broker operating as Jasper Real Estate, in South Salem, NY. Margaret Jasper maintains a website at http://www.JasperLawOffice.com. In 2004, Ms. Jasper successfully argued a case before the New York Court of Appeals, which gives mothers of babies who are stillborn due to medical negligence the right to bring a legal action and recover emotional distress damages. This successful appeal overturned a 26-year-old New York case precedent, which previously prevented mothers of stillborn babies to sue their negligent medical providers.

Law of Adoption. Morton L Leavy. Roy D Weinberg, ed. 1979 (4th edition). 117p. Oceana.

Law of Adoption in the United States & Especially in Massachusetts, The. William Henry Whitmore. 1876. 111p. Joel Munsell. In 1875 the Massachusetts legislature considered a proposal to revise the state’s adoption laws. Before it proceeded, however, it commissioned this study from Whitmore to serve as a reference for the legislators. Written in two parts, the first contains the texts of laws and related cases from twenty-two states. (He also includes a brief summary of relevant European statutes.) Organized by topic, the second describes how these laws compare and differ. Though written for a specific purpose, this study remains a valuable guide for the scholar of the history of adoption law or family law to all aspects of American adoption law during the nineteenth century. Reprinted in 2003.

Learning from Adoption Disruption: Insights for Practice. Susan Partridge, et al. 1986. CWLA.

Legal Aspects of Adoption. James Hoge Ricks. 1937?. 13p. CWLA. Address ... at the Eastern Regional Conference of the Child Welfare League of America, New York City, May 1, 1937.

Lesbian & Gay Parents & Their Children: Research on the Family Life Cycle. Abbie E Goldberg. 2009. 233p. (Contemporary Perspectives on Lesbian, Gay, and Bisexual Psychology). American Psychological Association. This title provides a comprehensive overview of the research on same-sex parenthood, exploring ways in which lesbian and gay parents resist, accommodate, and transform fundamental notions of gender, parenting, and family. It integrates both qualitative and quantitative research. It highlights understudied aspects of same-sex parenting, such as termination of couple relationships. It offers practical recommendations in every chapter. About the Author: Abbie E. Goldberg, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Psychology at Clark University.

Like Our Very Own: Adoption & the Changing Culture of Motherhood, 1851-1950. Julie Berebitsky. 2001. 272p. University Press of Kansas. Talk about adoption has become increasingly politicized, as debates swirl around the morality and viability of various forms of adoption: interracial, international, “open,” and those involving single parents or gay and lesbian couples. Paramount in many minds is the threat to the traditional (or mythical) nuclear family. But, as Julie Berebitsky shows, such concerns are fairly recent developments in the history of adoption. Berebitsky reveals that in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries the rules governing adoption were much less rigid and adoptive parents and families were considerably more diverse. In Like Our Very Own, she chronicles the experiences of adoptive parents and children during a century of great change, illuminating the prominent role adoption came to play in defining both motherhood and family in America. Drawing on case histories, letters from adoptive parents, congressional records, and fiction and popular magazines of the day, Berebitsky recovers the efforts of single mothers, African American parents, the elderly, and other marginalized citizens to obtain children of their own. She contends, however, that this diversity gradually diminished during the hundred years between the first adoption laws in 1851 and the postwar “baby boom” era. Adoption social theory and practice was gradually transformed into a highly homogenized model that tried to match children to parents by class and background and that ultimately favored conventional middle class American families. Changing attitudes about adoption, as Berebitsky shows, have also mirrored changing definitions of motherhood. At a time when womanhood and motherhood were socially synonymous, both birth mothers who gave up their children and adoptive mothers seeking a maternal role were viewed as transgressors of the natural order. This eventually changed, but only after proper training and outside expert approval replaced an assumed maternal instinct as the keystone of good mothering. A fascinating chapter in American social and cultural history, Like Our Very Own offers compelling evidence that adoption has always been an important factor in our evolving efforts to define the meaning and nature of both motherhood and family.

Little Strangers: Portrayals of Adoption & Foster Care in America, 1850-1929. Claudia Nelson. 2003. 248p. Indiana University Press. “When Massachusetts passed America’s first comprehensive adoption law in 1851, the usual motive for taking in an unrelated child was presumed to be the need for cheap help. Institutions housed young children but expected to place them as they became old enough to be useful; foster parents contracted to trade care for the child’s services. But by 1929—the first year that every state had an adoption law—the adoptee’s main function was seen as emotional. Adopting strangers’ children had become commonplace, and infants, who perform no work, were now more readily placed than older children.” Little Strangers examines the representations of adoption and foster care produced over the intervening years. Claudia Nelson argues that adoption texts reflect changing attitudes toward many important social issues, including immigration and poverty, heredity and environment, individuality and citizenship, gender, and the family. She considers orphan fiction for children, magazine stories and articles, legal writings, social work conference proceedings, and discussions of heredity and child psychology. Nelson’s ambitious scope provides for an analysis of the extent to which specialist and mainstream adoption discourse overlapped, as well as the ways in which adoption and foster care captivated the public imagination.

Long-Term Foster Care. Jane Rowe, et al. 1984. St Martin (UK).

Long-Term Fostering & the Children: A Study of Foster Parents Who Want to Adopt. Jane Rowe, et al. 1989. St Mut Bk (UK).

Looking Back, Looking Forward. H David Kirk. 1995. 32p. Perspectives Press. An expanded version of the closing talk given by H. David Kirk at the 1995 annual conference of the Adoptive Families of America held in Dallas. It includes a short essay on the Shared Fated Theory and another called “Clarifying Some Misconceptions” about the way the theory has been understood and misunderstood.

Love Leaves No Regrets: An Insightful View of Displaced Children Through the Eyes of a Former Foster Child. Robert L Colwell. 1996. 138p. Duncan & Duncan.

Love Everflowing: The Nostalgic Story of Deaconess Pregnancy & Adoption Services. Betty Hollingshead. 2004. 100p. Tate Publishing. Love Everflowing is a memoir—a portrait in time—dedicated to a much-loved institution that has served the Oklahoma City area for many years—Deaconess Adoption Services. The book is a personal perspective from the author who served the organization for 22 years.

Loving & Living with Traumatised Children: Refections by Adoptive Parents. Megan Hirst. 2005. 104p. British Association for Adoption and Fostering (UK). This is the story of a group of nine adoptive parents who came together for mutual support to look at the effects on themselves of living with traumatised children. They based their task on a form of research known as co-operative inquiry. The group describes their journey from setting up the inquiry through the process of exploring the effects of their children’s trauma on themselves and their families, to their development into a cohesive support group and the sense of empowerment this has brought to their lives. The book includes: a brief survey of attachment and trauma in relation to adoption; highly personal accounts of what it is like living with a traumatised child; a description of the inquiry process and step-by-step guidance on how others can set up their own “co-operative inquiry” group; and insights into the impact the inquiry has had on participants and their families two years on. Written with courage, honesty and humour, this book should inspire and encourage any adoptive parents who are struggling to take control of their situation. It should also closely inform new developments in adoption support. And as the first piece of research carried out with rather than on adopters, it provides a model for research in this field that brings real hope of reaching some difficult and empowering truths about adoption. About the Author: For reasons of confidentiality, all participants in the co-operative inquiry wish to remain anonymous and Megan Hirst is a collective pseudonym chosen by the group.

Maintaining Family Ties: Inclusive Practice in Foster Care. Sally E Palmer. 1995. 255p. CWLA. Loss and uprootedness are core problems of enforced separation, and are especially hard on children. Children in out-of-home care need help in dealing with separation, particularly in maintaining ties with family. This report details a study of how 36 social workers in 2 Canadian child protection agencies have managed separation issues with the children in their caseload. The study examined children’s behavior and expressed feelings related to separation from their families, as well as the responses of their caseworkers, foster caregivers, and placement agencies. Following an introduction noting the importance of maintaining family ties and detailing the study setting, the report’s first chapter presents theories of separation and self-concept relevant to children in care. Chapter 2 reviews research knowledge from empirical studies and practice experience. Chapters 3-5 describe and discuss the qualitative findings from workers’ discussions in supervision, including children’s reactions to separation; workers’ interventions; and agency influences on the handling of separation, all of which indicate that children in care have strong emotional ties to their families, but that these often go unrecognized, while families tend to be excluded from their children’s lives in care. The report’s final chapter draws conclusions from the findings and makes recommendations to address the gaps between principles and practice in child welfare service delivery. Four appendices provide details of the format and content of an in-service training program on separation and inclusive practice that was given to the social workers at the beginning of the study.

Making Babies, Making Families: What Matters Most in an Age of Reproductive Technologies, Surrogacy, Adoption, & Same-Sex & Unwed Parents’ Rights. Mary Lyndon Shanley. 2001. 206p. Beacon Press. Heart-wrenching, high-profile court cases such as the Baby M case have called attention to the troubling consequences of new reproductive technology; the law has yet to catch up with the ways that people create families today. Although these times may appear chaotic and confusing, Mary Shanley shows us that we don’t have to be afraid. Her timely work begins by demonstrating that the traditional model of the “natural,” patriarchal family is outdated, and that the newer contractual model based on equality between adults can lead to questionable results for the child. Shanley offers a new vision of family law that’s based on existing caring relationships of adults for children. It ensures each child’s right to be cared for, and takes into account the emotional realities of family life. She applies this practical, humane model to the most complex and controversial issues of our time, including adoption, biological fathers’ legal rights, surrogate motherhood, lesbian families, and the rights of sperm and egg donors and recipients. About the Author: Mary Lyndon Shanley is professor of political science at Vassar College. She is author of Feminism, Marriage, and the Law in Victorian England and coeditor of Feminist Interpretations and Political Theory and Reconstructing Political Theory.

Making It Permanent: Reasonable Efforts to Finalize Permanency Plans for Foster Children. Cecilia Fiermonte, Jennifer L Renne & Claire Sandt, eds. 2002. 133p. ABA Center. The Adoption and Safe Families Act requires that permanency plans for children be determined at permanency hearings. Judges must make findings that the child welfare agency is making “reasonable efforts” to finalize those plans. What this means, and how to do it, is the subject of this book, designed to help judges issue orders and resolve disputes so children move more quickly into permanent placements and guide child advocates in eliciting information on agency efforts to move children into permanent homes. Chapters address: determining the permanency plan; assessing reasonable efforts to finalize a permanency plan for reunification, termination of parental rights/adoption, legal guardianship, relative placement, and another planned permanent living arrangement; handling interstate placements (and use of the Interstate Compact); and securing adoption subsidies. Includes checklists and sample court forms and court orders (with each chapter), the text of relevant ASFA regulations, an ASFA timeline chart, and a resource directory.

Making Sense of the New Adoption Law: A Guide for Social & Welfare Services. Nick Allen. 2003. 144p. (2nd Edition, 2007; 151p.). Russell House (UK). This book has been written primarily for child care practitioners who require a clear account of what the Adoption and Children Act 2002 contains and how the Act—and subsequent regulations and guidance—continue to have changing impact on agency policy and practice. It also explains the ideas behind these changes, and sets them in context. This revised second edition incorporates extended references to the many sets of regulations and guidance documents issued by the Government in the run-up to full implementation of the Act at the end of 2005. It explains how they fit into the new statutory framework of adoption law. It brings readers fully up-to-date. It helps readers understand how the Adoption and Children Act 2002 has had the effect of recasting the whole of adoption law in England and Wales. According to the Government, the Act will be “of lasting significance to thousands of children and their new families.” It creates “an essential framework to safeguard the welfare of the child and support adoptive families.”. This new legislation—and indeed the regulations and guidance—are, however, far more detailed and complex than what went before. Furthermore, the Act’s passage through Parliament was attended by considerable controversy. The new law took more than ten years to finalise and throughout this period a wide variety of forceful opinions on adoption were expressed. This book seeks to explain the various controversies and place them in a wider social and political context. It will help you in your work and in achieving the legislations aim of ensuring that the adoption service is fairer and more efficient.

Making Sense of the ASFA Regulations: A Road Map for Effective Implementation. Diane Boyd Rauber, ed. 2000. ABA Professisonal Education. This book, produced by the Center’s National Child Welfare Resource Center on Legal and Judicial Issues, consists of issue-by-issue summaries and analyses of important, and comprehensive, regulations of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) promulgated in 2000 to aid state and local implementation of Titles IV-B and IV-E of the Social Security Act, as amended by the 1997 federal Adoption and Safe Families Act. Twenty separate topics are addressed, such as reasonable efforts findings, judicial orders specifying a child’s placement, foster/adoptive home safety requirements, permanency hearings, termination of parental rights, the Multi-Ethnic Placement Act, etc. Appendix material addresses key administrative and constitutional law issues related to interpretation and application of the regulations, including its preamble. Supporting legal authorities and a list of further readings are included. This book was produced through the work of 11 staff from throughout the Center reviewing the HHS regulations and writing various sections of the summary/analysis.

Maltreated Child, The: Finding What Lurks Beneath. Stephen G Gray. 2004. 283p. Living Water Press. Parents who struggle to maintain their sanity while a troubled youth is in the home know the frustration and discouragement that can easily develop. These concerned parents take their youngster from doctor to doctor, counselor after counselor, yet never fully understand or find long-term help for the problems. However in his book, The Maltreated Child, Dr. Gray unravels for parents the complex world of the brain. He explores the underlying root causes that prompt adoptive/foster as well as biological youth to terrorize a home. The first priority in helping these young persons is to discover what is fueling the behavioral mayhem. Unless parents/teachers have an understanding of what is producing the seemingly irrational actions, it is extremely hard to find workable and practical solutions. Dr. Gray has been working with maltreated youth who face these difficulties for over two decades. He sees his job as helping parents discern the underlying causes of the young person’s behavior and providing answers specifically tailored for each child. In this book, the author blends his clinical expertise with his unique sense of humor to present down-in-the-trenches practical information for parents. About the Author: Steven Gray, Ph.D., is a board certified pediatric neuropsychologist and director of Gray Neuropsychology Associates, Inc. with clinics in Colorado and Texas. Dr. Gray’s passion is helping foster and adopted young persons, their parents, and siblings. Common childhood disorders he sees include: Academic Underachievement, ADHD, Learning Disabilities, RAD, Oppositional Defiant Disorder, Childhood Bipolar Disorder and more. Dr. Gray is a popular speaker at workshops and seminars through the United States. He has also served at Clinical Assistant of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas since 1988.

Many-Sided Triangle, The: Adoption in Australia. Audrey Marshall & Margaret McDonald. 2001. 338p. Melbourne University Press. A many-sided triangle is the paradoxical image by which this book seeks to capture the complexity of child adoption. A single adoption profoundly touches the lives of so many people—the child itself, the birth mother, the birth father, the adoptive parent or parents, and their relatives and friends. This is the first comprehensive account of the history of adoption in Australia, its law and practice. This is not only an invaluable handbook for all workers, professionals, administrators, teachers and students in the field. It is also a reliable source of information, guidance and comfort for anyone caught up in adoption.

Marriage & Adoption in China, 1845-1945. Arthur P Wolf & Chieh-Shan Huang. 1980. 448p. Stanford University Press. A detailed study of marriage and adoption practices in nine districts of Northern Taiwan over a period of a hundred years (1845-1945) noting how a variety of influences, demographic, economic and psychological affected family organization.

Marriage, Divorce & Adoption: New York. Eugene R Canudo. 1979. Gould.

Massacre of the Innocents: Infanticide in Great Britain 1800-1939. Lionel Rose. 1986. 215p. Routledge & Kegan Paul (UK). Details of the social and economic pressure that were put upon women to rid themselves of unwanted and “surplus” infants. A far reaching social study.

Mediating Permanency Outcomes: Parent Empowerment Workbooks: A Child’s Needs, Looking at Options, a Cooperative Adoption, Letting Go. Jeanne Etter & Tom Tierney. 1997. CWLA.

Mediating Permanency Outcomes: Practice Manual. Jeanne Etter, ed. Tom Tierney (Illustrator). 1997. CWLA. Based on an Oregon pilot project to explore alternatives to court termination of parental rights, the four Parent Empowerment workbooks and the Practice Manual which make up this set are intended to help caseworkers or mediators assist parents in self-examination and decision-making, allowing the parents to consider both parenting and adoption options in a non-coercive atmosphere. The workbooks are designed to empower parents by providing appropriate choices individually tailored to their needs by the caseworker. The workbooks may also help caseworkers and mediators design cooperative adoptions with parents. Workbook 1, “A Child’s Needs,” addresses the child’s needs including where they have been, people that make a difference, what is important to the child, what gives the child strength, the child’s needs, and benefits of cooperative. Workbook 2, “Looking at Options,” looks at options including parenting, adoption, child’s needs, involving the family, children with special needs, considering choices, and thinking about loss. Workbook 3, “A Cooperative Adoption,” addresses cooperative adoption including openness, choosing parents, meeting parents, planning the agreement, contact before placement, and the adoption agreement. Workbook 4, “Letting Go,” addresses letting go, including plans and goals, visits, transitions, good-bye ceremonies, grief, loss, healing, and new relationships. The Practice Manual presents a process that works in establishing openness in a wide variety of adoptions. The manual includes suggestions for professionals, ideas for transitions, and additional questions that might help clients.

Metaphor of an Adopted Body, The: An Ado/aptive Reading & Writing of Australia & Its Contemporary Literature. Catherine Lynch. 2009. VDM Verlag. Writers of Doctoral theses have a unique, personal and in-depth relationship with their subject matter, which develops over a number of years. What happens when life intrudes so much into the reading and writing that it takes over the subject matter, so that the original struggle for objective scholarship threatens to become subsumed in emotion and self-discovery? Supervisors can do worse than guide their students towards the genre of life writing, within which a flourishing of sub-genres may be accommodating to such a journey. For an Australian closed-records adoptee caught up in the reunion processes sparked by the 1990 changes to the Adoption Act, critical readings of Peter Carey, Janette Turner Hospital and Luke Davies developed into the invention of the Adopted Body, the Subject Adoptee and a new way of seeing: ado/aptive reading and writing. Perhaps in the field of ado/aptive theory, the stolen generations, inter-country adoptees and the white closed-record adoptees of Australia can re-invent themselves, develop their identities and create a genre of academic theory unique to Australia. About the Author: Catherine Lynch’s research focuses on the history of Australia’s closed-records adoption system, its links with the Stolen Generations and its representations in contemporary Australian Literature. She has also taught issues in mass communication at, and holds a Doctorate of Philosophy in Australian Literature from, the University of Sydney.

Minority Foster Child, The: A Comparative Study of Hispanic, Black & White Children. Douglas T Gurak, David Arrender Smith & Mary F Goldson. 1982. 122p. Fordham University. Extensive bibliography in this study of foster children by Hispanic Research Center at Fordham University.

Mixed-Up Kids?: Race, Identiy & Social Order. Tina G Patel. 2009. 159p. Russell House Publishing, Ltd. Transracial adoptees, children of mixed parentage, children of setteld immigrant families—more and more children are growing up in mixed-race families and social environments. And there is increasing variety within this mixed-ness. Yet services for them have been bogged down by restrictive policy and practice guidelines based on: outdated and problematic ideas about essentialised racial identities; and, the supposed need for children to commit fully to one of these identities (usually the black minority ethnic one) in order to minimise identity problems and experiences of discrimination.Of great significance to anyone working with such children and young people—in social work, adoption and fostering, education, youth work and youth justice—this book asks: why essentialist ideas about a single identity tend to dominate; what the consequences are for those who actively choose not to identify themselves as having a single racial identity; and, how policy and practice can be improved.Patel provides thought provoking analyses of existing literature, and calls for recognition of these individuals, for example those who were transracially adopted as children, and whose reflective narratives form a major part of this book. She offers suggestions on how we can best serve their needs and facilitate their access to racial identity rights. She covers such issues as: racism in a black and white society; the implications of assigned binary black or white racial labels; the construction of various social relationships, with an insight into the complex issues involved in their racialised negotiations; and, ways of supporting mixed-race people to express multiple identity status. Mixed-up Kids argues for better and more informed ways of thinking about how racial identity is flexible, diverse, and possesses a multiple status; and how such thinking will progressively lead to an improvement in the child, family and community support services which seek to assist some of the most vulnerable and marginalised members of society, namely black minority ethnic and mixed race children. As the book presents the narratives of six adults who had been transracially adopted as children, it is of special interest to anyone working in the field of adoption and fostering. It will also be of compelling interest to academics, researchers and students in the social sciences, especially sociology, social work and family/community studies; and of direct practical value to child, family and community support workers. It can serve both as a handbook on which to base policy and practice, and as a tool for considering key issues in the area. About the Author: Tina G. Patel is a lecturer in Criminology and Sociology at Liverpool John Moores University. Her main research and teaching interests are: race and the racialisation process; identity and marginalisation; black minority ethnic family formations and community networks; and black minority ethnic groups and the criminal justice system.

Morality of Adoption, The: Social-Psychological, Theological, & Legal Perspectives. Timothy P Jackson, ed. 2005. 337p. Wm B Eerdmans Publishing Co. The increasing number and legitimacy of various kinds of adoption are revolutionizing how families are formed. Is there any way to determine what kinds of adoption public morality and the law should allow? In this uniquely interdisciplinary book, Jewish, Catholic, and Protestant contributors wrestle with such concrete issues as the psychology of family ties, the advisability of cross-cultural adoption, the morality of single-parent adoption, and the new concept of embryo adoptions. Their conclusions pave the way for better-informed reflection and action by scholars and those considering adoption. Adding a literary touch are letters from ethicist Gilbert Meilaender to his adopted son, Derek. Contributors: Don S. Browning, Michael Broyde, Lisa Sowle Cahill, Timothy P. Jackson, John Mayoue, Sandra Patton-Imani, Stephen Post, Stephen B. Presser, Ann Stanton, Jeffrey Stout, Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen, Brent Waters, John Witte Jr., Gretchen Miller Wrobel. About the Author: Timothy P. Jackson is associate professor of Christian ethics at Candler School of Theology, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. He is also the author of “The Priority of Love: Christian Charity and Social Justice” and “Love Disconsoled: Meditations on Christian Charity.”

Mother Machine, The: Reproductive Technologies from Artificial Insemination to Artificial Wombs. Gena Corea. 1985. 374p. Harper & Row. A thorough, rigorously documented examination of the “new” reproductive methods—artificial insemination, embryo transfer, in vitro fertilization, sex predetermination—and a political analysis of the underlying assumptions and aims of the “pharmacrats” who are conducting and implementing them. Based on extensive interviews with key participants (including researchers, patients, and clinic personnel), careful reading of the medical literature, and a broad knowledge of feminist scholarship in such areas as health care, anthropology, and ethics, the author details the historical background and methods of each technology, the risks involved for both the woman and the embryo, the social effects, and how the researchers themselves envision the use of these revolutionary techniques. About the Author: Gena Corea is a certified Focusing trainer, writer, and sabuhallá practitioner. She was formerly a syndicated columnist for The New Republic Feature Syndicate and a journalist whose reportage on Northern Ireland and South Africa appeared in The New York Times, Ms., and Commonweal. She lectured widely on issues raised in her books, and she has also discussed these issues on many television and radio programs, including The Today Show on NBC, The Sally Jesse Raphael Show, Donahue, and Fresh Air with Terry Gross on NPR. She has been featured in film documentaries including On the Eighth Day: Perfecting Mother Nature and High Tech Babies in the PBS Nova series. She lives in West Dummerston, VT.

Mother Troubles: Rethinking Contemporary Maternal Dilemmas. Julia E Hanigsberg, Sara Ruddick, & Amy Caldwell, Editors. 1999. 368p. Beacon Press. Abusive mothers, divorced mothers, lesbian mothers, immigrant mothers, plus adoption, work, theology, and reinventing “new” mothers are among the maternal issues discussed in this wide-ranging collection of essays. Most of the women who have contributed to this volume, including editor Hanigsberg, are distinguished legal scholars. The others, including editor Ruddick (New School for Social Research), have backgrounds in political science, ethics, and theology. Each writer addresses an aspect of how women in their roles as mothers are profoundly and directly affected by law, politics, and the often conflicting mores of North American culture. Ranging from the moving, as in the opening section by Eva Feder Kittay (Philosophy/SUNY, Stony Brook) on raising her disabled daughter, to the muddya chapter in the last section from Lisa Ikemoto (Law/Loyola Law School) that links tougher immigration policies and attitudes toward immigrant mothers with the “women and children first” survivors of the Titanic, the authors address often familiar material (such as Columbia law professor Carol Sanger’s comments on mothers who work), as well as provocative questions on judging pregnant women who use drugs (from lawyer Lynn Paltrow of the Women’s Law Project). Paltrow illuminates the debate over fetal rights vs. women’s rights among others and questions the dearth of programs available to treat addicted women, before or after delivery. Why not multiple mothers (birth mother and adoptive mother) is a question posed by Drucilla Cornell (Law, Women’s Studies, and Political Science/Rutgers) in one of several essays that advocate the “it-takes-a-village” model of raising children. Although many of the quandaries described fall in the “same old, same old” category, the concise arguments and descriptions of conflicts of law vs. culture often cast new light on familiar darkness. — From Kirkus Reviews; ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Motherhood Report, The: How Women Feel About Being Mothers. Louis Genevie, PhD, & Eva Margolies. 1987. 482p. Macmillan Publishing Co. In The Motherhood Report, the first in-depth study of how women really feel about being mothers, over a thousand mothers talk candidly and in detail about their experiences. Although women find being a mother exhilarating, and they love their children intensely, they also discover just how disappointing motherhood can be. They speak at length about how hard it is to be a parent to an unresponsive child, as well as how much resentment they feel toward husbands who do not assume a fair share of parental responsibilities. What women expected motherhood to be turns out to be a far cry from the way it really is.

Mothering for the State: The Paradox of Fostering. Baukje Miedema. 1999. 128p. Fernwood Publishing Co, Ltd. Tells the surprising, troubling, and heart warming story of 20 foster mothers and their daily activities. About the Author: Baukje (Bo) Miedema is a research associate with the Dalhousie University Family Medicine Teaching Unit at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Hospital in Fredericton, New Brunswick. She is co-editor of Women’s Bodies, Women’s Health: Health, Well-Being and Body Image.

Mothers & Their Adopted Children: The Bonding Process. Dorothy W Smith & Laurie Nehls Sherwen. 1983. Tiresias Press.

Native American Transracial Adoptees Tell Their Stories. Rita J Simon & Sarah Hernandez. 2008. 371p. Lexington Books. This study focuses on the lives of Native American transracial adoptees and their struggle to establish a healthy sense of cultural identity, while being raised in non-Native homes. The twenty participants in this study focus on what methods their adoptive parents used or, in some cases, did not use to help them establish their own sense of cultural identity. In the end, most participants agreed that adoptive parents can help their adoptive child establish a healthy sense of cultural identity by nurturing a connection between their child and their child’s tribal community.

Nature, Nurture, & the Transition to Early Adolescence. Stephen A Petrill, Robert Plomin, John K Hewitt, & John C DeFries, eds. 344p. Oxford University Press. Some of the most intriguing issues in the study of cognitive, social, emotional, and physical development arise in the debate over nature versus nurture; a debate difficult to resolve because it is difficult to separate the respective contributions of genes and environment to development. The most powerful approach to this separation is through longitudinal adoption studies. The Colorado Adoption Project (CAP) is the only longitudinal adoption study in existence examining development continuously from birth to adolescence, which makes it a unique, powerful, and tremendously valuable resource. CAP is an ongoing assessment of 245 adopted children and 245 biological control children assessed from birth to early adolescence. This book is the fourth in a series describing CAP results. This latest volume, edited by four eminent researchers in developmental psychology, builds on the large body of research already generated by investigating the role of genes and environments on early adolescent development. Because it is the only volume on the most comprehensive investigation of the effect of genes and environments on early adolescent development, this work will be invaluable to researchers in developmental, cognitive, and social psychology. About the Editors: Stephen A. Petrill, Department of Biobehavioral Health and the Center for Developmental and Health Genetics, Pennsylvania State University; Robert Plomin, Research Professor in Behavioural Genetics, Institute of Psychiatry, London; John C. DeFries, Professor of Psychology and Faculty Fellow; and John K. Hewitt, Professor of Psychology and Director, Both at Institute for Behavioral Genetics, University of Colorado.

Necessary Risk: A Study of Adoption & Disrupted Adoptive Placements. Trudy Festinger. 1986. 50p. CWLA.

New Developments in Foster Care & Adoption. John Triseliotis, ed. 1980. Methuen.

New Families, Old Scripts: A Guide to the Language of Trauma & Attachment in Adoptive Families. Caroline Archer, Christine Gordon & Alan Burnell. 2006. 256p. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Most adopted children and their families will, sooner or later, encounter the challenges of dealing with unresolved attachment issues or early traumatic experiences. New Families, Old Scripts is an accessible introduction to understanding these challenges and helping children and their families to develop a shared language and understanding of one another. Steeped in the experience of the authors, the book offers a wealth of practical guidance and intervention in a no-nonsense style that will be readily understandable to both families and the professionals who work with them. Case examples bring the issues to life, while sample letters addressed to the parent offer sensitive, jargon-free advice on the issues they are likely to encounter—whether it be dealing with anger and aggression, understanding sibling issues or how to react to sexualised behaviour. The authors also explain some of the theoretical background to trauma to encourage a better understanding of the relationship between trauma, attachment and development. The accessible combination of theoretical approaches and practical advice makes New Families, Old Scripts an ideal resource for social workers and adoptive or foster parents.

New Soviet Legislation on Marriage & the Family. P Sedugin. 1973. Progress Publishers (Moscow).

New Zealand Adoption: History & Practice, Social & Legal 1840-1996. Keith C Griffeth. 1997 (2nd Printing). 660p. 4-Ring, Loose-Leaf Binding. Invercauld Publications (Canada). An important addition to the library of social workers, professors, teachers, lawyers—anyone dealing with adoption issues. The material detailed and discussed is international in its scope, relevance and background.

No More Partings : An Examination of Long-Term Family Foster Care. Edith Fein, Anthony N Maluccio & Miriam P Kluger. 1990. 85p. CWLA.

Nobody’s Children: Abuse & Neglect, Foster Drift, & the Adoption Alternative. Elizabeth Bartholet. 1999. 320p. Beacon Press. A disturbing look at how the lives of Americas modern-day orphans are sacrificed for the often unrealistic goal of keeping troubled families together. Bartholet (Family Bonds: Adoption & the Politics of Parenting, 1993), an expert on family law and an adoptive mother herself, traces the historical, political, and cultural reasons why battered and neglected children are far more likely to spend years in foster limbo, or be sent back to abusive homes, than to be adopted by loving families. The author charges that despite recent legislation that bars race as a factor, everyone from private foundation administrators to judges, lawyers, and bureaucrats continues to be guided by the notion that children should be cared for by relatives, or adopted by families who look like them. Back in 1972, the National Association of Black Social Workers denounced transracial adoption as a form of racial genocide. Though race-matching policies have gone underground since then, Bartholet believes they resurface in criteria like kinship and cultural competence. Because other relatives may not be up to the task of parenting, and because there are not enough minority families to adopt all the children who need them, the author asserts that race-matching essentially condemns many youngsters to lasting physical, cognitive, and emotional damage. Whereas wife-beaters are treated like criminals, child-abusers, often plagued by poverty and substance abuse, tend to be seen as victims themselves. Bartholet expresses sympathy for their plight but demands that social workers stop using precious child-welfare resources to prop up deeply disturbed families. What matters, she insists, is that the children get into homes where they can thrive. She also suggests, somewhat unrealistically, that the state could take a proactive role in reducing child abuse by instituting universal visitation of all families before and after birth. The author makes her case intelligently, fearlessly, and exhaustively. Curiously, since her subject matter is so wrenching, Bartholets writing lacks emotional power. Nobody’s Children ultimately appeals not to the heart, but to the head. — © 1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Novices, Old Hands, & Professionals: Adoption by Single People . Morag Owen. 1999. 208p. British Association for Adoption & Fostering (UK). Single-parent families have consistently come under attack on the basis that this family structure is not best for children. But is this always the case? And is this the reality of most people’s experiences? And what of “artificially” created families? This study is unique and ground-breaking in that it is the first time that a research study has set out to document and comment on the experiences of single adopters and their children. Undertaken with funding from the Department of Health, it presents findings and conclusions including critical policy considerations which are intended to contribute to an ongoing debate. It will contribute substantially to the thinking of policy makers, practitioners, parents and other individuals who must decide, on the basis of evidence presented, how far this unique form of family building may contribute to the care and well-being of vulnerable children in post-millennium Britain.

Nurturing Adoptions: Creating Resilience After Neglect & Trauma. Deborah D Gray. 2007. 509p. Perspectives Press. Like so many things, adoption has been affected by the rapidly changing world. In fact, adoption has a completely different face than it did just 10 years ago. Because of dramatic changes in where the majority of children come from, at what ages, and after what experiences, social work and child therapy professionals must adjust their tools and skills just as dramatically. Adoptions, both domestic and international, create families with children at all different levels of development and needs. Just because the child is two years old doesn’t mean he is at a two-year-old’s expected level of development. Factors such as attachment issues, grief, trauma and prenatal exposure to harmful substances, all play important roles. This book provides best practices for professionals working with families adopting in a 21st-century world. Hear the success stories of breakthroughs and secure families through the voices of children and their families who have overcome the challenges today’s adoptive families face. Find practical, yet flexible ways to move children—from infants to early teens—into their new families. Learn the effects of neglect and trauma on brain and emotional development, and more importantly, how to recognize them. Discover home and school approaches that encourage children to flourish, even after trauma and neglect. More than ever, adoptive families need professionals who will thoroughly prepare and support them—not just through the adoption process but as the family grows. This book by the author of the acclaimed Attaching in Adoption gives support to placement and therapy professionals in helping to create successful families. About the Author: Deborah Gray is the founder of Nurturing Attachments. She is a clinical social worker specializing in the areas of attachment, grief, and trauma. She has spent over 15,000 hours in the last 15 years counseling children who were adopted. Her private practice philosophy is one of empowering parents with information and techniques so that their skills and styles are used in meeting the needs of their children. Her passion is to help children and their families to develop close, satisfying relationships. Deborah is a popular presenter due to her practical approaches of promoting attachment, shaping behavior, and working through trauma. She teaches in the Cascadia Resources/Northwest Adoption Resource and Portland State Post-Graduate Programs in Adoption Counseling and the University of Washington’s Post-Graduate Trauma Certificate program. In her personal life, Deborah Gray feels linked to adoption through the family in which she grew up. She has also been a therapeutic foster parent. She received her graduate degrees from Syracuse University in 1981. She is a licensed social worker in the State of Washington. Deborah Gray is the author of numerous articles and the book Attaching in Adoption: Practical Tools for Today’s Parents, published by Perspectives Press, Inc., in 2002.

Nurturing Attachments: Supporting Children Who Are Fostered or Adopted. Kim S Golding. 2007 239p. Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Nurturing Attachments combines the experience and wisdom of parents and carers with that of professionals to provide support and practical guidance for foster and adoptive parents looking after children with insecure attachment relationships. It gives an overview of attachment theory and a step-by-step model of parenting which provides the reader with a tried-and-tested framework for developing resilience and emotional growth. Featuring throughout are the stories of Catherine, Zoe, Marcus and Luke, four fictional children in foster care or adoptive homes, who are used to illustrate the ideas and strategies described. The book offers sound advice and provides exercises for parents and their children, as well as useful tools that supervising social workers can use both in individual support of carers as well as in training exercises. This is an essential guide for adoptive and foster parents, professionals including health and social care practitioners, clinical psychologists, child care professionals, and lecturers and students in this field.

Ontario’s New Adoption Disclosure Policy. The Ministry: Publ’ns Srvcs Section [distributor].

Openness in Adoption: Exploring Family Connections. Harold D Grotevant & Ruth G McRoy. 1998. 229p. Sage Publications. Since the mid-1970s, adoption practices in the United States have changed dramatically, and the confidentiality maintained in the past is no longer the norm. The trend is toward openness in adoption in which either mediated (through an adoption agency) or direct contact occurs between the adoptive family and birth parent(s). Some adoption professionals argue that openness is harmful and experimental while others argue that the secrecy of confidential adoptions has been harmful to all parties involved. Who’s right? In Openness in Adoption, this question is addressed via a nationwide study of 720 individuals (190 adoptive fathers, 190 adoptive mothers, 171 adopted children, and 169 birthmothers) that was conducted over a five-year period. The book begins by presenting the issues and debates surrounding open adoptions and then examines them from the perspective of the adopted children, adoptive parents, and birth mothers. The volume concludes with implications for adoption practice, public policy, and future research. A groundbreaking volume, Openness in Adoption provides a wealth of information to professionals and practitioners in the fields of family studies, sociology, developmental psychology, social work, clinical psychology, and social psychology.

Openness in Adoption: New Practices, New Issues. Ruth G McRoy, Harold D Grotevant & Kerry L White. 1988. 163p. Praeger. In recent years there has been a growing trend towards increased communication among members of the adoption triad. Although many adoption agencies are moving towards increased information sharing, there is little research evidence available concerning the consequences of this practice. This unique study investigates the consequences of openness in adoption, as practiced by several adoption agencies. Seventeen adoptive families and their corresponding birthparents were interviewed. The effects of the open adoption procedures on family life and attitudes were assessed. Included are a review of the literature on openness in adoption; a review of relevant theoretical perspectives; a discussion of agency practices; and a description of strengths and weaknesses of current research methods. About the Authors: Ruth G. McRoy, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Social Work at the University of Texas at Austin. Harold D. Grotevant, Ph.D., is Professor of Home Economics and Psychology and Head of the Division of Child Development and Family Relationahips at the University of Texas at Austin. KERRY L. WHITE, M.A., is the Head Teacher at Hyde Park Baptist Child Development Center in Austin, TX.

Origins of Adoption, The: Two Reports. Shiela M & David J Rothman, eds. 1987. 260p. Garland Pub.

Origins of Individual Differences in Infancy: The Colorado Adoption Project. Robert Plomin & John DeFries. 1985. Acad Press.

Orphan Trains, The: The Story of Charles Loring Brace & the Children He Saved & Failed. Stephen O’Connor. 2001. 320p. Houghton Mifflin Co. A powerful blend of history, biography, and adventure, Orphan Trains fills a grievous gap in the American story. Tracing the evolution of the Children’s Aid Society, this dramatic narrative tells the fascinating tale of one of the most famous—and sometimes infamous—child welfare programs: the orphan trains, which spirited away some 250,000 abandoned children into the homes of rural families in the Midwest. In mid-nineteenth-century New York, vagrant children, whether orphans or runaways, filled the streets. The city’s solution for years had been to sweep these children into prisons or almshouses. But a young minister named Charles Loring Brace took a different tack. With the creation of the Children’s Aid Society in 1853, he provided homeless youngsters with shelter, education, and, for many, a new family out west. The family matching process was haphazard, to say the least: at town meetings, farming families took their pick of the orphan train riders. Some youngsters, such as James Brady, who became governor of Alaska, found loving homes, while others, such as Charley Miller, who shot two boys on a train in Wyoming, saw no end to their misery. Complete with extraordinary photographs and deeply moving stories, Orphan Trains gives invaluable insights into a creative genius whose pioneering, if controversial, efforts inform child rescue work today.

Orphan Trains to Missouri. Michael D Patrick & Evelyn Goodrich Trickel. 1997. 144p. University of Missouri Press. In 1853 a man by the name of Charles Loring Brace, along with other well-to-do men in New York City, founded the Children’s Aid Society. The society planned to give food, lodging, and clothing to homeless children and provide educational and trade opportunities for them. But the number of children needing help was so large that the Children’s Aid Society was unable to care for them, and Brace developed a plan to send many of the children to the rural Midwest by train. Orphan Trains to Missouri documents the history of the children on those orphan trains—their struggles, their successes, and their failures. Touching stories of volunteers who oversaw the placement of the orphans as well as stories of the orphans themselves make this a rich record of American and Midwestern history.

Orphanages Reconsidered: Child Care Institutions in Progressive Era Baltimore. Nurith Zmora. 1994. 352p. Temple University Press. Countering the Dickensian stereotypes, Orphanages Reconsidered portrays how three private orphanages in Baltimore responded to the need of poor, single parents for boarding schools for their children. These innovative institutions also served as pivotal community forces, rebuilding families by providing vocational training, keeping siblings together, and encouraging orphans to maintain close ties with relatives. Fastidious research shows how the institutions—Jewish, non-denominational Protestant, and Catholic—differed in their ethnic and religious priorities, their financial support, their staffing, and their relations with the community. Nurith Zmora embellishes her portraits with institutional records, letters from the children, and published autobiographies.

Orphans of Islam: Family, Abandonment, & Secret Adoption In Morocco. Jamila Bargach. 2002. 304p. Rowman & Littlefield. In a poignantly lyrical style, this book zooms onto the bastard body in contemporary Morocco. Abandoned, illegitimate, street and natural children are the epitome of abject marginality and exclusion. Via a close and historically grounded reading of legal, social, and cultural mechanisms in place, the book studies how this bastard body is generated. Then, it analyzes the concept of “adoption,” often and too summarily presented as panacea for the erasure of bastards and their inclusion in a social mainstream. The book then discusses a variety of adoptive practices that are far more intricate than the homogenizing pretensions of adoption as a legal and fictional parenthood. Written in parts from the perspective of the children and single mothers, intermittently from the view of “adopting” families, and employing bastardy as a haunting and empowering motif with a potentially subversive edge, “Nothing Above Family” then engages into a highly complex, open-ended, arabesque-like, evocation of Moroccan society. It equally challenges received sociological and anthropological tropes concerning the Arab world, as it questions dogmatic and conformist interpretations of Islam by Muslim and non-Muslim scholars. It consequently calls into question activism and the role of the intellectual in light of this invisible and marginal body. About the Author: Jamila Bargach recieved her Ph.D. in Cultural Anthropology from Rice University, currently she is residing in Morocco where she is an assistant professor in Anthropology and Sociology at the National School of Architecture.

Orphans of the Living: Stories of America’s Children in Foster Care. Jennifer Toth. 1997. 312p. Simon & Schuster. In the first book of its kind, Orphans of the Living presents the stories of children caught in a foster care system in crisis. Damien and Sebastian enter a children’s home as scared, abused, and neglected boys. Two years later they violently self-destruct. Jamie survives in a religious orphanage and state foster care, going on to win a college scholarship. Angel escapes the foster care system at age 14 by marrying her 69-year-old foster father. At 17, she has four children of her own in foster care. Bryan moves from kinship care to juvenile prison to college. He and his sister Crystal, separated by the foster care system, have battled to become a family. This incredibly moving book should be read by anyone who cares about children, but particularly by those who are involved in alternative care for children.

Other Kinds of Families: Embracing Diversity in Schools. Tammy Turner-Vorbeck & Monica Miller Marsh, eds. 2007. 216p. Teachers College Press. Turner-Vorbeck and Miller Marsh contend that the vast diversity found in schools and society today suggests an urgent need to reconsider the ways in which families are currently represented and addressed in school curriculum and culture. In this important volume, they provide critical and theoretical analyses combined with narrative experiences to address such issues as multi-generational views of the schooling experiences of immigrant families, the educational needs of gay and lesbian families, the representation of adoption and adoptive families in children s literature, and the experiences of homeless students and their families with the educational system. About the Editors: Tammy Turner-Vorbeck is a visiting professor of teacher education at Wabash College. Monica Miller Marsh is an associate professor of education at DeSales University. Other contributors include: Lesley Colabucci, Matthew D. Conley, Elizabeth Heilman, Janice Kroeger, Ilyana Marks, A.Y. Ramirez, Lisa Rieger, Teresa J. Rishel, and Tracy Thoennes.

Out of Wedlock: A Study of the Problems of the Unwed Mother & Her Child. Leontine Young. 1954. 261p. McGraw-Hill. Published half a century ago when unwed mothers were forced to seek anonymity away from their families and home towns. Today the social status of unwed mothers is overtly much diffierent but the issues the book addresses remain. Why does it happen? How should the law deal with the unmarried father? How should the child be assured a decent and useful life? Is the girl responsible or is society primarily at fault? Author Leontyne Young considered the subject a major social problem. One of the first studies on the growing problem of illegitimate pregnancies. Written primarily for social workers, it will be of help to anyone working on behalf of unmarried fathers, mothers and out-of-wedlock children.

Paid Servant. E(dward) R(icardo) Braithwaite. 1962. 219p. Bodley Head (UK). After a stint as a teacher, the Guyanese novelist (his first novel was To Sir, With Love), worked for the LCC’s Child Welfare Department, placing children into foster care and for adoption. This is an account of that experience, giving insight into the position of West Indians living in Britain in the 1960s.

Paper Trail. Michael Dorris. 1994. 371p. Harper Collins. The author, an award-winning anthropologist, nonfiction writer, and bestselling novelist, has written essays on a remarkably wide range of topics. In Paper Trail, he reminisces about the mother and grandmother who raised him, wrestles with his adopted son’s Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, gives insight into contemporary Native American issues and explores the backroads of America while engaging us with his humor, anger, and awe.

Parents, Children & Adoption: A Handbook for Adoption Workers. Jane Rowe. Foreword by Hilda Lewis. 1966. 294p. Routledge & K Paul (UK).

Pathways to Adoption. Mervyn Murch, et al. 1993. 290p. The Stationery Office Books (UK). What obstacles affect the outcome of adoption proceedings? The research presented here investigates this question, examining court records and interviewing social workers and solicitors involved in adoption cases. Among its criticisms of the current system is the level of delay—sometimes proceedings take years rather than weeks or months. About the Author: Mervyn Murch has been a Professor of Law at the Cardiff Law School, UK since 1993. He read Jurisprudence at the University of Oxford and obtained postgraduate qualifications in Applied Social Studies at Bristol University where he previously taught and established a socio-legal centre for family studies. His 30-year research career has focussed on the inter-disciplinary work of the family justice system and has contributed to policy and practice developments and to law reform in divorce, adoption and child protection. At the Cardiff Law School he is currently co-directing further externally funded research on adoption (with Professor NV Lowe), children’s perspectives of divorce proceedings (with Professors G Douglas, F Fincham and I Butler); Evidential and Child Protection Issues of Shaken Baby Syndrome (with C Cobley) and the Role of Grandparents in Divorce (with Professors G Douglas and NV Lowe). He also has a developing research interest in International Family Law, in particular European child-related divorce legislation.

Pathways to Maturity: Insights from a Thirty-Year Study. Betty M Flint, Jean G Partridge & Elizabeth G Stark. 1996. 192p. University of Toronto Press (Canada). In the world of child development, the conventional wisdom has been that children severely deprived in their earliest years do not regain the losses suffered, no matter what their later upbringing. Pathways to Maturity presents a model for psychological rehabilitation of deprived institutionalized children which not only explodes the myth but shows how significant rehabilitation can be accomplished and offers intriguing insights into the complexities of human development.

Patterns of Adoption: Nature, Nurture, & Psychosocial Development. David Howe. 1997. 240p. (Working Together With Children, Young People, & Their Families). Blackwell Science Inc (UK). Explores current understandings of the issues surrounding adoption with a focus upon social, behavioral and personality development. Fifteen chapters analyze the wide range of research and theoretical perspectives and discuss topics including nature and nurture; heredity and environmental influences on children adopted as babies and on older children placed for adoption; attachment, relationship-based theories, and adoption pathways; secure, anxious, angry, avoidant, and non-attached patterns; adoption outcomes; and patterns of practice. © Book News.

Peacock or a Crow, A: Stories, Interviews, & Commentaries of Romanian Adoptees in the United States. Victor Groza, Daniella F Ileana & Ivor Irwin. 1998. 240p. Williams Custom Publishing. A long-awaited, popular guide to events, policies and cultural influences on Romanian adoption. The authors consider recent Romanian history and the effects of institutionalization on adoptees and adoptive families. They draw richly upon first-person narratives, as well as the research findings of social scientists. For those considering international adoption, a special section is included on processes, procedures and expenses. Written in an engaging, first-person manner, the book will be an invaluable resource for adoptive families, those considering adoption, practicing field workers and college courses pertaining to the complexities and realities of international adoption. — Publisher’s Comments. [Read Chapter 3: Dickens, Boys Town or Purgatory: Are Institutions a Place to Call Home?]

Pearl S Buck: A Cultural Biography. Peter Conn. 1996. 468p. Cambridge University Press. Pearl Buck was one of the most renowned, interesting, and controversial figures ever to influence American and Chinese cultural and literary history—yet she remains one of the least studied, honored, or remembered. Peter Conn’s Pearl S. Buck: A Cultural Biography sets out to reconstruct Buck’s life and significance, and to restore this remarkable woman to visibility. Born into a missionary family, Pearl Buck lived the first half of her life in China and was bilingual from childhood. Although she is best known, perhaps, as the prolific author of The Good Earth and as a winner of the Nobel and Pulitzer prizes, Buck in fact led a career that extended well beyond her eighty works of fiction and non-fiction and deep into the public sphere. Passionately committed to the cause of social justice, she was active in the American civil rights and women’s rights movements; she also founded the first international adoption agency. She was an outspoken advocate of racial understanding, vital as a cultural ambassador between the United States and China at a time when East and West were at once suspicious and deeply ignorant of each other. In this richly illustrated and meticulously crafted narrative, Conn recounts Buck’s life in absorbing detail, tracing the parallel course of American and Chinese history and politics through the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This “cultural biography” thus offers a dual portrait: of Buck, a figure greater than history cares to remember, and of the era she helped to shape.

Pearl Buck’s Living Legacy: The Welcome House Story. Dale Yoder. 1999. 172p. Masthof Press.

Permanence in Child Care. June Thoburn, et al. 1986. (Practice of Social Work, Vol 15). Blackwell Pub.

Permutations of Permanency, The: Making Sensitive Placement Decisions. Richard J Delaney, PhD. 1998. 32p. Wood N Barnes. Every child deserves permanency! A safe family, security, belonging. And now, it’s federally mandated by the Adoptions and Safe Families Act of 1997. We owe it to each child to consider his/her specific needs for permanency. We must carefully examine for each child: What is the optimum permanency for this youngster or youth? Hopefully, attention to the twelve placement principles listed in this book will reduce the chances of making inappropriate placement decisions and lead to the individual optimum permanency for each child. The issues addressed follow: Child’s Attachment Hierarchy Protection of Continuity of Care Best Interests of the Child Least Detrimental Alternative Recognition of Psychological Parenthood Access to Ancillary Attachment Figures Parental Capacity Needs of Other Children in the Home State Preferences of the Child Least Restricitve Environment Maintenance of Kinship Ties Sensitivity to Cultural Factors.

Place to Call Home, A. Steve Christian & Lisa Ekman. 2000. 60p. Nat’l Conference of State Legislatures.

Placement of Adoptive Children, The. John Richard Wittenborn; assisted by Barbara Myers. 1957. 189p. CC Thomas.

Plan for the Child, The: Adoption or Long-Term Fostering. Nigel Lowe and Mervyn Murch, Kay Bader, Margaret Borkowski, Rosalie Copner, Cathy Lisles & Jenny Shearman. 2002. 200p. British Agency for Adoption & Fostering (UK). What factors determine the local authority decision to pursue either adoption or long-term fostering for those looked after children who cannot return to their birth family? And what measures have local authorities introduced to identify and combat detrimental delay? At a time of unprecedented interest in adoption and the Government’s intention to maximise adoption for looked after children, this unique research evaluates practice in six representatively selected local authorities. This study was commissioned by the Department of Health to inform the Government’s Quality Protects initiative and conducted by a multi-disciplinary team under the direction of Professors Nigel Lowe and Mervyn Murch of Cardiff Law School. Important observations are made about a spectrum of issues including the right placement choice for the child; variations in policy and practice; record keeping; staffing and resources. The authors also address issues that have critical implications for policy and practice. Should there be a national coordination of child placement policy? What can be done at central government level and what is more appropriately delegated to local government? What should inform decision-making in determining placement choice and how should this be properly supported and resourced? Recent measures by the Government will go some way towards addressing some of these issues, but will they be far reaching enough? This important study contains some clear messages for central and local government and should be read by all those concerned with making the best placements for children in need.

Point of Law: Children Act Explained. Caroline Gibson, Rebecca James & Shona Mulholland. 2001. (2nd Ed). 345p. The Stationery Office Books (UK). The Children Act is an act to reform the law relating to children and to provide for local authority services for children in need and others. The Act also amends the law with respect to fostering, child-minding and day- care for young children, and adoption. Like all publications in the “Point of Law” series, this title presents the full text of each section of the Act, with a section-by-section explanation in plain English. It also provides a brief account of the background to the Act along with an analysis of the key issues and procedures which the Act will introduce.

Policy & Practice Implications from the English & Romanian Adoptees (ERA) Study. Michael Rutter, Celia Beckett, Jennifer Castle, Jana Kreppner, Suzanne Stevens & Edmund Sonuga-Barke. 2009. 60p. British Association for Adoption and Fostering (UK). The English Romanian Adoptees (ERA) study is a remarkable exploration of the experiences of children whose early lives in Romanian institutions were unimaginably poor and who were then adopted into English families with all the material, emotional and social advantages that this brings. This publication focuses on the policy and practice implications of this internationally known study. Initiated in 1992 because of the major uncertainties about what would happen to children adopted by UK families from extremely depriving Romanian institutions, the ERA study has been reported on, at initial and then follow-up stages, over the past 17 years, with the most recent findings published in 2009. To be able to follow these children longitudinally over so many years, and to track their progress and understand the influence and interaction of both their poor start and their later advantage, has transformed the understanding of child and adolescent development. This book considers the policy and practice implications of what has been learned through this longitudinal study. Rather than focusing on the research findings as such, which have been reported upon elsewhere, this publication tackles those questions most often posed by practitioners and policy makers, including the following:
•   Does the removal from institutions and the adoption into well functioning families bring about recovery for these children?
•   What are the challenges for the children and for the adopting families?
•   What are the effects on the young people of leaving institutional care?
•   What are the effects of deprivation on physical development and psychological functioning?
•   What are the service implications of these?
The book begins with the necessary introduction to the ERA study, proceeds to answer 45 key questions, and ends with overall conclusions. It will be of great interest, both in the UK and internationally, to practitioners, policy makers, adoptive families, academics and all others interested in the outcomes for children adopted into the UK from institutions overseas.

Politics of Adoption, The. Mary K Benet. 1976. Free Press.

Politics of Adoption, The: International Perspectives on Law, Policy & Practice. Kerry O’Halloran. 2006. 334p. (2009. 520p. 2nd Ed). Springer-Verlag New York, LLC. The Politics of Adoption identifies and analyses the fundamental social and legal functions of adoption. It is a timely publication as across the world adoption law reform is now giving rise to contentious issues. The change process underway in England and Wales offers an opportunity and a perspective to explore areas of commonality and difference in the experience of other nations. It also provides a window through which to examine the presumption that within and between cultures there exists a common understanding of what is meant by adoption. This book offers a comparative analysis of developments in the law, policy and practice of adoption in England and Wales, the US, Australia and Ireland. It explores the global phenomenon of intercountry adoption. The impact of the European Convention and other international legal instruments are assessed and the resulting implications for the future of adoption are considered. It suggests that the more ‘open’ experience of adoption in indigenous communities such as the Maori of New Zealand, the Aboriginal people of Australia and the Inuit of Canada challenges some of the basic assumptions underpinning adoption law in modern western nations. The Politics of Adoption is the product of rigorous research, validated by academics in the countries concerned and is written in an accessible manner to appeal not only to academics and practitioners but also to the many whose lives have been touched by adoption. About the Author: Kerry O’Halloran is a lawyer, social worker and academic who has spent most of his professional life engaged with this subject. The Politics of Adoption is the product of rigorous research, validated by academics in the countries concerned and is written in an accessible manner to appeal not only to academics and practitioners but also to the many whose lives have been touched by adoption.

Postadoption Experience, The: Adoptive Families’ Service Needs & Service Outcomes. Martha Morrison Dore, PhD, ed. 2006. 304p. CWLA. For this book, foster care provider Casey Family Services has commissioned several research studies to examine fundamental postadoption issues, including: determining what services are most effective; making services accessible to children and families; funding services; evaluating the services’ effectiveness; and determining the direction for future research on postadoption services. Incorporating knowledge and experience from experts in the field and academia, The Postadoption Experience sheds light on successful and achievable approaches to meeting the needs of adoptive families and their children.

Postwestern Cultures: Literature, Theory, Space. Susan Kollin, ed. 2007. 288p. University of Nebraska Press. Postwestern Cultures synthesizes the most critical topics of contemporary scholarship of the American West within a single volume. This interdisciplinary anthology features leading scholars in the varied fields of western American literary studies and includes new regional studies, global studies, studies of popular culture, environmental criticism, gender and queer theory, and multiculturalism. Postwestern Cultures, like all successful studies of western American literature, is necessarily diverse and wide-ranging; it grasps the multifaceted quality of the landscape, literature, and critical analysis by engaging postmodern theory, spatial theory, cultural studies, and transnational and transcultural understandings of the local. This collection emphasizes the importance of understanding the region not as a confined or static space but as a constantly changing entity in both substance and form. It examines subjects ranging from the use of frontier rhetoric in Japanese American internment camp narratives to the emergence of agricultural tourism in the New West to the application of geographer J. B. Jackson’s theories to abandoned western landscapes. About the Editor: Susan Kollin is an associate professor of English at Montana State University and the author of Nature’s State: Imagining Alaska as the Last Frontier. Contributors: Michael Beehler, Neil Campbell, Krista Comer, Nancy Cook, Audrey Goodman, Melody Graulich (“I’m Just a Lonesome Korean Cowgirl; or, Adoption and National Identity”), Susan Kollin, Beth Loffreda, Lee Clark Mitchell, Capper Nichols, David Oates, John Streamas, and Stephen Tatum.

Praeger Handbook of Adoption, The. Kathy Shepherd Stolley & Vern L Bullough, eds. 2006. (Two Volumes). Praeger Publishers. Since early times, families have adopted children in all parts of the world. Records describing adoption in Ancient Rome, Babylonia, and China show the similarities and differences to the adoption practices we know today. This comprehensive resource provides both historical and current information on all aspects of adoption, from many countries and religions, including Africa, Britain, Canada, China, India, Islam, Japan, Jewish, Mexico, Mormon, and others. It provides information on the cultural, ethical, financial, legal, medical, psychological, and social implications of adoption. It highlights perspectives of the birth parents, adopting parents and the adopted child; open and closed adoption; national and international adoption; grandparent and single-parent adoptions; and agencies that assist with pre and post-adoption issues. Primary documents, biographies of those in the adoption field, and sidebars identifying special facts relating to the history and experience of adoption, complete this most exhaustive resource that no library serving adopting parents, adoptees, or practitioners in the field will want to be without. About the Author: Kathy Shepherd Stolley is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Virginia Wesleyan College in Norfolk, VA. Her areas of specialization are health policy/bioethics, family, adoption, organizational development, and sociological theory. Her work on adoption includes journal articles on statistics, relinquishment, and textbook presentations of adoption. Dr. Stolley edited the applied journal, Social Insight: Knowledge at Work. She is the author of The Basics of Sociology (Greenwood, 2005). Vern L. Bullough is Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the State University of New York. He is the author, co-author, or editor of over 50 books, has contributed chapters or sections to 100 other books, authored over 150 articles in refereed journals, and hundreds of others in a variety of publications. He has traveled and lectured in over 35 foreign countries, and in most of the states of the United States. He is a fellow of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, is a Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism, is a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, and has won numerous awards for his research and writing including the Alfred Kinsey award, and the John Money award. He received an honorary doctorate from the State University of New York. Among other things he served on the advisory board for the Los Angeles County Board of Adoptions, and is the proud parent of both natural and adopted children.

Primal Wound, The: Understanding the Adopted Child. Nancy Verrier. 1993. 231p. Nancy Verrier. The Primal Wound is a book that is both forceful and courageous in the way it approaches the subject of adoption. Using information about pre- and perinatal psychology, attachment, bonding, and loss, it illuminates the effects on adopted children of separation from their birth mother. This book provides validation of adoptees’ feelings, as well as bringing clarity and understanding to their experiences.

Production & Reproduction: A Comparative Study of the Domestic Domain. Jack Goody, ed. 1977. 170p. (Cambridge Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology). Cambridge University Press (UK). This book is an attempt to see the development of domestic institutions, the family, marriage, conjugal roles, in relation to changes in the mode of productive activity, and specifically with the change from hoe to plough agriculture. These differences are related to societies in Africa on the one hand, and in Asia and Europe on the other. The author tries to do this in two ways. He compares information derived from a range of human societies, historical as well as contemporary, employing the impressionistic techniques of the social scientist and comparative historian. But in addition, he has tried to make systematic use of material on a range of world societies, coded in the Ethnographic Atlas. In the main chapters of the book, the author examines general features of the network of traditional social roles found in these two continental areas of the Old World. He discusses the reasons why Europe and Asia should stress marriage within the social group, monogamous unions as well as the roles of concubine, step-parent, spinster and adopted child, whereas in Africa, the emphasis is on marriage outside the group, polygyny and co-wives. Similar differences emerge in a range of other features, including the division of labour by sex. Behind all these lie differences in the systems of agriculture and the nature of the social hierarchies which they support. Professor Goody is firmly committed to the idea that the social sciences have no alternative but to be comparative and explicitly historical if they are to contribute to the serious causal analysis of fundamental features of social organisation and development. His broad and ambitious book will appeal to anyone with a professional interest in social sciences—historians, anthropologists, sociologists, geographers and economists.

Promoting Successful Adoptions: Practice With Troubled Families. Susan Livingston Smith & Jeanne A Howard. 1999. (Sage Sourcebooks for the Human Services Series, V. 40). Sage Publications.

Psychoanalysis & Social Work. Marcel Heiman & M Kaufman. 1953. New York International University.

Psychoanalytic Approaches to Adoption. See, The Emotional Experience of Adoption: A Psychoanalytic Perspective.

Psychological Issues in Adoption: Research & Practice. David M Brodzinsky & Jesus Palacios, eds. 2005. 324p. (Advances in Applied Developmental Psychology Series, #24). Greenwood Publishing Group. In this book, leading researchers spotlight how dramatically the practice of adoption has changed both in North America and Europe in recent decades due to, among other factors, a falling rate of domestically born infants being placed for adoption. This has resulted in a rise in international adoption, children of color being placed with Caucasian parents, increased foster care and special needs adoptions including children exposed to prenatal alcohol and drug use as well as maltreatment by birth parents. Also examined is the far more diverse group of adults being granted adoption rights, including single and homosexual parents. Research findings demonstrate the trend across countries toward open adoption, wherein the birth parents and adoptive parents meet to share information.

Psychology of Adoption, The. David M Brodzinsky & Martin D Schechter, eds. 1990. 416p. Oxford University Press. Recent empirical work has shown that adopted children are more vulnerable to a host of psychological and school-related problems compared to their non-adopted peers. The rate of referral of adopted children to mental-health facilities is far above what would be expected given their representation in the general population. However, our understanding of the basis of these problems remains unclear. In this work, David Brodzinsky, who has conducted one of the largest studies of adopted children, along with Marshall Schechter, a child psychiatrist, has brought together a group of leading researchers from various disciplines to explore the complex, interdisciplinary subject of adoption. Theoretical, empirical, clinical, and social policy issues offer new insights into the problems facing parents of adopted children and especially the children themselves. The book is a comprehensive study and will be of interest to child psychiatrists, developmental and clinical psychologists, social workers, and social service providers.

Psychology of Orphans. Dr Ludmila M Shipitsyna. 2007. 240p. iUniverse-Indigo. Psychology of Orphans is written by Dr. Lyudmila Shipitsyna, Rector of the Institute of Special Education and Psychology Saint-Petersburg, Russia. She has a Doctorate in Science and Biology and works as an honored professor in this specialty in the Russian Federation. Considered an expert and pioneer in this field in Russia, she has authored over 400 publications. Today these books have formed the foundation in teaching on special education within Russia and beyond. Psychology of Orphans is the combination of written theory with the clinical practice and experience of dealing with orphans, adoptions and families. Psychology of Orphans was written as a resource book for students, researchers, academics and professionals. Those who work with orphans and families with special needs children affected by social and psychological problems will find Psychology of Orphans invaluable. Any potential adoptive parent needs to know the research and conclusions that Psychology of Orphans reveals. Question on children’s behaviors and actions are answered presenting a better understanding of those from state institutions. The exciting fact that sets Psychology of Orphans apart from other books is that the research obtained is for the first time based from within Russia. About the Author: Dr. Lyudmila M. Shipitsyna is a Rector of the Institute of Special Education and Psychology in Saint-Petersburg, Russia. An author of more than 400 publications, Dr. Shipitsyna was inducted into Cambridge University’s Order of Friendship, receiving recognition as one of the 2,000 greatest people of the 20th century, for leadership and research in special education.

Pursuit of Permanence, The: A Study of the English Child Care System. Ian Sinclair, Claire Baker & Jenny Lee. 2007. 320p. (Quality Matters in Children’s Services). Jessica Kingsley Publishers. Permanent placements are an elusive goal for those working with children in public care. Breakdowns of placements can be traumatic for both the children concerned and their carers, and yet little is known about the detail of the care system—the kinds of children who are in it, and their views and experiences. The Pursuit of Permanence is a based on the largest study of the English care system in recent years. It offers a wide-ranging overview of the whole placement process, including the children (who they are, what they need and what they want), their movements (where they enter and exit the care system), their placements (what these are and how effective they are), the outcomes (whether the children are settled or happy) and the underlying reasons for these points (why all this happens and turns out the way it does). The authors convey this complex information in an accessible style and offer recommendations based on their findings for how the care system should work, what it should offer and how it should be managed and inspected. This seminal book is essential reading for all social work professionals working in fostering, adoption and children’s services, as well as policy makers and students on social work courses.

Question of Adoption, A: Closed Stranger Adoption in New Zealand, 1944-1974. Anne Else. 1991. 239p. Bridget Williams Books.

Questions & Answers in the Practice of Family Therapy (Vol. 2). Alan S Gurman, ed. 1982. 320p. Brunner-Routledge. Many prominent psychologists have contributed to this book. Discussed is everything from adoption to alcoholism to the holocaust to anorexia nervosa to abusive parents, etc.