Reviews (2)

Helping Adoptive Parents See a Bigger Picture
I work with adoptive parents who are just getting their children (from the child welfare system).This book helps parents figure out what questions they need to be asking.It also is very instrumental in showing us what kinds of issues might come up 2, 5, 10 years from now for an adopted child.Just last night, i had another adoptive parent who is about to finalize their adoption rave about this book.Sometimes it is hard to see beyond a child's need today, but we must be prepared for tomorrow, and this book helps us to do that.

A great resource
This title is clearly one of the better adoption resource books on the market.It contains a large amount of practical yet thoughtful advice and brings to the attention of adoptive (or potential adoptive) parent considerations that clearly are appropriate but that may not have beenobvious before reading the book.The first section of the book clearlywould benefit prospective adoptive parents as they work through a myriad ofissues before and during the adoption process. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Adoption    2. Adoption And Adoption Services    3. Adoptive parents    4. Family / Parenting / Childbirth    5. Family/Marriage    6. Advice on parenting   

Reviews (2)

A Ground-Breaking Work
Colin Chisholm's Through Yup'ik Eyes is a truly remarkable and ground-breaking work. From Yup'ik Eyes
A humbling, chilling, sensitive, compassionate portrayal of a love toward a mother, and the search for the identity of a silent history, is truly extracted by the author about his experience as a child of a mother whom he wants strongly to understand.Read more

Subjects:  1. 1967-    2. Adoptees    3. Adoption    4. Alaska    5. Biography    6. Biography & Autobiography    7. Biography / Autobiography    8. Biography/Autobiography    9. Chisholm, Colin,    10. Kotlik    11. Literary    12. Regional Subjects - West    13. Social life and customs    14. Specific Groups - General    15. United States    16. Yupik Eskimos   

Reviews (3)

She misses the mark completely..
Patton is all over the place in this book. She tries to cover too many really huge issues and therefore misses the mark completely.She loses focus on what her real issue is and ultimately seems really confused. This book is not much more than a research paper. Patton doesn't cite references directly in the text, so I question where she got some of her statistics from because many of them seem unrealistic.The irony of the whole book is that the auther is a white woman who was adopted into a white family writing about black children adopted by white parents. Trans-ethnical and trans-racial are two different things. Judaism is not a race, it's a religion. All of this seems to elude Patton.Being married to a bi-racial, trans-racial adoptee, I feel more qualified to have written this book - and more accurately at that.I had to read this book for a class. I'm glad I didn't seek it out for factual, unbiased information.
Reads like graduate thesis, not a "Field Guide"
This book is well written and an asset to someone interested in learning about transracial adoption POLICY AND THEORY(which also implies issues of welfare reform, illegitimacy, and institutional race/classism)from W.W. II to the 1990's.The author, herself an adoptee, interviewed 22 transracial adoptees (primarily Mid West and West Coast) and has included some of their comments in the text. Powerful Stories of Adoption and Race
The power of this book is in the stories of the adoptees the author interviews.Their life stories answer some of the most pressing questions there are about transracial adoption, including their experiences with racism and their struggles to make sense of who they are.This is a book all adoptees, adoptive parents, and birth parents should read.Yet the stories are engaging and relevant for all readers interested in questions of family and identity.Patton lays bare the process of developing a sense of self in a race-conscious society. But there is more.The author lets the adoptees speak and then puts their words into a larger framework of social analysis.She also includes attention to media and policy issues about adoption and single mothers.Her perspective on the connections between welfare legislation and adoption policy are incisive and chilling.A must read! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Adoptees    2. Adoption    3. African Americans    4. Ethnic Studies - African American Studies - General    5. Human Services    6. Interracial adoption    7. Interviews    8. Race identity    9. Social Science    10. Social Work    11. Sociology    12. United States    13. ADOPTION_PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS    14. ADOPTION_UNITED STATES    15. Child welfare    16. Children    17. Family & Relationships / Adoption    18. Family & relationships    19. Multicultural studies    20. North America   

Reviews (1)

Takes you Inside Foster Care!
This book takes you inside the world of foster care, a place that, you find out quickly isn't somewhere you want to be.The voices of the children themselves tell the stories in this collection of essays.We seethings as they actually are: siblings are split up and sometimes neverreunited, children's loyalties between abusive or neglectful parents andthe "system" are questioned, kids age out of the system and areleft to a world they know nothing about without a family to guide them.Itis all here.It is all true.I challenge you to read it and not have itmake you think long and hard about the way "the system" works andhow it affects the kids. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Adoption    2. Case studies    3. Children: Young Adult (Gr. 10-12)    4. Foster children    5. Foster home care    6. General    7. Public Policy - Social Services & Welfare    8. Social Science    9. Social Work    10. Sociology    11. Teenagers    12. United States    13. Literature: Texts   

Subjects:  1. Adoption    2. Anthropology - Cultural    3. Archaeology / Anthropology    4. Cross-cultural studies    5. Family    6. Kinship    7. Social Science    8. Sociology    9. Sociology - Marriage & Family    10. Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural    11. Sociology, Social Studies   

Reviews (5)

Valuable reading for anyone
This collection of stories written by adoptees, adoptive mothers and birthmothers gives the readera visceral insight into the truths and heart aches of surrender, adoption and reunion. Being an adoptive mother myself and having met our wonderful birthmother many years later gives me personal insight into the adoption experience, but reading this book has greatly increased my understanding and empathy for all members of the adoption and birth families. I don't know how prospective adoptive parents will feel if they read this collection, whether it is too much to cope with and sort out for their personal decision. Ideally, knowledge is power, and the more a person knows about an important subject, the better. Eye-opening views of adoption
This compilation of essays - beginning with birth mothers, then adoptive mothers, and finally the adopted daughters - goes above and beyond the usual "magazine style" articles on the quirks or perils of the adoption process.I was incredibly pleased and impressed by the diversity of Wadia-Ells' collection.Lesbian women, multi-racial families, and a variety of socio-economic backgrounds all lend to this book a wealth of perspectives.The contributors are thoughtful, often in emotional pain, honest about their experiences, and each one is a talented writer. Tear-jerker for anyone touched by adoption
This is one of the few books written about adoption that has brought tears to my eyes with the emotional intensity shared by the writers in their stories from all perspectives of adoption.I would recommend this book toanyone touched by adoption, or who is considering entering into the worldof adoption, whether through adoptive parenting, placement, counseling, orreunion. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Adoption    2. Adoption And Adoption Services    3. Adoptive parents    4. Case studies    5. Child Care/Parenting    6. Family / Parenting / Childbirth    7. Mothers and daughters    8. United States   

Reviews (4)

A good although biased review of open adoption
First, I'm not sure where the 'guide to adoption without tears' come from, but that being said this is still a good book for people who have doubts about open adoption, so they can find out the good advantages of it. That being said, I believe that the book is too biased sometimes and not very objective.
Not a new edition!
The back cover of this book and amazon's data say that this is a revised edition- not so! The Copyright date on the inside still states 1992. All that's new here is it's a pb edition with a new cover and the exact same chapters and page count.

No such thing as adoption without tears
The Open Adoption Book is A Guide to Adoption Without Tears.I want to live on the planet Dr. Rappaport resides on and so do the tens of thousands of women in the United States who surrender babies every year for adoption. The tears never stop, whatever adoption practice the children were placed under. Read Merry Bloch Jones, Birthmothers and you'll see "the amputation of the heart." Rappaport describes open adoption as though it were a rose garden in which "...close relationships between the adoptive parents and birthparents become almost casual or routine, just as they would be in a biological family. The sense of normalcy is striking" (p. 120). Yes, of course, this may be the case with some open adoption arrangements, but Dr. Rappaport writes that "most open adoption families" consider the presence of the birthparent(s) "just a normal and routine part of their everyday lives." We do not have longitudinal studies that support this view, and common sense tells us that it cannot be true of most open adoption arrangements. We learn in a see-saw of research papers that many birthmothers report that if they had to do it over again they would not have chosen adoption but raised the children themselves. Some would even have chosen abortion over adoption. Mothers relinquishing a child for adoption often tend toward more grief symptoms, especially if the adoption is an open one, than parents who had lost a child to death. Studies show that many mothers using open adoption often feel more socially isolated, express more difficulty with normal everyday life, feel more despair, and express more dependency than their counterparts using confidential adoptions.Read more

Subjects:  1. Adoption    2. Adoption And Adoption Services    3. Family / Parenting / Childbirth    4. Family/Marriage    5. Human Services    6. Open adoption    7. Social Science    8. United States    9. Advice on parenting    10. Child welfare    11. Family & Relationships / Parenting   

Reviews (1)

Attachment Therapy
This has helped our family tremendously. It is the most effective and non retraumatizing technique we have found for using with our attachment disordered children. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Adopted children    2. Adoption    3. Family & Relationships    4. Family / Parenting / Childbirth    5. Family relationships    6. Family/Marriage    7. Narrative therapy    8. Psychotherapy - Child & Adolescent    9. Child welfare   

Reviews (4)

Arm Yourself With Knowledge!
This book is a must have for foster parents, adoptive parents, & professionals. Yes, some of it gets very tedious & dry, & the editing is horrendous; but...there is a lot of value here. Not only does the author give explanations, activities, & study based back-up, but she also walks you through her chapters with several case studies. This helps the reader to better apply the knowledge they are absorbing. Excellent
A must read in the field, a really excellent book.A must read for parents who want to help children build healthy attachments, really helped with my situation.

Disappointing
Although this book is recommended by many as a standard work in the field, I personally found it unreliable and uneven. Read more

Subjects:  1. Adoption    2. Alternative Family    3. Education    4. Family / Parenting / Childbirth    5. Parenting - Stepparenting    6. Child welfare   

Reviews (9)

From An Adoptee Who Has Found Her Family . . .
While this book can offer some insight into moms who lost children to adoption in the past, it is very sad that the title is so demeaning to moms. Even though my mom and I were separated for over 34 years, she is my one and only MOTHER; there is no need to attach the derogatory label "birth" to her. All TRUE and NATURAL MOMS give birth and pass along genes to their children. One reviewer here talks about her adoptee's mother in terms of "our birthmother," a demaning title indeed that makes it seem as though the true mother is merely a breeder for the adopters. I know that the title isn't everything for a book, but in this case, it is most important and sets the tone. If more mothers who have lost their children would realize and identify themselves as MOTHERS instead of breeders, there would be far fewer adoptions. Let's hope that happens soon, but it won't be due to this book.
Informative- Yes; Encouraging- No
As a young woman (Birthmother)who has selected adoption as the best choice for an unplanned pregnancy, I would say that I found this book disturbing at times, downright upsetting at others.I would argue that while there are some common themes that could be drawn upon in writing this acccount; there were too many "scary stories" included in this book to make it credible as any worthwhile reccomendation for the average birthmother, adoptee, or adoptive parent.The author documented incidences of incestuous relationships between birthparents and their relinquished children in a way that made them sound somewhat typical; this was unsupported, and in my opinion a disservice to the entire piece's integrity.She also coined a phrase, "The Birthmother Syndrome" wherein attempts were made at classifying, categorizing, and diagnosing women who have been through a similar experience, but cannot possibly be so easily analyzed as she has done here.Ultimately this book (from my perspective) propagated stereotypes and was a discouraging piece to read

A painfuland compassionate eye-opener
This is a beautifully written and valuable book for our understanding of birthmothers who describe experiences in both closed and open adoptions. Many have grieved; others have felt relief; a number have entirely repressed their emotions. Regardless of what they think about relinquishment, many continue to struggle with the emotional effects of suppressing their maternal drive in the form of rage, frustration, sorrow, guilt, and self-doubt.Many birthmothers emphasized that reunion was not a cure for the regrets, angers, or grief they faced after relinquishing. The author writes that 'even in mutually rewarding reunions, most birthmothers experienced profound sensations of loss.' Yes, I understand this feeling because I have personal experience with the birthmother of our daughter. Relinquishment occurred in 1969, when the baby was 4 days old and 28 years later our birthmother found us. Today, we love one another and our daughter has a cordial relationship with her birthmother, but our birthmother is facing the terrible reality that her grown daughter, now a mother herself, is not the needy little baby she had relinquished and a late mother-child relationship is impossible. 'Even reunions can't make it right.'Read more

Subjects:  1. Adoption    2. Birthmothers    3. Family & Relationships    4. Family / Parenting / Childbirth    5. Family/Marriage    6. Psychological aspects    7. United States    8. Marriage, family & other relationships   

Reviews (11)

A Beacon in the Fog
Bonnie Buxton's book, Damaged Angels, will ring true to anyone who has lived the life of dealing with a child who looks normal, but has "disconnects" in their life.After adopting "a visible child with an invisible disability" I valued reading about Bonnie's experiences with her daughter,Collette.Her up-to-date overview of the most current research on FASD was helpful in my journey with my daughter.I appreciated her openness and vulnerability in describing her mothering experiences.
The perfect mix of fact and real-life example
Bonnie Buxton does an amazing job in this book of thoroughly explaining the damage that prenatal alcohol exposure does to an unborn child's brain and how that plays out in real-life examples, without painting a picture that is dark and hopeless.We get to see these real families working hard to make good lives for their children, feel their struggles, grieve in their failures and celebrate in their successes.This is a beautiful book full of life and hope.

Finally, some answers.
This is an excellent resource for parents of FAE/FAS children, adopted or by birth.If you have a child who doesn't understand cause and effect, looks normal, but acts years younger than his or her age, this is the book for you. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Adoption    2. Adult Children Of Alcoholics    3. Child Care/Parenting    4. Child Development    5. Clinical Psychology    6. Family & Relationships    7. Family / Parenting / Childbirth    8. Family And Child Development    9. Parenting - General   

Reviews (14)

A great book for any adoptee looking for the truth.
I bought this book after reading "The Girls Who Went Away" by Ann Fessler and I'm glad I did. It really brings the subject of adoption full circle by telling the stories from all sides of the coin.But it also gives A Lot of starting points and next steps for people to use while doing their own search. My brother and I are both adoptees. I found my birth mother over 16 years ago but she had died in a car accident 6 months after I was born. Took me 15 more years to find my birth father. Both finding my birth mother and birth father were purely the grace of God because I had absolutely nothing to go on. My brother recently asked me to help him locate his birth parents and I'm so glad I purchased this book. Not only for the large quantity of resources it lists, but so I can also prepare him for the many different outcomes he may experience. I can also add, that by reading this book, it has been an emotional rollercoaster. Being able to relate to so many feelings, stories, dreams has really been healing in a lot of ways. Knowing there are so many people out there with similar emotions due to being adopted has been comforting in some strange way. I'd have to say one of my favorite parts of the book is when it talks about how society continues to view the adopted child as just that, a child. Society never took into account that we, as adopted children, would grow up to become contributing adults who have every right to know about ourselves, where we came from and everything pertaining to our lives. I guess if I had to pick one word to explain how this book made me feel it would be EMPOWERED.

Very relevant and informative...
I found this book incredibly helpful in helping me deal with searching for and eventually reuniting with my birthmother.I bought it a year and a half ago, and I've referred back to it so many times that it looks like I've had it much longer.It gives very helpful advice for everyone involved in adoption and allows you to see all sides of the issue.Also, the testimonials and Jean Strauss's search and reunion story give the book a very personal feel.Overall, a great book for anyone connected to adoption.

This book is a wealth of information and guidance . . . .
Being adopted, my interest in finding books relating to my own thoughts and journey was quite a challenge.Interestingly, I found this book after finding my birthmother and two siblings.The book was a confirmation of every step and emotion I felt.I can't reccomend this book enough.It is written in a non-threatning and caring tone.Every adoptee or a parent that has relinguished a child should read it if for no other reason than to educate oneself. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Adoptees    2. Adoption    3. Adoption And Adoption Services    4. Biography    5. Birthparents    6. Family & Relationships    7. Family Relationships    8. Family/Marriage    9. General    10. Identification    11. Reference    12. Strauss, Jean A. S    13. United States    14. Child welfare    15. Fiction / Romance / Contemporary   

Reviews (3)

Still the best search book around!
I used this book when I searched for my son in 1989 and was struck by not only how thorough Mary Jo is in sharing ideas, techniques and sample letters and forms; but also the emotional part of the search journey. It is crucial to go into these searches with our eyes wide open and understand all possible issues the person we seek might have, as well as our own feelings. We also have a responsibility to be discrete and sensitive when we search for our lost parents or children.
The Best Search Book
As the former leader of an emotional support group, this is the book I recommended for people to use in conducting a search.Mary Jo has been involved in adoption searches long enough that she knows how to overcomethe many difficulties.Some searches today go very fast, but this bookwill also help those people who are having a harder time at completingtheir search.Mary Jo understand the emotions of searching because she isone of "us." Searcher's Bible
This book was a godsend! Wanted to find my family and didn't know where to start. This book did the trick. It took me through the process of gathering documents and information step-by-step. Now I'm going to buy The ReunionBook. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Adoption    2. Adult Children of Alcoholics    3. Family / Parenting / Childbirth   

Subjects:  1. Adoptees    2. Adoption    3. Birthparents    4. Developmental - General    5. Family & Relationships    6. Family / Parenting / Childbirth    7. Family/Marriage    8. Identification    9. Psychology    10. Child welfare    11. Family & Relationships / Adoption    12. Marriage, family & other relationships   

Reviews (3)

Worked Up
After reading this book, I passed it along to my mother. She has also enjoyed it. I feel that Dr. Stone portrays a part of her feelings that really involve you and true feelings in life. Sometimes its hard to deal with the facts and family. Sharing this with everyone can sometimes help others deal better with it. I strongly recommend this book. The book not only involves personal feelings and got me worked up, but it also involves sympathy for Dr. Stone herself. I was given the book to read by Dr. Stone herself, I had no idea that she had ever undertaken this kind of horrific event. There is not a week that goes by that I do not think "How did this women survive?" I am only thankful that her husband was there to help her through such a tragic event. If only every family was like that. There for each other.

"A wonderful read"
"More than love" offers a personal view of the devastating effects of physical, mental and sexual abuse. Dr. Stone shares her heartbreakingexperience of adopting Attachment Disorder children, and allows the reader to see the many difficulties that parents in every community will face. This book is a wonderful educational tool for every member of society.

A MUST READ!!!!
Impossible to put down!!WOW!!!Everyone should read this book, even if you never plan to adopt children.As a matter of fact, I highly suggest that anyone that has children, works with them, and or is around them read this book, including Parents, Teachers, Doctors, Psychologist, Sociologist, Police Officers, Adoption Agencies, and Government officials. It will really open your eyes.While reading "More Than Love...", I was filled with every emotion possible, sadness, anger, and yes even happiness.I could not help crying, laughing, smiling, and empathizing with Dr. and Mr. Stone.I take my hat off to them. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Abuse - General    2. Adoption    3. Developmental - Child    4. Family & Relationships    5. Family/Marriage    6. Learning Disabilities    7. Psychology    8. Psychotherapy - Child & Adolescent    9. Child & developmental psychology   

Reviews (4)

Good Intro to attachment - Light read
I found this book extremely helpful in giving a succinct overview of the attachment process when adopting. It is a must read for all parents thinking about or planning to adopt. However, it should lead to reading other more in-depth books for those who decide to adopt for sure.

Great For Parents of young adotped children
This is a beautifully written book especially useful for parents of younger adopted children.It is one of the very few books that is also very relevant for those who have adopted internationally.I almost always recommend this book to families that have a younger adopted child.It is well written by a sensitive, creative, and clearly very knowledgeable therapist.

Great information on attachment in adoption
I don't entirely agree with the other reviewer who said that this book is too scary.It *could* be scary, but the author bends over backwards to preface everything by telling you *not* to be scared off & that extreme cases are relatively few.I certainly did not get the impression that he believe that intervention is necessary for attachment.He does a great job of provides tools to assist in healthy attachment from day 1, as well as helping to discover if there are issues to be aware of later on.I am normally one to shy away from "scary" topics, but this book made me feel well-equipped - not scared.Note:I am now editing my review after having read section 3 of the book (the final section).That did get scarier...but this book still provided a lot of insight & helpful advice for promoting attachment. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Adoption    2. Family & Relationships    3. Family / Parenting / Childbirth    4. Family/Marriage    5. General    6. Parenting - General    7. Family & Relationships / Adoption    8. Family & Relationships / General   

Reviews (2)

A Little Bit of Everything
I've been reading a lot of books about adoption lately, and what I liked about this one was the questions. The Essential Adoption Handbook includes lists of questions to ask yourself, your spouse, the agency, a birth mother, a social worker, and then includes lists of questions that they're all likely to ask you. I thought that there was a lot of information packed into this little book, and that its resources section was informative. If you're considering adoption and you don't know what to read, I'd definitely put this book in your shopping cart!

Great book to jump-start your adoption
I read this book at the very beginning of my adoption research and it was an enormous help.It covers domestic, open and int'l adoption and has a great reference section.By the time I finished reading it, it looked like an old phone book, full of highlighted paragraphs, underlines and notes in the margins!It is an excellent book if you are just beginning the process, and have no idea of where to begin.I was clueless when I bought it, and now I have a beautiful daughter from Russia and this book really helped me get there. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Adoption    2. Adoption And Adoption Services    3. Adoption agencies    4. Family & Relationships    5. Family / Parenting / Childbirth    6. Family/Marriage    7. Handbooks, manuals, etc    8. Intercountry adoption    9. Pregnancy & Childbirth    10. United States   

Reviews (19)

Pioneering Work Exceeds Expectations
I found this book to be thought provoking and a great help in understanding the plight of SOME birth mothers.All adoptions are not the same and whether or not you find your birth mother/father, this book is a very good resource to start thinking outside the box.It gives a viewpoint outside of 'us'. In reality, as adoptees, it really is usually all about 'me'.As an adult, 40+, reunited with my birthmother for the past 2.5 years, this book gave me a clearer understanding of the difficulties that she may be going through in this process as well as opening my mind to view the experience in a different perhaps more profound way.My only advice to younger readers is read EVERY book you can.There are NO clear cut answers.There is no magical answer.BUT every book will give you some insight.You may or may not agree with everything the author says, however, if you can take one thing and learn about the process, or yourself or even your birthmother's experience, then it will be worth the price.

Thoughts from one blessed w/two through adoption
I purchased this book as a reunion with the birthmom's of my two is inevitable and welcome. We have a semi-open adoption with both birthmoms as they are welcome to write any time and we write them a couple of times a year. Birthbond: Reunions Between Birthparents and Adoptees
In the late 1980s, there were few books for birthmothers.This book validated the emotional pain I had carried (silently) during the decades after surrendering my child to a system of closed adoption.One of the authors is a birthmother.Thank you, Judith and Linda, for a pioneering work which, I'm sure, helped many people! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Adoptees    2. Adoption    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Case studies    5. Family & Relationships    6. Family Relationships    7. Family/Marriage    8. General    9. Parent and child    10. Parenting - General    11. Pregnancy & Childbirth    12. Psychology    13. United States    14. Parenthood   

Reviews (5)

Adoption Reunion and Survival
This is book is a must have for anyone who is a member of the adoption triad.It gives some real insight on the worlds that the adopted person as well as the birthmother live in, and poses some thought provoking questions for the reader to help understand some of the complex feelings and emotions that are present for those desiring contact with a seperated loved one. The reader is left feeling better equipped for the prospect of reunion, and more knowledgeable about legislation and laws that address this complex situation.

Not what I was looking for
I've been trying to find a book for my teenage sister who wants to find her birthmom.I bought this one, but after flipping through it and reading a few pages here and there, decided against it.There were some things that I thought would have been very helpful for her (mainly about realizing her fantasies, etc), but there was just TOO much garbage mixed in with it, and she doesn't need that kind of propoganda.The author treats adoption like a bad thing, that the adoptee needs to recover from.It takes the position that open adoption should be the status quo and closed adoption should be completely done away with.(That would have never worked in my sister's situation.)Also hints that all adoptees need to find their birth parents, which I don't think is true either - my brother has no desire to find his, and it doesn't mean he has weak relational skills!The most absurd thing I read, though, was that newborns are "severely traumatized" by separation from their birthmothers.It said they will cry all the time, and refuse to be comforted, "like they have been scalded with boiling water"!!!That is the most unscientific and untrue thing I have ever heard.I don't see how anyone could read this book, and then actually give their child up for adoption!The book also celebrated the changing times that single motherhood is accepted now, so adoption is less necessary. Good advice among the touchy-feely stuff
This book has some good guidelines if you're somewhere along the search for your birth parents, but is cluttered with New Age gobbledegook which, in my opinion, got in the way of the authors' more practical advice.Read more

Subjects:  1. Adoptees    2. Adoption    3. Birthparents    4. Family / Parenting / Childbirth    5. General    6. Identification    7. Self-Help    8. United States    9. Child care & upbringing    10. Family welfare   

Features

• Illustrated

Reviews (2)

Fascinating analysis of adoption from China
I have read this book from cover to cover (unlike the author of the review above), and I must say I am deeply impressed with the even-handed, nuanced analysis of this vitally important yet extremely touchy issue.I am an adoptee and a researcher and writer in the area of adoption.Dorow's analysis succeeds in doing what so few books on adoption do: she balances between a critical (in the best sense of the word) appraisal of transnational adoption as a process of child-transfer in a global capitalist marketplace and an empathetic understanding of the life experiences of adoptive families.It is indeed an academic sort of book, but it is also a valuable read for non-academics interested in the issues of race, gender, and kinship that arise in transnational transracial adoption.This book is the most insightful analysis of adoption from China that I have read.I applaud the author for her sensitive discusion, and highly recommend this book for anyone interested in considering the issue in social and cultural context.

"They're taking the children."
Let me start by saying that I'm (a) an adoptive parent of a girl from China, (b) a sociologist by training, and (c) a big believer in the benefit of the doubt. I read this book's introduction (from nyupress(period)org), and I would strongly advise any other prospective buyer to read it, too, before deciding on the book.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Adoption    2. China    3. Discrimination & Racism    4. Ethnicity    5. Gender Studies    6. Intercountry adoption    7. Social Science    8. Sociology    9. Sociology - Marriage & Family    10. United States    11. CHINA_SOCIAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS    12. Family & relationships    13. Immigration & emigration    14. Social Science / Customs & Traditions    15. USA