Adoption Nation How the Adoption Revolution is Transforming Our Families -- and America

by Pertman, Adam

• ISBN13: 9781558327160
• ISBN10: 1558327169
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-03-17
• Publisher: Harvard Common Press

Summary

When it was first published ten years ago, Adoption Nation represented the first comprehensive overview of adoption issues facing America, pulling together and sorting out the confusing and contradictory masses of information relating to adoption'¬"s politics, policies, and practices. In this completely revised and updated edition, Pertman continues where he left off, disentangling the myths and prejudices surrounding adoption, foster care, and nontraditional family structures. As adoption continues to shed its corrosive stigmas, Adoption Nation recounts the system'¬"s long history of secrecy, shedding light on its seismic cultural reinvention over the past several decades. And as society'¬"s ambivalence about adoptees, birth parents, and adoptive families rises and controversy engulfing the adoption of children in foster care grows, Adoption Nation aspires to answer questions and inform readers of the myriad political and social forces that shape our understanding of adoption today. As an adoptive father and a seasoned journalist, Pertman combines compelling stories with a penetrating and thoughtful analysis of the role of adoption in today'¬"s society and its likely future impact. The brilliantly revised Adoption Nation is an indispensable resource for anyone who wants to learn how this crucial issue is shaping our families, our metamorphosing communities, and our growing connections to a global world. What'¬"s new in Adoption Nation 2011: The growing role of digital technologies in the reconnection of birth parents and children Shifting trends in domestic adoptions Revolutionary new laws governing disclosure of birth records, open adoption policies, and foster placement New demographic statistics on multiracial adoptions, special needs adoptions, and adoptions by people of color Updated reports of corporate adoption cultures and benefits packages for adoptive parents Adoption in perspective: Evaluation of adoption in the aftermath of an economic meltdown

Author Biography

Adam Pertman is the executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, the associate editor of Adoption Quarterly, and the adoptive father of two. When he was a senior journalist at The Boston Globe, his articles on adoption won him a nomination for the Pulitzer Prize. Visit www.adampertman.com.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Prologue	p. xiii
Don't Whisper, Don't Lie-It's Not a Secret Anymore
Out of the Shadows, into Our Lives	p. 3
A Legal Maze from Coast to Coast	p. 35
Joy and Surprises from Abroad	p. 64
Sensitive Issues, Lifelong Process
Adoptees: The Quest for Identity	p. 99
Birth Parents: A Painful Dilemma	p. 133
Adoptive Parents: Infertility Begets a Family	p. 166
Tough Challenges in a Promising Future
Special Needs, Diverse Families	p. 201
The Money's the Problem	p. 236
Old Lessons for a New World	p. 266
Adoption Resources	p. 297
Notes	p. 301
Acknowledgments	p. 315
Index	p. 319
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