Adoption Search and Reunion
Adoption Search and Reunion
Reading books can unlock the padlock on minds.A necessary piece of equipment in searching is a LIBRARY CARD. Many of these books can be found at your local library. Others can be found at your local book store or ordered through them. There are also online book stores.
Blau, Eric. STORIES OF ADOPTION: Loss And Reunion New Sage Press,1993.
Lifton, Betty Jean. LOST & FOUND: The Adoption Experience. Perennial Library,1988 (first ed.1979).
Based on an adoptee's talks with other adoptees but includes conversations with birthparents and adoptive parents as well, making this a good all-around starter book.
Sorosky, Arthur, et al. THE ADOPTION TRIANGLE: Sealed or Open Rccords, How They Affect Adoptees, Birth Parents, and Adoptive Parents. Anchor Books,1984.
Based on one thousand interviews of adoptees, adoptive parents, birthparents.
Wadia-Ella, Susan, editor. THE ADOPTION READER: Birth Mothers, Adoptive Mothers & Adopted Daughters Tell Their Stories. Seal Press,1995.
Thirty women, including well-known writers and adoption activists, write eloquently about a wide range of adoption experiences, including international adoption.
Fessler, Ann. THE GIRLS WHO WENT AWAY: The Hidden History of Women Who
Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade.
Penguin
Press, 2006. Over 100 women were interviewed by the author to share
their
personal stories of family and social pressure to surrender their child
to
adoption during the 1940's to 1970's. The author begins and ends the
book
with her own search and reunion.
Jones, Merry Bloch. BIRTHMOTHERS: Women Who Have Relinquished Babies for Adoption Tell Their Stories. Chicago Review Press, I993.
Seventy women share their experiences of giving birth and placing a child for adoption, raising subsequent children, searching and being found.
Schaefer, Caro1. THE OTHER MOTHER: A Woman's Love for the Child She Gave Up for Adoption. Soho Press Inc.,1991.
A Bay Area woman tells her experience of pregnancy in a Midwest home for "unwed mothers," her relinquishment of her son, her years of loss, her search and reunion.
Hafetz, Robert Allan. NOT REMEMBERED, NEVER FORGOTTON: An Adoptee's
Search
for His Birthfamily. Gateway Press, 2005. The author tells his story of
the
search for his birthfamily. His perspective as a mental health
professional
is helpful to understand the impact of adoption and what could be found
at
the end of the search.
Anderson, Robert, M.D. `SECOND CHOICE: Growing Up Adopted. Badger- Hill,1993.
A black market adoptee who is also a psychiatrist tells his story
Gravelle, Karen and Susan Fischer WHERE ARE MY BIRTH PARENTS? A Guide for Teenage Adoptees. Walker,1993.
Discusses how and why adopted children may try to locate and get to know their birth parents and examines possible psychological benefits and problems associated with the process.
Lifton, Betty Jean. JOURNEY OF THE ADOPTED SELF: A Quest for Wholeness Basic Books, 1994
Lifton addresses the myths surrounding adoption. This book delves into the psychological effects of adoption and is recommended for reading after reading one of the general books.
Independent Search Consultants.
SEARCH BOOK.1995.
Strauss, Jean A. S. BIRTHRIGHT:
The Guide to Search and Reunion for Adoptees, Birthparents, and Adoptive Parents. Penguin Press,1994.
Part one tells how to search; part two deals with the effects of reunion on all members of the adoption triad.
Gediman, Judith Brown, Linda P. BIRTH BOND: Reunions Between Birthparents & Adoptees, What Happens After. New Horizons Press, 1989.
McColm, Michelle. ADOPTION
REUNIONS: A Book for Adoptees, Birth Parents and Adoptive Families. Second Story Press,1993.
An adoptee who has worked with other adoptees and birthparents explores the roots of reunion, the reunion, and how to support the reunion process.
Waldron, Jatt. GIVING AWAY
SIMONE: A Memoir Times Books, I995.
The author reunited with her daughter when the girl was eleven years old. Waldrun powerfully describes the struggle of birthmother and child to build a relationship.
Remember use that library Card.! Most of these books are available from bookstores which will order books they don't have in stock, and libraries can borrow books from other libraries for you. If the book is not available locally, try:
American Adoption Congress
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A Crying Shame, by C. Tieman
Adoptee Trauma, by Heather
Carlini
Adoption in America: Coming of Age, by Hal Aigner
The Adoption Life Cycle, by Elinor B. Rosenberg
Adoption: A Hand Full Of Hope, by Suzanne Arms
Adoption Without Fear, by
James Gritter
Being Adopted: The Lifelong
Search for Self, by Brodzinsky, Schecter and Henig
Birthmother Trauma, by Heather
Carlini
Children of Open Adoption,
by Silber and Domer
Clinical Practice in Adoption,
by Blanchard, et al
Confessions Of A Lost Mother,
by Elisa Menocal Barton First book published of bulletin board-internet mailings concerning the adoption triad family.
Wanted: First Child, by Rebecca
Harsin
Within Me, Without Me, by
Syue Wells
Dear Birthmother, Thank You for Our Baby, by Silver & Speedlin
Waiting To Forget Autobiography
of a woman who surrendered her son at age 15
Saying Goodbye To A Baby:
The Birthparent's Guide to Loss and Grief in Adoption, by Patricia Roles
Saying Goodbye To A Baby:
Volume 2 - A counsleor's Guide to Birthparent Loss and Grief in Adoption, by Patricia Roles
Faint Trails, by Hal Aigner
Torn From the Heart, by Louise
Jurgens
Unlocking The Adoption Files,
by Paul Sachdev Research about the effects of sealed adoption records on adoptees and birthparents
Letter to Louise, by Pauline
Collins
Shared Fate, by H. David Kirk
Understand The Triad, by Dirck W. Brown
Wake Up Little Susie, by
Rickie Solinger
Orphan Voyage, by Jean Paton
The Open Adoption Experience,
by L. Molina & S.K. Roszia
The Right to Know Who You Are, by Keith C. Griffith
Search: A Handbook for Adoptees
& Birthparents, by Jayne Askin
Search Resources Directory, USA, by Jone Carlson
Searching For A Past, by Jayne
Schooler
Sibling Reunon, by Randolf
W. Severson
So, Here I Am! But Where
Did I Come From? by Mary Ruth Wotherspoon
Stories of Adoption: Loss
& Reunion, by Eric Blau
You, Too, Can Find Anybody,
by Joe Culligan 1994 edition
The Stranger Who Bore Me:
Adoptee-Birthmother Relationships, by Karen March
Twice Born, by Betty Jean
Lifton
Shadow Train, by Patricia
E. Taylor
"The Private Investigator's
Guide to the Internet" By Joseph Seanor
Adopted Woman, by Katrina
Maxtone-Graham
Birth Bond: Reunions Between
Birthparents & Adoptees, by Brown & Gediman
Chasing Rainbows: A Search
for Family Ties, by Laurel Lynn
Family Search Series, ENGLAND;
SCOTCH/IRISH-- Each book includes maps, history, data regarding emigration, where to write for documents.
Half Way Home! Contact &
Reunion Guidelines, by Lynn-Claire Davis
How to Start {Or Expand} A
Search/Support Group, by Jone Carlson
I Would Have Searched Forever,
by Sandra Kay Musser
Letters to My Birthmother:
An Adoptees Diary of Her Search for Her Identity, by Amy E. Dean
Making Contact, by Kirck
Brown and Susan Miller-Havens
How to Find Almost Anyone,
Anywhere, by Norma Mott Tillman
Before the Search by Michele Heiderer. New book 1997 with updated sources on who/where to contact for adoption information (non-id etc.) at the state level. It lists each state, which ones have confidential intermediaries, etc., the state's adoption law, and addresses of what agencies to contact for non-id etc. It also gives adoption terminology
Gathering The Missing Pieces of an Adopted Life by Kay Moore
Synchronicity & Reunion by LaVonne Harper Stiffler
Courageous Blessings by Carol Demuth (excellent for adoptive parents)
Primal Wound by Nancy Verrier
Birth Mother Trauma, 1992, by Heather Carlini; and Adoptee Trauma, 1993; Morning Side Publishing; both revised Dec. 1996
Adoption Reunions, by Michelle McColm; Second Story Press, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, 1993 (2nd printing, May, 1996)
To Prison with Love, by Sandy Musser; The Awareness Press, Cape Coral, FLA, U.S.A., 1995; the moving account of one activist's fight for openness in adoption
HELPING WOMEN COPE WITH GRIEF by Phyllis Silverman, Sage Publications, Inc., Beverly Hills, CA 1981; section on bmoms contains first person quotes taken from a study on the life-long effects of losing a child to adoption.
THE LOST DAUGHTERS OF CHINA written by Karin Evans (an adoptive mother).
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Adoption Search and Reunion