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Book Review: Adoption–Social Issues Firsthand Series

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The series Social Issues Firsthand is published by Greenhaven Press, the publishers of the Opposing Viewpoints series (see my review of Opposing Viewpoints: Adoption). The Social Issues series does not consist of direct arguments by those with different beliefs, but does endeavor to have contributions from people with diverse experiences. The volume Adoption, from the Social Issues Firsthand series, contains sixteen articles, approximately 600 words each, divided roughly into sections. The first section is “Giving Up a Child for Adoption”. Many people today would object to the phraseology used here. Positive Adoption Language prefers “made an adoption plan” to emphasize … Continue reading →

Book Review: Issues That Concern You: Foster Care

I’ve mentioned before how much I enjoy the Opposing Viewpoints series of books, such as Opposing Viewpoints: Adoption. Greenhaven Press now has another series, aimed at students, called Issues that Concern You. These issues include Date Rape, Discrimination, Dieting, Electronic Devices in Schools, Gangs, Zoos and Animal Welfare, and other issues that may be relevant to students’ everyday lives, to things they care about, causes they may wish to support, or issues they may vote on when they become adults. Issues that Concern You: Foster Care is one such book. Like the Opposing Viewpoints series, the book is an anthology … Continue reading →

Book Review: Adoption, Race and Identity

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This volume contains the results of studies done in 1972, 1979, 1984 and 1991 on a consistent group of families with transracially adopted children. The authors hope to show the range of experiences of transracial adoptive families by comparing the same families over time. The formal study was conducted in 1972, 1979 and 1984 with families who had at least one transracially adopted child, with that child being between the ages of three and eight at the beginning of the study in 1972. Therefore the children were between ages twelve and nineteen at the study’s formal conclusion with the 1984 … Continue reading →

Book Review: After Adoption: Direct Contact and Relationships

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The book After Adoption: Direct Contact and Relationships, by Carole Smith and Janette Logan, fills a void in the adoption literature by providing real examples of how contact between birth relatives, adopted children and their adoptive families are arranged. The authors include comments from all parties regarding their feelings about these contacts. The authors, who are on the faculty of Applied Social Science at a British university, note that while there is an increasing presumption in favor of open adoption (in both the UK and the US), there is little substantive research as to its benefit. One interesting thing to … Continue reading →

Historical Policies and Current Legislation Regarding Transracial Adoption

The Adoption History Project states that until the late 1940s, many African-American children were simply not counted in formal adoption statistics at all. The largely African-American states of Louisiana and Florida, in fact, did not record an adoption of an African-American child (by a family of any race) for decades before 1950. African-American parents felt discriminated against by most adoption agencies, yet were reluctant to establish same-race programs for themselves while they were seeking integration, not segregation, in other aspects of life. According to The Adoption History Project, the first recorded adoption of an African-American child by a white family … Continue reading →

Is Transracial Adoption Necessary?

The National Association of Black Social Workers (NABSW) issued a statement against transracial adoption in 1972, excerpted below. “Black children belong physically and psychologically and culturally in black families where they can receive the total sense of themselves and develop a sound projection of their future. Only a black family can transmit the emotional and sensitive subtleties of perceptions and reactions essential for a black child’s survival in a racist society. Human beings are products of their environment and develop their sense of values, attitudes, and self-concept within their own family structures. Black children in white homes are cut off … Continue reading →

Media Review: Opposing Viewpoints: Adoption

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The Opposing Viewpoints Series from Greenhaven Press is a series I have long admired as a student, citizen and prospective educator. The series contains over 90 books ranging from Abortion to Welfare Reform. The series has been in existence for 25 years but is frequently updated. Each book organizes itself around four or five main questions relating to a topic. The editors seek out both prominent and lesser-known voices on various sides to give opinions from multiple viewpoints. So what is controversial about adoption? More than you might think. Some essays in the book directly oppose each other. The first … Continue reading →

Does Research Validate Our Fears?

My last blogs have talked about the fears adoptive parents sometimes have, and the media images and popular misconceptions feeding them. This blog and the next one will address whether research supports the idea that children who were adopted are more likely to have problems in school, in family life, and in relating to others and society. A cautionary note: It is possible to drown in research studies and come out more confused than when you started. I have spent the past week reading summaries of research studies. No doubt there are other points that the authors of the studies … Continue reading →

Is It Right to Sever Family Ties?

When I reviewed the book Adoption,from the Opposing Viewpoints series(you can read my review by clicking here), my attention was drawn to one author who argued for the elimination of adoption. She did accept that sometimes children must live apart from their biological parents for their own safety, but maintained that a child’s name and identity should never be changed and there should always be some kind of contact. Of course, no one can change a child’s identity. It is foolish for adoptive parents to think that a child’s genetics, prenatal and birth experiences, and early life experiences will have … Continue reading →