Customer Reviews

Adoption, Identity, and Kinship: The Debate over Sealed Birth Records

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Professor Wegar uses a sharp analytical scalpel to dissect the "peculiar institution" of sealed records adoption in the United States, which is one of the last nation in the industrialized world that prohibits a group of its citizens from accessing their own documents of identity. Ms. Wegar also demonstrates how proponents and opponents of sealed records use the rhetoric of pathology and therapy to sway public opinion. A fresh perspective, and a recommended read for anyone sincerely interested in ending the failed social experiment of sealed records adoption.

Dr. Wegar is one of only a handful of scholars to cover the history of sealed records in the United States in research and literature.

This book is a great reference and points out how various arguments in the records debate can be stigmatizing to the adopted person. However, I did find the reference to the Adoptee Rights Movement as "the search movement" as problematic. The reasons individuals would like to see records (the Original Birth Certificate, which is a separate issue than adoption records kept by agencies and courts) are diverse. What unites the movement is the quest to be treated equally.

A good reference book with a dispassionate style. If you want to learn more about adoption, this book is concise, scholarly, and timely.