The Adoption Mystique [Paperback]

Joanne Wolf Small (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1410740943 | ISBN-13: 978-1410740946 | Publication Date: February 2004

Desperation, neediness, and the powerlessness of birthparents, infertile couples and adopted persons fuel the powerful adoption monolith. Too often "adoption" and "adoptee" imply different, separate, and outside the norm. Propaganda, research, and theories fail to tell the whole story. To help readers understand the paradigm of adoption, the author explores how the fantasy that has been carefully crafted to protect adoption’s institutional image contrasts with the harsher reality experienced by those the institution was meant to serve.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

Much of what’s been written and said about adoption—the definitions, myths, interpretations, and so on—was generated by non-adopted persons, and often without benefit of adopted person’s input. No wonder we know so little about adoption’s aftermath. That adoption holds sway over millions of people is testimony to its effect. The issues have lain buried, and most of the affected have kept silent beneath the weight of adoption’s power. The framework that surrounds adoption law, policies, and practice, the beliefs, myths and attitudes that endow it with enhanced and profound meaning, value, and mystery are what I call The Adoption Mystique." J.W. Small

From the Inside Flap

These essays, that began to materialize as a book about two and a half years ago, look at adoption from a psychosocial or environmental perspective. They outline the history and background of American adoption culture; explore the hidden but powerful religious, social, and economic factors that affect adoption’s collective image, and are often critical of child welfare’s adoption premises, policies, and practices.

Adoption is an industry that has gained power from the desperation, neediness and powerlessness of the birth parents, infertile couples, and adoptees it serves. Society has invested it with an image comparable to that of a sacred cow. Criticism has customarily been taboo.

Recent reforms were forced upon the industry by societal shifts. Despite protestations to the contrary, the undercurrent of negative feelings and attitudes generally accorded the adoptive family as a variant, and adoptive status in particular, remain much the same.

The author finds that colleagues, clinicians from other disciplines, adoptive parents, adopted persons, their child, and spouses hunger to understand adoption. Industry propaganda, research studies, and theories—often without benefit of adopted persons input—fail to tell the whole story.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Authorhouse (February 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1410740943
• ISBN-13: 978-1410740946
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,587,070 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Adoption Mystique, June 8, 2004

By 

Shirley B Kent (Potomac, Maryland United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Adoption Mystique (Paperback)

Because I am an adoptee who searched and found my biological family, I read Joanne Small's book "The Adoption Mystique" with great interest. Ms. Small has done a masterful job of debunking the propaganda the adoption industry spews out. We do not need or want the "protection" forced upon us by industry. In a country like ours that places such a high value on personal freedom, it is a shame that there is a necessity for writing such a book as this! This is a "must read" book for adoptees, birth and adoptive parents alike.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!, July 5, 2004

By 

Mary Anne Cohen (Whippany, NJ United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Adoption Mystique (Paperback)

This little book of essays takes on big sacred cows both of the adoption industry and the adoption reform movement, and makes hamburger of them! Ms. Small, an adoptee, social worker, and long-time activist for adoptee rights, makes the case that the adoption system as it now exists, a culture of secrets and lies, is itself dysfunctional. She also questions the medical model of adoption (everyone is wounded and in need of therapy) and the pathologizing of adopted persons in such theories as "Adopted Child Syndrome"and the public fascination with adopted killers and other criminals. All of her essays are liberally footnoted, providing both documentation of her research and a whole world of adoption reading that readers may want to follow up on. This kind of careful scholarship is refreshing in a field full of unproven theories, unsupported claims and over-generalized statements.

Ms. Small was the only adoptee on the Model Adoption Legislation and Procedures Committee in 1978. Out of this committee came the Model State Adoption Act, which recommended open records for adopted adults. The National Council for Adoption was formed to combat this progressive act, and we have been battling them ever since. In her many years as an activist, Ms. Small has learned many lessons about politics and adoption reform which she shares in "The Adoption Mystique".

The most valuable and timely part of this book is the section on compromise and legislation, and what happened in Maryland in 1997 when a bill was introduced that featured contact vetoes and an elaborate and expensive mandatory intermediary system. Some adoption reformers supported this bill, with the rationale that without compromise nothing could pass, most adoptees could have reunions, and that this was a "baby step" to full adoptee rights. Ms. Small neatly and logically demolishes this flawed argument in her essay.

She makes a clear distinction between unconditional adoptee rights legislation, and search and reunion legislation, and why the latter is always in danger of compromise. Her analysis of the Maryland legislation is clear and well-reasoned and can serve as a guideline for other state groups on what not to do legislatively, and why a real civil rights bill can not have restrictions, vetoes, or conditions to the exercise of those rights. I hope everyone working on legislation in their own state makes this book their bible on what kind of legislation to introduce, support, and hold out for.

This is a well-written, well thought-out book that should be in the library of every adoption activist. Some may not agree with all of the conclusions or ideas, but all certainly can learn and question and begin their own dialogue on legislative activism, and how the mystique of adoption has become so ingrained in popular culture that it is hard to break through with reality and truth. I highly recommend The Adoption Mystique.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An adult adoptee from New Hampshire, June 4, 2004

By 

Janet Allen (Ctr. Barnstead, NH United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Adoption Mystique (Paperback)

How refreshing to find a book that tackles the societal mores revolving around adoption with such clear and concise explanations of the evolving institution. If you know nothing at all about adoption and the way that society views this institution then this is the book for you. If you think that you know all about adoption, read this book and you will find that there is more to learn. Ms. Small clearly outlines the views that were prevalent surrounding adoption from the past to the present with an insiders understanding that could only be arrived at through having lived within that very system. Her extensive education, as well as her work within the adoption field allow her a center seat on the adoption stage. Historically all adoption decisions have been made without input from the adoptee and it is only relatively recently that adoptees have found their voices. I, for one, am more than pleased to have Ms. Small speak on my behalf and on the behalf of all adoptees. Three cheers for such a well written, informative book. It should be required reading for all who participate in adoption, including those who regulate and/or facillitate it.