Adoption Nation: How the Adoption Revolution is Transforming Our Families -- and America (Non) [Paperback]

Adam Pertman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 17, 2011 | Series: Non

With compassion for adopted individuals and adoptive and birth parents alike, Adam Pertman explores the history and human impact of adoption, explodes the corrosive myths surrounding it, and tells compelling stories about its participants as they grapple with issues relating to race, identity, equality, discrimination, personal history, and connections with all their families. For the first edition of this groundbreaking examination of adoption and its impact on us all, Pertman won awards from many organizations, including the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatrists, the Dave Thomas Center for Adoption Law, the American Adoption Congress, the Century Foundation, Holt International, and the U.S. Congress. In this updated edition, Pertman reveals how changing attitudes and laws are transforming adoption—and thereby American society—in the twenty-first century.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 352 pages
• Publisher: Harvard Common Press; 2 edition (March 17, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558327169
• ISBN-13: 978-1558327160
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #635,736 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Read this book first! April 29, 2012

By Jennifer Bardsley

Format:Paperback

I'm a sucker for any book I see on adoption, because my parents adopted my own sister at two weeks old. It was an open, public adoption in California that involved two and a half years of waiting but was virtually free. I was nine years old.

Adoption Nation by Adam Pertman is the definitive book on adoption as far as I'm concerned. It is well written, meticulously researched, and tells balanced stories about all of the potential blessings and heartache that come with adoption for the major parties involved: adopted child, adoptive parents, and birth parents. If you were ever considering adoption in any form, this would be the first book to read.

I do have a pretty serious critique of Adoption Nation that comes from my own myopic view of adoption. This books does not devote any time whatsoever to the effects adoption have on the minor parties involved; namely the biological children of adoptive parents.

My parents bonded with my sister and knew 100% she was their daughter before they even met her. I however, looked at my newborn sister for the first time with the nine-year-old equivalent of "What the f---?" In retrospect, I could probably have benefited from counseling! Thankfully my sister and I are very close now. It turns out that my Mom was right and I did end up being thankful to have a sister.

Most children have nine months to watch their mom's bellies grow; all the while learning that the baby that comes out will be their flesh-and-blood sibling. Biological children of adoptive parents do not have this same preparation. Suddenly they just have a sibling.

I think that in adoptive parents' eagerness to protect the feelings of the adoptive child, there can be unintended consequences to the biological children. The adopted child might unintentionally be portrayed as "special", while the biological child feels just "ordinary". Of course, if you asked my sister about this she would probably say the exact opposite!

Adoption marks everyone who is involved. In my case it was for the better, but it would be nice to have seen a little bit of my own experience in Pertman's book.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A powerful book that puts adoption center stage May 14, 2011

By Jeannine

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

Adoption Nation, by Adam Pertman, is a powerful book that emphasizes the crucial need for continued adoption reform. A true advocate for all participants in adoption, Pertman illuminates for the reader a frank, poignant and balanced history of adoption, shining a spotlight on the myriad and often controversial issues associated with this different way of creating a family. This book is unlike some advocacy books whose authors promote their causes through inflammatory, detached or off-putting writing. Adoption Nation is a compelling read because Pertman is able to hold onto an emotional connection to the many complicated political, legal and personal adoption issues while simultaneously presenting a balanced, objective, and insightful assessment of these concerns. This book is a comprehensive one, covering such controversial and significant issues as an adoptee's fundamental right to her original birth certificate, negative consequences of secrecy, inconsistency in adoption legislation and policy, benefits of open adoption, the growth in single-parent and gay/lesbian-parent adoptive families, and intercountry and transracial domestic adoption, name but a few. Pertman eloquently describes the changes in the process he calls an adoption revolution while aptly capturing the intensity of the challenges involved in giving adoptees the voice they need to provide them with the fundamental rights they deserve. And for Pertman, advocating for adoptee rights does not mean neglecting the needs of birth and adoptive parents as he illustrates the legal and political dilemmas of adoption reform without losing site of the emotional complexities for all adoption participants. Adoption Nation is a wonderful book that puts adoption center stage as a formidable force in the changing landscape of family and society.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, informative book about all aspects of adoption May 7, 2011

By SaraKruger

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book covers all aspects of adoption in America. The author is clearly in favor of open adoptions in terms of relationships among triad members (adoptive parents, birth parents, and adopted children) and transparency in adoption in general. He goes into great detail about each component of adoption, how it has changed over the last 60 years, and how it still needs to change. He is so clearly in favor of bringing all aspects of adoption into the open that it has the feel of an agenda -- the other perspective is introduced but only to refute it. But it's persuasively refuted. He includes lots of case stories of couples who have adopted. I enjoyed that he devoted chapters to each member of the triad so the reader learns a lot about each perspective.