The Adoption Reunion Survival Guide: Preparing Yourself for the Search, Reunion, and Beyond [Paperback]

Julie Jarrell Bailey (Author), Lynn N. Giddens (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 2, 2001

This book is written by two adoption specialists, one of whom is a reunited birthmother, and draws on the real-life experiences of others to help readers prepare for the emotional turbulence of the reunion experience, examine their fantasies and emotions about it, and find a personal support system to help them through. It also discusses the legal issues surrounding adoption reunion and includes a list of resources to help readers with their search, from support groups and web sites to agencies and professionals.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Julie Jarell Bailey is an adoption specialist, a reunited birthmother, and an adoptive mother of three brothers. Lynn Neal Giddons is an adoption specialist and the author of Faces of Adoption and of Eternal Inspirations. Annette Baran is co-author of The Adpotion Triangle, and Adopted Parents.

Product Details

• Paperback: 150 pages
• Publisher: New Harbinger Publications (March 2, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1572242280
• ISBN-13: 978-1572242289
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #862,101 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars ABSOLUTELY, A MUST READ..., May 25, 2001

By 

Chandler (West Virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Adoption Reunion Survival Guide: Preparing Yourself for the Search, Reunion, and Beyond (Paperback)

...for anyone in search, or hoping to have a reunion, this book is an incredible guide! It's filled with a lot of common sense and logic, humor, sadness, great stories used as examples for the "DO" and "DO NOT" approaches to reunion. I especially loved the "REUNION AEROBICS" advice, and the chapter explaining the "Stages of Reunion." This book gave me the strength and preparation I needed to avoid some major mistakes as I approached reunion. It also gave me a great deal of "food for thought," and helped me fine-tune the reasons why I wanted a reunion, which helped to decrease my anxiety and focus on what I really needed to accomplish by meeting my birth family. I think that this book is a "MUST READ" before someone makes contact, because in the end, the advice contained in the pages of THE ADOPTION REUNION SURVIVAL GUIDE will save all parties involved a lot of heartache.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Adoption Reunion and Survival, January 31, 2004

By 

Lisa Kelley (North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Adoption Reunion Survival Guide: Preparing Yourself for the Search, Reunion, and Beyond (Paperback)

This is book is a must have for anyone who is a member of the adoption triad. It gives some real insight on the worlds that the adopted person as well as the birthmother live in, and poses some thought provoking questions for the reader to help understand some of the complex feelings and emotions that are present for those desiring contact with a seperated loved one. The reader is left feeling better equipped for the prospect of reunion, and more knowledgeable about legislation and laws that address this complex situation.

31 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good advice among the touchy-feely stuff, July 30, 2001

By 

David W. Kramer (Atlanta, GA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Adoption Reunion Survival Guide: Preparing Yourself for the Search, Reunion, and Beyond (Paperback)

This book has some good guidelines if you're somewhere along the search for your birth parents, but is cluttered with New Age gobbledegook which, in my opinion, got in the way of the authors' more practical advice.

I was adopted as an infant (5 months), and at age 47 began a search for my birth parents. I was surprised at how easy it was, and how quickly I located my birth mother's name and her whereabouts, as well as finding out about her two additional children. I had been advised by a woman who had guided others in making initial contact. I followed her advice but never got a response. After reading this book, I discovered I probably should have handled a couple things differently. The authors of Survival Guide have good advice on making initial contact, and include examples of letters and commication tips, as well as testimonials from others as to what worked and what didn't. This was helpful.

However, you have to wade through a great deal of the authors' presumptive characterizations of adopted people to glean the advice and guidance that the title of this book suggests. That is, the authors spent a good bit of time doing such inconsequential things as attempting to generalize what drives adoptees to seek out their birth parents. They tend to characterize adoptees as people with a lack of something or a missing piece in their life's puzzle - people with a yearning of which they may not be aware or of which they are in denial (!!). Personally, I never felt any lack of anything as a result of being adopted, emotional or otherwise. I'd just like to know who gave me my genes, what my parents look like now so I know what to expect, and whether I can look forward to any physiological challenges, such as predisposition to conditions or diseases. It would have suited my needs better if the authors had kept more focus on the title of this book, and dropped the quasi-analytical "who are we adoptees and why are we doing this" business.

Having said all that, however, I found the book helpful.