Family Bonds: Adoption, Infertility, and the New World of Child Production [Paperback]

Elizabeth Bartholet (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 5, 1999

In this powerful book, Elizabeth Bartholet attempts to make sense of the worlds of adoption and fertility treatment by combining a moving personal narrative with compelling policy analysis. Family Bonds is conveniently available at a time when more children than ever are waiting to be adopted and when infertility treatment is becoming an increasingly popular, sophisticated, and expensive technology.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

After suffering 10 frustrating years of infertility treatments and various obstacles to adoption, Harvard law professor Bartholet, a divorced mother of a grown son, finally succeeded in adopting two Peruvian infant boys now four and seven--children "clearly meant for me." In this engrossing account addressed both to women undergoing often futile, costly infertility treatments and to those fighting to adopt children, she eloquently advocates making international adoptions more available by reforming legal systems, as well as by screening and racial matching policies. The author further favors access to sealed birth records. Although she affirms that adoption is an honorable, "positive alternative to biologic parenting," she also notes that "parenting should not imply that the parent owns the child's affections or has a right to exclude alternative relationships."
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Library Journal

Bartholet, a single mother and Harvard Law School professor, journeyed to Peru in 1985 to adopt a child. In this account, she argues that the whole adoption business is antichild, antifamily, and antiparent. Nurturing should be central to parenting, not biological destiny, she claims, and adoption records should be open, not sealed. She persuasively argues that discrimination by age of parents, sexual preference, race, disabilities, and country of origin should be outlawed. Bartholet also maintains that society must reject the lie that adoptive families are second-best to biologically based families. The author backs her assertions with studies showing that adoption, even across racial lines, generally works well. Her book is thought-provoking, controversial, and sure to be discussed. Extensive footnotes are included. Highly recommended.
- Linda Beck, Indian Valley P.L., Telford, Pa.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Beacon Press (October 5, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807028037
• ISBN-13: 978-0807028032
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.3 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,415,280 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compassionate ideas, June 18, 2003

By 

Ilana (Palo Alto, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Family Bonds: Adoption and the Politics of Parenting (Hardcover)

I found Elizabeth Bartholet's view of parenting to be thoughtful, intelligent and compassionate. As the birth mother of one, this book made me want to consider adoption as a compassionate way to expand my family -- even without fertility problems as the motivation.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intelligent Exploration of Adoption, June 1, 2008

By 

Dawn De Lorenzo "Author of Peanut Butter and ... (Woodbridge, NJ) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Family Bonds: Adoption, Infertility, and the New World of Child Production (Paperback)

Family Bonds is a bit more personal than Bartholet's other title, Nobody's Children. Bartholet is a mother to one child born prior to her divorce, and two boys adopted from Peru as a single, divorcee. Batholet states that "The myth is that the legal structure surrounding adoption is designed to serve the best interests of the child. Actually experiencing the system as an adoptive parent shattered this myth for me." As a woman who endured the international adoption process I too had this myth shattered. The current adoption system, both domestic and international, is a travesty. The needs of children are the lowest priority and their "best interests" is something to which only lip service is paid. Anyone who has traveled to a foreign country can attest to the heartbreaking conditions of orphanages and the bizarre affinity for orphanages over international adoption. You need only be exposed briefly to babies languishing in wooden cribs or strapped to potties as early as possible to be appalled by the fact that so-called "advocates" for children oppose adoption and actually support anti-adoption sentiments. Most of the children in these orphanages are not legally "available" for adoption, yet they are purportedly "better off" being NOBODY'S CHILD than being an American's child. It is a disquieting notion, but nonetheless a reality.

Elizabeth Bartholet is a voice of reason in the adoption world; a world that is sadly perverted by anti-adoption forces clinging to a mythological ideology that blood equates to the best parenting scenario for all children. This is a dangerous ideology as many are willing to sacrifice children's lives in order to defend it. Children rot away in the foster care system and most are reunited with their parents at all costs - to the point that many are killed by their biological parents who are unfit to parent them. It is reminiscent of Shirley Jackson's short story The Lottery. We cling to barbaric ways simply because it is "the way we've always done it".

4 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Family Bonds, December 21, 2002

By 

P. Ann Evans (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Family Bonds: Adoption, Infertility, and the New World of Child Production (Paperback)

If you're an adoptee or birthmother, don't waste your money on this narrow-minded view of adoption. Bartholet has little to say about birthmothers! When she does mention birthmothers, she seems to view them as inconsequential baby machines. No empathy in this book!