Odyssey of an Unknown Father: The Complete Book on Wrongful Adoption [Paperback]

David Archuletta (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 2008

Imagine telling your adopted son or daughter that his or her biological father never agreed to the adoption. Even if you didn't know this until after the adoption was finalized, this would still be a very troublesome issue for you and your child to deal with. Plenty of books guide prospective parents in how to adopt, but Odyssey of an Unknown Father will teach you how NOT to adopt. David Archuletta recounts his personal struggle to make contact with his biological son, who was adopted by another family without his knowledge or consent. He battles with unscrupulous adoption agencies and unconcerned state agencies in this telling volume.
No adoptive parent wants to be in the position of explaining to a child that she was taken from her father against his will. This book will teach you what to look for to spot fraud or unethical maneuvers in the adoption process, and to avoid this terrible scenario when you welcome a child into your home. [This manuscript is a Library of Congress Authorities Subject Heading Reference. It is also found in our national library's Thomas Jefferson and John Adams Main Reading Room.]

Editorial Reviews

Review

Update: Bias? Bethkoz, a book reviewer, is a former director of an Arizona Catholic Adoption Agency. These are the kind of agencies that my fight is directed against.

Update: This Book will enter the Library of Congress [LOC] Collection as of April 12, 2010. RE: Content impact caused the LOC to create new Congressional Subject Heading "Wrongful Adoption."

If a book's "meat" does not sustain the author's intended purpose for its manuscript being published, why would the Library of Congress create a Subject Heading based on it's content? --Author, David Archuletta

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Wheatmark (December 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1604941618
• ISBN-13: 978-1604941616
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,477,165 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not an Easy Read, but a Must Read, January 7, 2010

By 

L. C. Shahar "adoption blogger" (Midwest) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Odyssey of an Unknown Father: The Complete Book on Wrongful Adoption (Paperback)

David's book is not an easy read. To quote one of the previous reviews, the book contains "Convoluted sentences, mis-matched syntax, and sarcastic comments that don't relate to the material..." At times I found myself wondering what exactly David was trying to say, YET this book is a must read. Why? Because maybe, just maybe, there is a chance that by someone reading this book another adoption tragedy will be prevented. Maybe that someone will be a prospective adopting parent, a pregnant woman considering adoption but not considering telling the birthfather, or a lawyer who should know better.

My personal suggestion to David is that he get help rewriting this book so that it will be written in a clearer and more succinct manner. I have no doubt that David has an important and tragic story to tell that should be heard.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This was a Rosie O'Donnell Funded Adoption Agency, April 14, 2010

By 

Alfred F. Munoz - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Odyssey of an Unknown Father: The Complete Book on Wrongful Adoption (Paperback)

I was surprised to find out that Rosie O'Donnell had funded this Children of the World Adoption Agency. However, I was more surprised of means and the ways of the State of New Jersey when it comes to infant adoption. Now I know why they call this state "Jersey." This book tells all and proves all with documented facts. How can a State operate like this. This guy was robbed! . This book is a technical read if anything at all. That is how they steal these children. Through technicalities. It was well worth my time reading it that's for sure. P.S. If you are going to adopt, read this book. The LIBRARY OF CONGRESS has, and liked what they read. [...]

8 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars This book does not deliver on its promise!, February 3, 2009

By 

Beth Kozan "bethkoz" (Phoenix, AZ USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Odyssey of an Unknown Father: The Complete Book on Wrongful Adoption (Paperback)

Don't be taken in by the tease on the back cover: "This book will teach you [prospective adoptive parent] what to look for to spot fraud or unethical maneuvers in the adoption process and to avoid this terrible scenario when you welcome a child into your home." Sadly, it doesn't follow through on that promise.
What it is: This is David Archuletta's personal story as an alleged father whose former partner committed perjury by signing an Unknown Father Affidavit [in New Jersey] in spite of his having been somewhat involved in the pregnancy until she left her Colorado home to do an adoption -- but the reader has to make it through a third of the book to learn that. Convoluted sentences, mis-matched syntax, sarcastic comments that don't relate to the material -- it's difficult to find the meat.
Mr. Archuletta has two important messages to deliver: don't assume that adoption is the best solution to every unwed pregnancy, and, the baby's father has important information to share, including (in his case) his potentially dire medical history. Mr. Archuletta should not have been left out of this important decision for his child. Whether his involvement might have meant a different outcome or not, his rights were discounted.
Mr. Archuletta's story should be a reminder to adoption agency workers and adoption attorneys why a best services practitioner should refuse to do an adoption when a pregnant client refuses to identify the father. To do less is to risk loss of licensure.
HOWEVER, this is one of those books that takes one situation and generalizes it to all adoptions. It well may be that Mr. Archuletta's real intent was to scare prospective adoptive couples away from adoption all together. If that's the goal, he may have succeeded, but not in the way he planned.
You know that saying in legal circles that "The person who serves as his own attorney has a fool for a client"? Well, meet the book publishing version: "The self-publishing author who acts as his own editor shows himself as a fool." By the tedious end of his book, the author comes off as a wigged-out psychopath on a rant. Where I once had a modicum of sympathy for his case, he's done his cause a disservice by going on and on and on and on. David, get an editor!
Beth Kozan, Phoenix