A Passage to the Heart: Writings from Families with Children from China (Hardcover)

~ Amy Klatzkin (Editor, Translator), unknown (Author) "Have you got the baby's room ready?..." (more)
Key Phrases: orphanage workers, orphanage director, other adoptive parents, New York, San Francisco, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

An anthology of 100 lively, informative articles on all aspects of adopting from China.

The voices in Passage are fresh, direct, and informed. Read original research by Kay Johnson and her Chinese colleagues--the world's top authorities on adoption and abandonment in China. Get advice from renowned physicians Dana Johnson, Jerri Ann Jenista, and others who specialize in international adoption. Enjoy personal accounts from adoptive parents about the joys of adopting and the challenges and triumphs of parenthood.

The writers--adoptive parents and adoption and medical professionals from across the United States, Canada and Britain--discuss the process up close and personally, from the emotionally charged period of waiting to adopt, through the adoption journey, settling in as a new or enlarged family, specific issues of health and development in young children adopted from China, the special rewards and challenges of adopting children over the age of one and of single parenting, perspectives on adoption from China from inside and outside the adoption community, the loaded issues of culture, language, identity, and race, accounts of going back to China after adopting, and, finally, a look down the road of adoptive family life at issues that don't come up in families formed the "usual" way.

A Passage to the Heart: Writings from Families with Children from China is the collaborative effort of more than two dozen chapters of FCC and similar adoptive-family support groups in three countries. Each purchase benefits both the Amity Foundation (fccny.org/oaa.asp) and the Foundation for Chinese Orphanages (thefco.org), which have been working to improve conditions in Chinese orphanages since the mid 1990s.

About the Author

Amy Klatzkin, editor of the forthcoming Adoptive Families Guide to Adoption, 2000-2001, lived and worked in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, from 1984-86 and has been editing books about China for more than 20 years. She is a board member of San Francisco Bay Area Families with Children from China and the Chinese Culture Foundation of San Francisco and is on the editorial advisory board of Adoptive Families magazine.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 341 pages
• Publisher: Yeong & Yeong Book Company; 1st edition (January 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0963847228
• ISBN-13: 978-0963847225
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #649,841 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must-Read For Anyone Touched by an Adoption from China, October 26, 2000

By	K. Tobin (Portland, OR USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a marvelous compendium of information about adopting from China. It covers all aspects of the experience and is divided into appropriate subject sections so you can find things easily. It belongs in the reference library of every adoptive parent, grandparent, and person touched by an adoption from China.

The essays and occasional poem express all the emotions that accompany adoption from China as well as the nitty-gritty of dealing with packing, being a new parent, medical concerns, and more.

Amy Klatzkin is a brilliant editor who understands the adoption experience firsthand. She has not sugarcoated the experience, but given us the wonders, the complexities, and the sorrows here. Therefore, it is a great collection for those considering adoption as well as those who have already adopted.

This book makes a wonderful gift for adoptive families and their friends. I bought copies for everyone in my extended family. It will help them understand all the issues, and the joys and sorrows, of the adoption experience. Don't miss it!

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful resource for families considering adoption., February 22, 1999

By A Customer

I bought Passage to the Heart at our annual meeting of the New England chapter of Families With Children From China (FCC) and I have been reading it cover to cover. It is wonderful and I even sent a copy to our pediatrician to help her understand possible issues with our planned second adoption. Of course, I have to read it during private time because tears come streaming down my face every time I pick it up. Strangers would wonder what was the matter with me if I read it in public! Thank you for compiling this book. It is a wonderful service to the FCC community and it will become a reference book for all of us.Perhaps when my daughter is older, she will read it and better understand her journey to make us into a forever family. Fondly, and gratefully, L. Welch.

19 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good collection, October 3, 2000

By A Customer

I enjoyed this collection of varied stories, but in my opinion nothing captures the China adoption experience like Karin Evans' The Lost Daughters of China. Readers seeking information on China adoption would do well to try both books, I think. And for the nitty gritty on background and issues concerning international adoption from China, I recommend yet another book, Laura Cecere's The Children Can't Wait.