Features of this Site:

Includes information on adoption reform, reunion, search, support, and research sites.

· A Study on Reunions, "Adoption Reunion: Satisfaction and Success,"
NEW! The results are posted.

· "Adoption Search: Before You Begin" If you lost someone to adoption read this booklet.

· The Facts Statistics on the effects of adoption on adoptees and birthmothers

· ANSRS, Inc Message Forum for Adoption Reform and Healing. A semi-private bulletin board.

· Ballot Measure 58 Allows adult adoptees their original birth certificate.

· "Which is Real"
or "Tell Me -- No More Secrets, No More Lies" Two poems about adoption loss.

· The Call What is it like to make that first phone call?

· "Adoption Reform: Why All the Fuss" If you are not affected by an adoption and just wondering about the reform movement, read this booklet.

· Just a Man Meeting your birthfather in prison. [Not here yet.]

· The Making of an Emotional Support Group A paper I wrote on how the ANSRS emotional support group evolved. [Not here yet.]

· "Adoption: Yes--But . . ." A mini-book now out of print.[Not here yet.]

Last reviewed/updated: April 26, 2000

ANSRS, Inc

Books

Adoption Network for Search, Reunion and Support,Inc

       This page is meant to give you a list of reading material on adoption, from the adoption reform movement's perspective. This list is just a place to start. I may include with each book a "personal" comment. These books may be purchased on line by clicking the book's title. Some books may be found in public libraries, but purchasing the books support the authors, and increases our chances of having more books published on our adoption issues.

Additionally, some groups publish mini-books or pamphlets. These can be just as good as formally published literature.

The books are grouped into categories from beginners to researchers.

Beginner's Reading List:

These books should be read by everyone whether they have no intention of searching, or had a reunion long ago. These books will give a foundation for understanding what has happened to "us" as a group of people. Adoptive parents, as well as adoptees, birthparents, and other birthfamily members should read these books. Oh yes, adoption professionals, social workers, counselors, lawyers, judges, doctors, and nurses should read these books. They can discover what their policies and practices are doing to those affected by an adoption.

1. Lost and Found: The Adoption Experience
   by Betty Jean Lifton
   This book is considered the bible of the adoption reform movement, especially for adoptees.

2. The Other Mother: A Woman's Love for the Child She Gave Up for Adoption by Carol Schaefer
   How does a "girl" surrender her baby for adoption, then live with the situation? What kind of a person can surrender her baby for adoption? This book can help you understand.

3. Second Choice: Growing Up Adopted by Robert Anderson
   A man's perspective on being an adopted.

4. Where Are My Birth Parents?: A Guide for Teenage Adoptees
   by Karen Gravelle
   Nearly all books written for children do not truly address their most basic questions, who, where, and why. Most books gloss over the adoption story. They promote the attitude that adoption is wonderful and adoptees should be grateful for being adopted; that their adoptive parents are their only parents, and the birthparents and birthfamily have no meaning to them.

Search Books:

Even as good as these search book are, get involved with a search group! There are things you can do in a search to close a valuable lead if you do not handle a search appropriately. A search book should be an adjunct to a search, not the only tool. Read my booklet, "Adoption Search: Before You Begin." You can print it free from the Web.

• Adoption Searchbook: Techniques for Tracing People by Mary Jo Rillera
  Rillera is an adoptee and birthmother herself, she not only knows how to search, she understands the emotions involved. This book is in its third printing.

• Adoption Searches Made Easier by Joseph J Culligan
  This book is written for "us" by a private detective. It is pretty good.

• Search: A Handbook for Adoptees and Birthparents
  by Jayne Askin
  Askin's book is very similar to Rillera's.

Books, Books, and More Books:

There are dozens and dozens of books deserving our reading. I've just tried to make a short list. At one time I thought I read every book, but I still have a couple of dozen to go.

1. The Primal Wound: Understanding the Adopted Child
   by Nancy Newton Verrier
   This book helps the reader understand the impact adoption has on a new born infant.

2. The Adoption Triangle: Sealed or Opened Records: How They Affect Adoptees, Birth Parents, and Adoptive Parents by Arthur D Sorosky, Annette Baron, and Ruben Panor
   This book is similar to "Lost and Found," however, it has more coverage for the birthmother and adoptive parents.

3. Adoption in America Coming of Age by Hal Aigner
   Aigner explores the history of adoption in America. If you think all is fair in love and adoption, this book will change your mind. If you want to change adoption, you need to know how we came to our present situation, which is not much better than it was 70 years ago.

4. The Reunion Book by Mary Jo Rillera
   Another of Mary Jo's books. This one focuses on reunions. Not all reunions result in a close relationship, but all reunions bring something positive to the reunitees.

   More to come.

Books for Healing the Adoption Wound:

There are very few books that deal directly with healing the adoption wound. The following two are the best I've seen. Both should be read by everyone, regardless of your connection with adoption. Read these two books after you have a read a few others. They would be a difficult read if you have no background in effects of adoption other than personal experience.

• Adoption Healing ... a path to recovery by Joe Soll, MSW
  This book is aimed at the adoptee, but all can learn from it.

• Birth Mother Trauma: A Counseling Guide for Birth Mothers
  by H Carlini
  This book is aimed at the birthmother, but all can learn from it. Amazon.com does not have this book listed. My copy came from the author. It was published by Morning Side Publishing in Saanichton, Canada in 1992. I will try to find how to order.

Write your own review on the books listed here, and suggest other books. Participate in the discussion group on the ANSRS' Forum. This is a semi-private bulletin board that is monitored to promote healing in adoption.

Look for a book here:

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Ginni D Snodgrass
© Copyright 2000