Birthright: The Guide to Search and Reunion for Adoptees, Birthparents, and Adoptive Parents - Softcover

Strauss, Jean A. S.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140512950 ISBN 13: 9780140512953

Publisher: Penguin Books, 1994

Synopsis

What happens when an adoptee decides to locate a birthparent or a birthparent wants to find a child given up long ago? How does one search for people whose names one does not know? And what happens during a reunion? In 1983, Jean A. S. Strauss was faced with these questions when she began her search for her birthmother, and in this inspiring new handbook, she shares her experience. Strauss will help you throughout this significant time. Brimming with important reference sources and dozens of true-life stories, this valuable resource will guide you in:

· Making the difficult decision to search
· Navigating through the emotional turbulence of a reunion
· Dealing with the impact of the search on the adoptive parents

Compassionate and insightful, Birthright is for anyone seeking to connect with someone long lost.

About this title

About the Author:

Jean A. S. Strauss is the wife of a college president and the author of Birthright (Penguin) and lives in Claremont, California.

From Booklist:

An adoptee offers compassionate and comprehensive guidance to locating "adoptees, birthparents and adoptive parents." Strauss proceeds from the view that seeking reunion with relatives estranged by adoption is a good thing, and she marshals impressive reasoning and evidence to support her case. She discusses the laws that make adoption records confidential in the introduction and thereby sets the stage for the search strategies that follow. As Strauss points out, the history of adoption is neither simple nor consistent, and the nature of adoption today is very different from what it was when present adoption laws were enacted. The more a searcher understands the nature of adoption practices and laws, she says, the more likely his or her search is to succeed. Strauss interweaves the story of the search for her own birthparents with the strategies for finding birth relatives, and whether or not one agrees with the practice of adoptees or birthparents initiating searches for lost relatives, she tells that personal story compellingly. Thus, Strauss' effort offers considerable insight into the motivations of a particular adoptee as it encourages and counsels others wishing to undertake such a search themselves. Mike Tribby

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 0140512950
• ISBN 13: 9780140512953
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 363