Adoption Nation: How The Adoption Revolution Is Transforming America - Hardcover

Pertman, Adam

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0465056504 ISBN 13: 9780465056507

Publisher: Basic Books, 2000

Synopsis

Adoption, once a clandestine process shrouded in shame, is rapidly evolving into a radical new form that is both sweeping the nation and changing it. It is accelerating our transformation into a more multicultural and multiethnic country, even as it helps redefine our understanding of "family." But negative stereotypes still remain, and new problems-mostly stemming from the corrosive influence of money-are becoming pervasive.Adoption Nation provides valuable insight into the pleasures and perils of adoption, while laying out the ways in which policymakers should revise our laws to improve the process, stop treating members of the "adoption triad" as second-class citizens, and remove the obstacles that keep the children who most need permanent homes from getting them. Filled with up-to-the-minute information and a wealth of dramatic real-life stories, Adoption Nation is essential reading for adoptive families, for anyone contemplating adopting a child, and for everyone touched by this extraordinary cultural transformation.

About this title

About the Author

Adam Pertman is a former reporter on children and family issues for The Boston Globe. He currently conducts research, writes, and lectures on a broad range of issues relating to adoption, children and families -- including infertility, new reproductive technologies, infant abandonment, and the changing face of the American family.

Pertman's book "Adoption Nation: How the Adoption Revolution is Transforming America'' was recently named Book of the Year by the National Adoption Foundation and won the prestigious Leonard Silk Journalism Fellowship from the Century Foundation. He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for a series of stories he wrote about adoption in The Boston Globe. He received the Year 2000 Journalism Award from Holt International Children's Services for his writing about adoption, children and families; and, in 2001, he was given the Dave Thomas Center for Adoption Law’s first Public Awareness Award for “the nation’s greatest contributor to public understanding about adoption and permanency placement issues,” as well as the American Adoption Congress’ first award for the person who has done most to inform our nation about adoption issues and “for his eloquent witnessing of contemporary adoption.”

News and feature stories about Pertman and his book have appeared around the country, including in People magazine, Oprah and the Today show. He has also been a guest on many other radio and television programs and, as one of America’s leading experts on adoption, family and children’s issues, Pertman also is frequently quoted in media outlets nationwide.

Before embarking on his current career, Pertman, 48, was a journalist with The Boston Globe for more than 22 years. His jobs there included foreign editor, Washington news editor, West Coast bureau chief, diplomatic correspondent, national political correspondent, family and children's issues reporter, and restaurant reviewer. His assignments included the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Philippine revolution, the Gulf War, the Middle East peace process, the O.J. Simpson trials, and several presidential elections.

Pertman and his wife, Judy Baumwoll, live in Massachusetts with their two children (both adopted): Zachary, 7, and Emilia, 4.

Reviews

Based on a series of articles that he wrote for the Boston Globe, Pertman combines journalistic research and personal anecdotes in this stimulating overview of the trends and cultural ramifications of adoption. His views come through loud and clear: families should be "out" about their adoptive status, children should be told that they were adopted as early as possible and all members of the adoption "triad" (birth mother, child and parents) should try to stay in close communication. Suggesting that adoptive families have benefited enormously from the country's increasing acceptance of racial diversity, Pertman argues that the controversial 1994 Multiethnic Placement Act (which stipulates that transracial adoptions can not be legally prohibited) is a strong step forward in placing the interests of the individual child over those of an abstract, race-based notion of family. He also suggests that adoption itself has helped to instigate social change: in its role as an "institutionalized means of forming non-traditional families," adoption may help gay, multiracial and single-parent families gain greater social acceptance. Even so, Pertman contends, adoptive families are still subject to many hurtful stereotypes (e.g., the irresponsible birth mother; the selfish adoptive parents). Perhaps most harrowing is his discussion of the effect of "laissez faire" capitalist thinking on adoption policy and the largely unregulated nature of the "industry" that has sprung up around it (e.g., one woman tried to sell her baby on eBay; the highest bid was $109,100). This disturbing and hopeful book will primarily attract adoptive families and policy makers, who will find that it has much to say about our changing definitions of family, race and community. (Nov.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Pertman brings a reporter's skill and adopting parent's concerns to this comprehensive look at the process of adoption. After years of incremental change, adoption is undergoing a revolution: states are revising laws and agencies are simplifying rules. Pertman also examines the trend toward opening adoption for singles, multiracial families, gays, and the middle aged. Although adoption is still fundamentally private, it is no longer shrouded in the secrecy of the past as more states allow for open adoptions and balance the rights and desires of birth parents, adopting parents, and adopted children. Pertman examines the history of adoption from the foundling homes of the nineteenth century to current trends that are "advancing the ethnic, racial, and cultural diversity that is a hallmark of Twenty First Century America." This book is a valuable resource for adoptive families, readers considering adoption, or anyone concerned about trends in family formation. Vanessa Bush
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Basic Books
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0465056504
• ISBN 13: 9780465056507
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 272