Joanne Wolf Small

Joanne W. Small, M.S.W., is an adopted adult, adoption rights activist, author and psychotherapist. As an adopted child in Grand Rapids Michigan, she knew little about adoption as a social institution other than that her family was "different". Not until after completing a search for her birth family, co-organizing "Adoptees In Search", obtaining a Masters in clinical social work, and serving as the first, and only adopted appointee, on the federal Model Adoption Legislation Procedures and Advisory Panel, did Joanne understand what it means to be adopted on a much different level. Her 40+ years of professional experience includes post-adoption clinical practice, clinical supervision, in-service training, and seminars, lectures, publications, and interviews with over a thousand adoptive family members. She continues to help adoptive family members as a practicing social worker and psychotherapist to this day. "I believe that the adopted person is entitled to full restoration of the rights that were abrogated. To me, it is a matter of equality and social justice."