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This is the day you give up the most precious thing you’ve ever been given, Pat said in a quiet, sad corner of her mind. The time had come, the last time she would see her daughter—forever. Pat’s decision to place Suzzane for adoption haunted her for years. The true story of a woman whose life of disappointment and loss was transformed by her growing awareness of a God who surprised and blessed her beyond what she ever imagined. |
Fitzgerald is both a biological and adoptive mother and in this memoir examines the pros and cons of open, semi-open, and closed adoption practices from the point of view of adoptees, birth mothers, and adoptive parents. The adoption in 1969 of the author’s four-day-old daughter was closed, and Fitzgerald’s family only emerged from the dark woods of secrecy when her daughter’s birth mother and extended family met up with them 29 years later. This wonderful joining of the respective families has enriched everyone’s life, including that of the grandchildren. Today, Fitzgerald is passionately opposed to closed adoptions and advocates the semi-open practice. |
Making the choice about adoption is a very difficult decision for anyone to make. This is a true story about a young mother who made that choice selflessly for her child. Hopefully this will better help others understand that the sacrifices we make or not in vein. Sometimes we have to think about other people other than ourselves. This author shares 28+ years of her life and intimate details with readers in hopes to help others in choosing such a heroic act. |
Sexually abused, abandoned by her parents at 13 years of age, Suzi lived a nomadic existence searching for her family, stability and security only to find herself pregnant at 16. Housed in a church home, she endured eight months of horrendous forced confinement, torture and neglect from the matron who had little interest in the welfare of the “tramps of society.” Suzi never held or saw her baby and was whisked away from the home and told to get on with her life and never look back. The people who play a role in the book are an unscrupulous matron, a shady solicitor, two pregnant teenagers, an antique bracelet, a gay music teacher, a red-haired music student and “Suzi.” Suspense, intrigue and survival surround this very inspirational and courageous lady who triumphed over tragedy and we witness the survival of the human spirit. A story that will touch the hearts of everyone who reads about Suzi. About the Author: Suzanne Hammond lives on the Gold Coast with her husband, Ian. Her family, who live close by, are the driving force behind her achievements, yesterday, today, and tomorrow. She is the Director, along with her husband, of a successful Private Investigations Agency, seeking missing relatives from around the world. Her studies into the human race via the metaphysical sciences are detailed in her books on Numerology Today. Suzanne’s challenging life is kept busy with public speaking engagements, her Investigation Agency, family commitments and her writing. |
True stories of synchronicity in adoptions from infant placement to adult reunion. Discusses changes in adoption from secrecy to open adoption. Infant placements, foster care, international and older child adoptions are included. Reasons are given for changes in adoption practice over four decades. |
From the Publisher:
What becomes of women who give up their children for adoption? Why do so many adopted people feel such a strong desire to seek out their families of origin? In what ways are families with adopted children different from other families? This book by Evelyn Robinson provides the answers to these questions and many others. Evelyn Robinson gave up her son for adoption as a young student. She then returned to study many years later in a bid to understand her experience and its outcomes. She tells her story of an unplanned, teenage pregnancy and its aftermath and then describes the insights that she gained as a social worker into all aspects of adoption and how it affects those who are adopted, those who adopt and those whose children are adopted by others. Her startling conclusion about the future of adoption is challenging and controversial. This book is a brave and compelling exploration of both personal experience and academic research. Her powerful message, about the consequences of adoption, is one which no society in the world can afford to ignore. About the Author: Evelyn Burns Robinson was born and raised in Scotland and gave birth to her first child, Stephen, in 1970, whom she surrendered for adoption soon after birth. By the time she was reunited with her first-born son 21 years later, Evelyn had had four more children and moved to South Australia. She became involved with post-adoption support in 1989 and has worked as a volunteer in that area ever since. She obtained a degree in social work in 1996 and then worked for some years as a post-adoption counselor. She is presently at work on a fourth book, which is a collection of the experiences of parents who have lost children through adoption. By the Same Author: Adoption and Recovery: Solving the Mystery of Reunion (2004); Adoption Reunion: Ecstasy or Agony? (2009); and Adoption Separation: Then and Now (2010). |
From the Publisher:
Evelyn Robinson has followed up the international success of her first book Adoption and Loss: The Hidden Grief, with this companion volume. This unique book, based on Evelyn’s personal and professional experiences, is essential reading, both for those who have read and appreciated her first book and for those who want to understand the long term impact of adoption separation on people’s lives and the meaning of the reunion experience. About the Author: Evelyn Burns Robinson was born and raised in Scotland and gave birth to her first child, Stephen, in 1970, whom she surrendered for adoption soon after birth. By the time she was reunited with her first-born son 21 years later, Evelyn had had four more children and moved to South Australia. She became involved with post-adoption support in 1989 and has worked as a volunteer in that area ever since. She obtained a degree in social work in 1996 and then worked for some years as a post-adoption counselor. She is presently at work on a fourth book, which is a collection of the experiences of parents who have lost children through adoption. By the Same Author: Adoption and Loss: The Hidden Grief (2000); Adoption Reunion: Ecstasy or Agony? (2009); and Adoption Separation: Then and Now (2010). |
From the Publisher:
Adoption Healing... A Path to Recovery for Mothers Who Lost Children to Adoption is a unique book. The reader is provided with a description of the immaculate deception imposed on pregnant women and the ensuing tragedy of the loss of their babies to adoption and the profound effects on their lives. This is followed by different methods of healing the mother’s wounds, including inner child work, visualizations, healing affirmations, and anger management. Every chapter includes a Myths and Realities of adoption section, a summary of the chapter and exercises to do on one’s own. About the Author: Joe Soll, the author of the original Adoption Healing... A Path to Recovery for adoptees, is a diplomate psychotherapist and lecturer internationally recognized as an expert in adoption-related issues and a former adjunct professor of social work at Fordham University Graduate School. He is director and co-founder of Adoption Crossroads in New York City, a non-profit organization that helps reunite and gives support to adoptees, original parents and those who have adopted. He resides in Congers, NY. Karen Wilson Buterbaugh has been writing about adoption since 1997 and is the author of two articles, “Setting the Record Straight,” published by Moxie Magazine (April 2001), and “Not By Choice,” published by Eclectica Magazine (January 2002). Her personal story of adoption surrender, Relative Strangers: A Mother’s Experience of Adoption Loss, is scheduled for publication in 2004. Karen is co-founder of Mothers for Open Records Everywhere co-founder of OriginsUSA and a founding member of Mothers Exploited By Adoption. She is married and lives in Virginia. She has three grown daughters. Her oldest, Michelle Renee, was the baby she lost to adoption. See, also, Adoption Healing: A Path to Recovery Supplement (2012. 210p. Virtualbookworm.com Publishing). This addition to the Adoption Healing series contains information that was not included in the two originals. As in the originals, the reader is provided with a description of the aftermath of the separation of mother and child to adoption and the profound effects on their lives. This is followed by additional methods of healing the subsequent wounds, including more inner child work, new visualizations, healing affirmations, anger management and other thoughts and suggestions for healing. Every chapter includes a summary and exercises to do on one’s own. |
From the Publisher:
This addition to the Adoption Healing series is a compilation of all the articles that I have been asked to write in the last year, plus more than a half dozen chapters with totally new material. The articles address specific issues faced by adoptees and mothers of adoption loss and suggest new exercises and methods of healing the wounds while working towards better relationships, peace and contentment. Additionally, a half dozen articles from Voices from Exile by Joss Shawyer, author of Death by Adoption, are included. About the Author: Joe Soll LCSW is a diplomate psychotherapist and lecturer, internationally recognized as an expert in adoption-related issues, and a former adjunct professor of social work at Fordham University Graduate School. He is director and co-founder of Adoption Crossroads in New York City, a non-profit organization that helps those separated by adoption. Adoption Crossroads is dedicated to educating the public about adoption issues, preserving families and reforming current adoption practices. The director and founder of the Adoption Counseling Center in New York City, Mr. Soll was a member of Matilda Cuomo’s 1993 Advisory Council on Adoption. He’s a fellow of the American Orthopsychiatric Association, the American Association of Grief Counselors, and a member of the Council on Social Work Education, the National Association of Social Workers and the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences. He resides in Congers, NY and maintains an office in New York City. |
| The Adoption Machine. JoAnne Swanson. 1989. 36p. Birco. |
While adopting a child has become applauded in our society, placing a child for adoption is still misunderstood. Since many people don’t understand adoption, they only consider abortion or single parenting when faced with an unplanned pregnancy. The Adoption Option shows you why adoption is an acceptable solution for an unplanned pregnancy and walks you through the choices and steps all birth parents experience when choosing adoption for their baby. |
From the Back Cover:
With eloquence and conviction, more than thirty birth mothers, adoptive mothers and adopted daughters explore what is a deeply emotional, sometimes controversial and always compelling experience that affects millions of families and individuals. These personal essays and stories are informed by the contemporary adoption movement and raise timely issues that illustrate its complexity, among them: open and closed adoption, cross-cultural adoption, the birth record debate, the experience of biracial adoptees, adoption by lesbian couples, and the search for identity. Featuring the work of well-known writers and activists, The Adoption Reader is a helpful, hopeful and vital collection about growth and self-understanding and a must-read book for anyone who has been touched by the adoption experience. About the Author: Susan Wadia-Ells, a writer and long-time feminist, educator and activist is co-director of The Wise Ones Conference Group. She is working towards a Ph.D. in Women’s Studies and lives in Vermont with her nine year-old son, Anil. |
From the Publisher:
A reunion between family members who have been separated by an adoption can be a very emotional event. For most people there is great joy and excitement, but for some there can be anger and disappointment. Sometimes there is a mixture of both ecstasy and agony. Evelyn Robinson has written this book to help to explain that mixture of feelings and to increase understanding of the emotional dynamics of the reunion experience. Although the author lives and works in South Australia, the information in this book is pertinent to anyone, anywhere in the world, who is interested in the outcomes of adoption separation and reunion. Australia has led the English-speaking world in providing legal access to adoption information, which can facilitate reunion between adults separated by adoption. When children are adopted, they are no longer legally related to any member of their original families, i.e. the family of their original mother and the family of their original father. When they become adults, however, many adopted people are reunited with their families of origin. This book contains a selection from the many discussions which Evelyn has had around adoption separation and reunion over a period of more than twenty years. About the Author: Evelyn Burns Robinson was born and raised in Scotland and gave birth to her first child, Stephen, in 1970, whom she surrendered for adoption soon after birth. By the time she was reunited with her first-born son 21 years later, Evelyn had had four more children and moved to South Australia. She became involved with post-adoption support in 1989 and has worked as a volunteer in that area ever since. She obtained a degree in social work in 1996 and then worked for some years as a post-adoption counselor. She is presently at work on a fourth book, which is a collection of the experiences of parents who have lost children through adoption. By the Same Author: Adoption and Loss: The Hidden Grief (2000); Adoption and Recovery: Solving the Mystery of Reunion (2004); and Adoption Separation: Then and Now (2010). |
From the Back Cover:
Many adopted people today try to find information about their origins and search for birth family members. Based on a large-scale research study, the authors Liz Trinder, Julia Feast and David Howe have drawn on the real-life experience of adopted people who have searched for, and had a reunion with, birth relatives. The Adoption Reunion Handbook combines comprehensive and practical step-by-step guidance and advice on: • how to begin • what to expect emotionally • the legal framework • finding names and addresses • how to set up a reunion • making the reunion work long term • rejection and reunion breakdown • further help and advice. This “how to” guide is essential for everyone involved, particularly those considering searching for information on their birth relatives. It will also be of use to birth parents, adoptive parents, adoption charities, social workers, psychologists and counsellors. |
From the Back Cover:
This anthology gives voice to the wide experiences of adoptees and those who love them; examining the emotional, psychological and logistical effects of adoption reunion. Primarily adult adoptee voices, we also hear from adoptive parents, first moms and mental health professionals, all weighing in on their experience with reunion. The stories, although told through an adoption lens, connect with anyone who has experienced the pain of loss and the joy of deep human connection. The memories of adoption reunion are complex—jubilant yet tenderly regretful; nostalgic and yet completely new; angry yet humbly accepting. They show pain, but they also tell of resilience and strength in the face of incredible loss. In short, the essays of this anthology relate the human experience: raw, resilient, and most of all real. About the Author: Laura Dennis was born in New Jersey and raised in Maryland. She earned a B.A. and M.F.A. in dance performance and choreography, but gave up aches and pains and bloody feet in 2004 to become a stylish sales director for a biotech startup. Then with two children under the age of three, in 2010 she and her husband sought to simplify their lifestyle and escaped to his hometown, Belgrade. While the children learned Serbian in their cozy preschool, Laura recovered from sleep deprivation and wrote her memoir, Adopted Reality. She is also the editor of Adoption Therapy: Perspectives from Clients and Clinicians on Processing and Healing Post-Adoption Issues (2014). |
From the Publisher:
Using real-life examples, this compassionate guide helps adoptees and their birth mothers decide whether or not to try to locate each other, prepare for a reunion, survive the emotional turbulence of the initial meeting, and avoid common pitfalls. Since the legal issues surrounding the process can vary greatly from one state to another, the book includes an overview of pertinent laws, along with practical suggestions for navigating through them. |
From the Publisher:
In this practical book, Michelle McColm draws on extensive interviews with adoptees, birth parents and adoptive parents, as well as the experience of her own reunion. About the Author: Working in adoption disclosure at a Children’s Aid Society, Michelle McColm became familiar with the stories of adoptees and birth mothers alike. An adoptee herself, she has successfully navigated her way through a reunion with her birth mother and extended family. She now lives in Toronto. |
From the Back Cover:
Mary Jo Rillera is founder and president of Triadoption Library, Inc., in Westminster, CA. She was formerly Public Education Director for ALMA Western Region and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Concerned United Birthparents and Independent Search Consultants, as a Guardian Trustee for the International Soundex Reunion Registry and sits on the Orange County Adoption Council. In addition to her years of work within the adoption-reform movement, her personal search-and-reunion experiences as both adoptee and birth parent make her uniquely qualified to scrutinize the emotional and procedural aspects in post-adoption. Her writing reflects expertise in research methods and resources, and a deep personal commitment to change the limitations inherent in the present adoption system. |
From the Publisher:
There are two distinct, but related, parts to doing an adoption search. First, you need to uncover the identity of the person for whom you are searching. Second, you need to locate that person after the passage of many years. Adoption Searches Made Easier will help you with both of these tasks. Written by a licensed private investigator, this book explains in detail the techniques and information sources you need to know in order to increase your chances of a successful search. It also contains extensive listings of resources by county and state. About the Author: Joseph J Culligan, licensed private investigator and Hall of Fame member of the National Association of Investigative Specialists, has worked the “Kennedy-Smith Rape” case for A Current Affair, the “Jeffrey Dahmer” case, the “Mike Tyson Rape” case, the “General Manuel Noriega” case and many others for the national media, attorneys and government. His many cases have appeared on Maury Povich, Phil Donahue Show, Montel Williams, Rescue 911, Sally Jessy Raphael, Hard Copy, Leeza, Gordon Elliot, Rolonda, Vicki Lawrence, and the Ricki Lake Show among other television programs. Mr. Culligan, author of You, Too, Can Find Anybody and When In Doubt, Check Him Out, teaches you in Adoption Searches Made Easier the many techniques used when he investigates adoption cases. |
From the Publisher:
This is Evelyn Robinson’s fourth book about adoption. For the first time, Evelyn has produced a book which includes the work of others. Forty-five parents who have lost children to adoption in seven different countries were generous enough to allow Evelyn to publish their narratives. Their stories make poignant and, at times, harrowing reading. Their contributions represent adoption as it was then (i.e., between 1958 and 1989) and Evelyn has added some information and some of her own opinions on adoption as it is now. Together they provide compelling and thought-provoking reading and will contribute in a very positive way to validating the feelings of those who have experienced adoption separation and educating the community around those experiences and the resulting outcomes. About the Author: Evelyn Burns Robinson was born and raised in Scotland and gave birth to her first child, Stephen, in 1970, whom she surrendered for adoption soon after birth. By the time she was reunited with her first-born son 21 years later, Evelyn had had four more children and moved to South Australia. She became involved with post-adoption support in 1989 and has worked as a volunteer in that area ever since. She obtained a degree in social work in 1996 and then worked for some years as a post-adoption counselor. She is presently at work on a fourth book, which is a collection of the experiences of parents who have lost children through adoption. By the Same Author: Adoption and Loss: The Hidden Grief (2000); Adoption and Recovery: Solving the Mystery of Reunion (2004); and Adoption Reunion: Ecstasy or Agony? (2009). |
From the Back Cover:
Since 1952 nearly 45,000 children have been legally adopted in Ireland. It is estimated that a similar number of illegal adoptions have also taken place in that time. In Adoption Stories people share their experience and talk about the impact adoption has had on their lives. While an adopted child has the same rights as one born into a family, all legal ties to the natural parents are severed. At present, under Irish law, adopted people and natural parents are prohibited from accessing information about each other, unless they appeal to the authorities. As a result, adopted people don’t know their true identity and mothers don’t know what became of their child. Reunion is sometimes fulfilling and rewarding; other times it only emphasises the great distance that has opened up between parent and child. For some, international adoption is the only way they can have a family, and that presents many of the same emotions and challenges as in the past. Adoption remains as much part of life today as in 1952 and it affects nearly every family in Ireland. Based on the popular TV3 series, Adoption Stories is a fascinating window onto the extraordinary experience of natural parents, adopted children and their adoptive families alike. About the Author: Sharon Lawless has always wanted to tell stories that get a reaction, whether it’s laughter, tears, anger or enlightenment. With a long career in media, apart from five years managing nightclubs, she has advertised, PRd, event managed, produced and directed the best of them and really believes in working at what you love. She was first on a film set before she was born and it’s still what makes her smile. Her best friends are her family and she lives in Dublin with her partner Alf and cat Cookie. |
From the Dust Jacket:
Heart-rending issues concerning custody, infertility, surrogate motherhood, and other related concerns have captured headlines lately. Here is the human dimension of these issues—a powerful true story of fierce parental love, with deeply caring adoptive parents pitted against a child’s birth mother in a dramatic struggle for custody. Marguerite Ryan and her husband, after repeated disappointments due to failure to conceive, begin the lengthy process of adopting the newborn child of an unmarried Salvadoran domestic. They fall passionately in love with the baby and bond with him completely. Then, just as the adoption papers are due to be finalized, the child’s birth mother refuses to sign. She decides she wants the baby, although she has no home for him or money to care for him. The Ryans become involved in a bitter, suspenseful court battle for possession of the baby. One court says yes, another says no over and over as they appeal. Meanwhile Christopher is growing up as the Ryans’ child, although a court order permits visitation by the birth mother, Angelina, so that the baby will know her in the event she is awarded final custody. In one of the book’s most moving scenes, as Angelina starts to take Christopher from his home for a weekend, the child screams in terror for his adoptive mother to rescue him, as the adults grapple for him. Amidst this conflict, the author, who has returned to her Catholic faith, seeking emotional support, has a revelation. In church on Easter Sunday she hears the priest say, “Lord, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” She is inspired to create a unique solution, one that, though unconventional, is right for all of them. This beautifully uplifting, evocative story, which reads like a novel, will appeal to all readers who ever have felt the joy and privilege of love of a child. About the Author: Marguerite Ryan is a pseudonym the author has adopted to protect the privacy of Christopher and the younger brother the Ryans have since adopted without any of the difficulty they experienced with Christopher. She lives with her husband and two young sons in New York City. |
Who am I really? applies to all parties in the adoption triad—birth mother and father, adoptee, and adoptive mother and father. We once thought adoption was the answer to everyone’s dilemma. The mother could get on with her life. The baby would have a wonderful home. The new parents would have a child of their own. Now, we know this has never been true. everyone involved was suffering and unable to voice the pain. In spite of the hundreds of articles and books written by and about the adoption triad, each wonders why others cannot see their pain. The general public wonders why any of them have pain, since adoption seems to be the answer for everyone involved. Adoption is traumatic for both adoptee and birth mother and the majority search for each other often causing fear for the adoptive parents. Early separation affects the baby that was connected to the mother for nine months, leaving an innate need to find that connection again. Adoption is both a good thing and a bad thing. Every child deserves to have a stable home. To be adopted means someone had to give them up first. The big problem is secrecy. Adoptees do not have any biological roots; no genetic tie to anyone, and often cannot get their original birth certificates even as an adult. In New South Wales, Australia, children keep their names and biological history, as they become part of a new family. Adoptees from South Korea have dual citizenship since they had no choice in the matter. Every person has the right to know their origins and the truth about themselves. Every mother has the right to know the well being of the child she relinquished. Adoptive parents should not be pitied nor looked upon as saints for taking someone else’s child. Adoptees have reason to fear intimate relationships because the person may be a biological parent or sibling. Adoption changes genealogy and kinship patterns are forever. Each member of the adoption triad needs to be able to say they are part of more than one family just as families of divorce. Having someone else’s name and history implies ownership, not honesty and love. We need to understand and acknowledge the pain so we as a society and individuals can lead a happy, healthy life. About the Author: Alice B. Davenport has been a Certified Family Life Educator living in Las Cruces, NM, for the past 16 years. She owns a sewing shop where people not only come to get their clothes altered, but just to discuss life in general. Having been a night worker, she understands the need to talk and socialize after work. She often speaks at groups of people during the night or early morning hours. Alice grew up poor and has lived in several states such as Missouri, Tennessee, Alabama, Colorado and Idaho. Her son and grandchildren live in Idaho. She has a Master of Science degree in Family and Consumer Science from New Mexico State University (1997). She works with victims of domestic violence, adoptees, grandparents raising grandchildren, people who love an addict, and other family issues. Alice has presented workshops at professional conferences in Connecticut, Texas, and New Mexico. Like many other people, she worked several years to get a Ph.D., ran out of money and time and did not complete it. She will return to New Mexico State University this Fall to begin a Master’s of Art degree in communication studies. |
From the Back Cover:
All Born Under The One Blue Sky is a compilation of stories and poems written by Irish people who have been touched in some way by adoption. The writers of this book, which includes birth parents, adopted persons and adoptive parents all have a connection with Cúnamh, an adoption agency. Turning the pages of this book will give you, the reader, an opportunity to experience what adoption has meant to these writers and how it has in some way shaped their lives. You will be touched by the expression of the heartfelt emotions of the writers, each sharing with honesty, courage and generosity their own deeply personal and unique experience of adoption. You will come away having a greater awareness of the complexities and challenges that adoption brings but, most of all, you will be reminded of the strength of love, the need to belong, and the great lengths people will go to find inner peace. All Born Under The One Blue Sky has been published to acknowledge Cúnamh’s 100 years in existence. |
From the Dust Jacket:
When a loved one dies we mourn our loss. We take comfort in the rituals that mark the passing, and we turn to those around us for support. But what happens when there is no closure, when a family member or a friend who may be still alive is lost to us nonetheless? How, for example, does the mother whose soldier son is missing in action, or the family of an Alzheimer’s patient who is suffering from severe dementia, deal with the uncertainty surrounding this kind of loss? In this sensitive and lucid account, Pauline Boss explains that, all too often, those confronted with such ambiguous loss fluctuate between hope and hopelessness. Suffered too long, these emotions can deaden feeling and make it impossible for people to move on with their lives. Yet the central message of this book is that they can move on. Drawing on her research and clinical experience, Boss suggests strategies that can cushion the pain and help families come to terms with their grief. Her work features the heartening narratives of those who cope with ambiguous loss and manage to leave their sadness behind, including those who have lost family members to divorce, immigration, adoption, chronic mental illness, and brain injury. With its message of hope, this eloquent book offers guidance and understanding to those struggling to regain their lives. About the Author: Pauline Boss is Professor of Family Social Science at the University of Minnesota, past President of the National Council on Family Relations, and a psychotherapist in private practice. |
Sometimes things don’t go according to plan. This is how author Ann Fedeli felt when she unexpectedly ended up pregnant at the age of seventeen. In this heartfelt memoir, follow Ann as she travels through her life from a fun-loving girl with a Catholic upbringing, to her unplanned pregnancy, to her daughter’s birth and adoption. This emotional story delves deeply into her complex journey through pain and heartbreak that birth mothers endure and into her brave journey toward healing from the emotional anguish of giving up her daughter. In Any Skeletons in the Closet?, you will be captivated by Ann’s drive and determination to reconnect with her daughter and with herself—although at times she feels it is impossible. Whether you are a parent who has given up your child for adoption, a parent of an adopted child, a child who has been adopted, or a professional working with adoption issues, Ann’s story will inspire you. |
Arms Wide Open provides a window into the lives of young pregnant women struggling with the decision of making an adoption plan or becoming a single parent. It is a vital tool for couples considering open adoption. Mrs. Waters clearly outlines the emotional turmoil of the birth mothers and offers suggestions to help make an open adoption a positive experience for the child, the adoptive parents and the birth mother. About the Author: Jane Waters is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and has worked for over 20 years in the mental health field. She has been counseling women considering open adoption for over 15 years. She and her husband, Chris, have two children, two step-children and two dogs. They live in Owasso, OK. |
From the Back Cover:
I'd been denied saying goodbye to my baby, denied that last chance to stroke his cheek and feel his fingers grip mine, to kiss his tiny mouth in loving farewell... In 1963, Angela Brown was 19 and enjoying her first job working in the City of London, when her life turned upside down. A brief fling with a charismatic charmer left her pregnant, unmarried and facing a stark future. Not yet 21, she was still under the governance of her parents, strict Catholics who insisted she have the baby in secret and then put it up for adoption. Forced to leave her job and her family, Angela was sent to a convent in Essex for her confinement. Run like a Victorian workhouse, she was vilified by the nuns for her “wickedness.” After a terrifying labour with no pain relief, Angela gave birth to a beautiful son, Paul. At eight weeks he was taken from her and forcibly put up for adoption, leaving Angela heartbroken. Not a day went by without Angela thinking about him. Then, thirty years later, a letter came. It was from Paul, and a reunion was arranged. This vital slice of social history is a shocking reminder of how attitudes have changed around the issue of single motherhood since the early 1960s. It is also an honest, heartfelt memoir that explores the closest of human bonds. |
From the Publisher:
Back to the Beginning is a compilation of true adoption search stories and offers a fascinating glimpse into the often secretive world of search and reunion from the viewpoints of triad members and the private investigators who worked on their cases. This book offers not only true stories that touch the heart, but invaluable experience in understanding the dynamics of adoption searches and reunions. About the Author: Research Etc, Inc., is a licensed P.I. firm located in Scottsdale, AZ, that was founded in 1995 by sisters Kristen Hamilton and Judy Andrews, along with their mother, Ava Friddle, which specializes in adoption searches. For over a decade, the firm has helped facilitate a wide range of adoption reunions, from the initial search through first contact and beyond, sharing in every emotion with its clients, from joy to heartbreak. Judy and Kristen are also Certified Confidential Intermediaries for Arizona’s C.I. Program. Joe Bardin is a professional writer based in Scottsdale, AZ, and his literary works on varied subjects have appeared in numerous publications nationally. |
For the first time, a birth mother shares a story where regrets are replaced with respect, pain is replaced with love, and secrecy is replaced with honesty. Author Patricia Dischler provides a poignant and moving narrative, notable for its honesty. Patricia chose an open adoption arrangement for her son Joe in 1985. He is now an adult and their story has come full circle. |
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