This timely volume explores the current Issues surrounding adoption in the United States. Following a thoughtful overview of the topic, it presents a chronology that documents the milestones in adoption history and a collection of biographical sketches of individuals who have profoundly affect: d child welfare and adoption philosophies and practices. Readers will also find a selection of facts and figures as well as a discussion of important federal legislation and policies, a summary of significant litigation, and a directory of organizations, associations, and government agencies. A detailed listing of print and electronic resources rounds out a volume that students, parents, adoption agencies, social workers, and policymakers will welcome.

Adoption: A Reference Handbook is part of ABC-CLIO’s award-winning Contemporary World Issues series. Other books in the series deal with issues such as children’s rights, school violence, homelessness, and gangs.

About the Author: Barbara Moe has a Bachelor of Science degree in nursing from the College of Nursing and Health, University of Cincinnati, and a Master of Science degree in nursing from Ohio State University. She received her Master of Social Work degree, as well as a Certificate in Marriage and Family Therapy, from the University of Denver. Since 1989, she has worked at Adoption Alliance, a private, nonprofit adoption agency in Denver, Colorado.

She has written books for all ages, including The Ghost Wore Knickers (Thomas Nelson, 1975), Pickles and Prunes (McGraw-Hill, 1976), Letters from Dennehotso (with Olive Knight, American Studies Press, 1987), Coping with Eating Disorders (Rosen, 1991; rev. ed., 1995), Coping with Chronic Illness (Rosen, 1992), Coping with Bias Incidents (Rosen, 1993), Dog Days for Dudley (Bradbury, 1994), Coping as a Survivor of a Violent Crime (Rosen, 1995), Everything You Need to Know about PMS (Rosen, 1995), Everything You Need to Know about Sexual Abstinence (Rosen, 1996), and A Question of Timing: Successful Men Talk about Having Children (Rosen, 1997).

Compiler’s Note: Among the resources listed in the initial edition of this book was this bibliography which, at the time the book was published in 1998, was still a print-based annual. Interestingly, when the book was reissued in a second edition in 2007, neither this nor any other adoption-related bibliography was included.

This book is vital reading for anyone who is personally or professionally concerned with adoption. It is so well written and so full of interest that it equally commends itself to all who care how children develop in unusual circumstances.

About the Author: Barbara Tizard is Senior Research Fellow at the Thomas Coram Research Unit, Institute of Education, University of London.

By the Same Author: Raising Adopted Children: A Manual For Adoptive Parents (1986, Harper & Row); Making Sense of Adoption: A Parent’s Guide (1989, Harper & Row); and The Open Adoption Experience: Complete Guide for Adoptive and Birth Families—From Making the Decision to the Child’s Growing Years (with Sharon Kaplan Roszia; 1993, HarperPerennial), among others.

• children and young people in care

• trying to adopt

• waiting for adoption

• life after adoption

• the politics of adoption.

This accessible text offers a comprehensive review of adoption policy, practice and services and analyses why adoption has become so controversial. It provides professional and general reader alike with a fully rounded picture of adoption and exposes some of the myths surrounding it.

About the Author: Anthony Douglas is Director of Social Care and Health at Suffolk County Council and Vice Chair of BAAF Adoption and Fostering.

Terry Philpot is a writer, researcher and journalist on social policy and was formerly editor of Community Care.

By the Same Author: Unlocking the Adoption Files (1989, Lexington Books), among others.

Part I Adoption and social policy

1 Adoption: perspectives in social policy by Gillian Pascall

2 The role of voluntary societies in adoption services by Mary Bromley

3 Obtaining birth certificates by John Triseliotis

4 Older child adoption and the knowledge base of adoption practice by Miles Hapgood

5 Causes and treatment of behaviour problems in adoptive children by Martin Herbert

6 An alternative family by Rob and Marian Clayton

7 Growing up adopted by Martin Shaw

Part II Adoption and the law

8 Adoption law: an overview by Brenda Hoggett

9 Step-parent adoptions by Judith Masson

10 Freeing a child for adoption-wardship by David Spicer

11 Aided conception: the alternative to adoption by Peter M. Bromley

12 The role of the court in the adoption process by Hugh K. Bevan

13 Subsidized adoption by Michael D.A. Freeman

Part III Transcultural adoption

14 Adoption of black children by white parents in the USA by Rita J. Simon

15 Reflections on bicultural adoption by Marilyn and Loyal Rue

16 Parentless refugee children: the question of adoption by Ron Baker

17 Latin American children in intercountry adoption by Rosa Perla Resnick

18 The influence of western adoption laws on customary adoption in the Third World by Maev O’Collins

About the Author: Philip Bean is Senior Lecturer, Department of Social Administration and Social Work, University of Nottingham. Prior to this he was a Research Officer for the Medical Research Council, and prior to that a probation officer in the Inner London Probation and After Care Service. His major interests are in the fields of criminology, mental health, and social philosophy where he has published widely; his publications include The Social Control of Drugs (Martin Robertson 1974), Rehabilitation and Deviance (Routledge and Kegan Paul 1976), Compulsory Admissions to Mental Hospitals (John Wiley and Sons 1980), and Punishment: A Philosophical and Criminological Analysis (Martin Robertson 1981). He has edited three books: Mental Illness Changes and Trends (John Wiley and Sons 1983), Approaches to Welfare with Stewart MacPherson (Routledge and Kegan Paul 1983), and In Defence of Welfare with John Ferris and David Whynnes (Tavistock 1984). He has held two visiting professorships, one in Canada (1979) and one in the USA (1983).

The book will be useful for adoption agencies, students of social work and researchers.

About the Author: Jagannath Pati, holding Master degree in Social Work, LL.B. and Ph.D. in Social Sciences, is presently Deputy Director in Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA), Ministry of Women & Child Development, Government of India. He was granted Sr. Fulbright Fellowship for the year 2005-06. Dr. Pati was attached with Department of Social Work, California State University of Long Beach, California, USA as an honorary faculty and completed post-doctoral work on “Best Practice: Placement Protocol and Service Models for Children without Families in USA—A Comparative Study.”

List of the Contributors: Chivonne Hagan, Christine Futia, Curtis Proctor, Greta Galloway, Jagannath Pati, Jan ter Laak, Josephine A. Ruggiero, Louise Anita Williams, Dr. Nilima Mehta, Pal Ahluwalia, Paul Sachdev, Peter Selman, Reesa Sorin, René A.C. Hoksbergen, Valji Bagha, and Prof. Victor Groza.

Today, on the threshold of the 21st century, new issues have surfaced: open versus closed adoptions, independent adoptions versus those through specialized agencies, international and cross-cultural adoptions, and the adoption of children with special needs.

In this volume, professionals from many countries and different disciplines share their expertise and experiences on the subject of adoption. Areas addressed range from legal issues to the dynamics of adoption, from the selection of prospective parents to programs facilitating adoption, from developmental concerns to adoption outcome. In addition, techniques are presented for evaluating prospective families, preparing children for adoption, and working with special needs children.

After reading the variety of reports, one cannot but emerge enriched by the understanding gained in, and sense the controversy surrounding, the sensitive field of adoption.

About the Author: Euthymia D. Hibbs is a clinical/research psychologist at the Child Psychiatry Branch, National Institutes of Mental Health, Intramural Research program. She is also President of the International Study Center for Children and Families. Dr. Hibbs has many years of clinical and research experience with children and families. She has authored many articles in the field and is the editor of Children and Families: Studies of Prevention and Intervention (1988).

About the Author: Patricia Morgan, Senior Research Fellow in the family at the IEA Health and Welfare Unit, is a sociologist specialising in criminology and family policy. Her books include Delinquent Fantasies, 1978; Facing Up to Family Income, 1989; Families in Dreamland, 1992; Farewell to the Family?, 1995; Are Families Affordable?, 1996; and Who Needs Parents?, 1996. She has contributed chapters to Full Circle, Family Portraits, The Loss of Virtue, Tried But Untested, Liberating Women from Modern Feminism and Just a Piece of Paper?, as well as articles for periodicals and national newspapers. Patricia Morgan is a frequent contributor to television and radio programmes and is presently writing a full-length work on the relationship between capitalism and the family.

By the Same Author: Adoption and the Care of Children: The British and American Experience (1998) and Love Her As She Is: Lessons from a Daughter Stolen by Addictions (2000, Light Hearted Concepts).

Adoption: The Modern Law explains in detail the new legislation and sets it in the context of adoption law more generally. The book also provides a comprehensive analysis of the law and practice in respect of intercountry adoptions. Written by two of the foremost experts on the subject, it covers all the key issues raised by the new law answering questions such as:

■ how will the principle that the welfare of the child is paramount affect adoption decision-making?

■ what new duties will local authorities have with regard to adoption?

■ what are the new measures for placement for adoption, consent and placement orders?

■ what is a special guardianship order?

Adoption: The Modern Law will be indispensable for all involved in adoption work—family lawyers, adoption and fostering agencies and social services personnel.

The book originates in Israel, where adoptive families actually send physicians, trained in child development, to countries to examine children offered for adoption, enabling adoption professionals to acquire long-standing and intimate insights, into the process of adoption, from its very early stages, when institutionalized children are first exposed to visiting professionals and prospective adoptive parents.

There exists no other account in the professional or popular literature of the life cycle of the adopted child/ individual, beginning from such an extremely early juncture in time.

The book should be of special interest to professionals in the field of child development, developmental medicine and pediatrics, social work, child psychology and family counseling, as well as to the general public especially interested in human interest accounts of families and development, the search for identity and raising children struggling with issues of adjustment, attachment and belonging.

About the Author: Gary Diamond, an American-trained developmental pediatrician, has along with professional colleagues over the past 15 years, counseled and traveled to orphanages around the world in the service of adoptive parents, interested in evaluating the child pre-adoption in his/her native setting, often being in foster care or orphanages in a variety of countries in Eastern Europe and Central America.

Eva Arbel, MSW, has long experience with adoptive families, she herself being adopted at the age of two months, adds a unique dimension to the book, detailing the psychological processes adoption involves in the individual’s and family’s struggle to define self identity and to reconcile the tug of war between the adoptive and biological realities the adopted child and adult is constantly caught between.

The combined international knowledge and experience of the three authors of this book enables them to provide a unique perspective. By analysing the policies and practices of the past, the authors answer the challenges of the present and plan for the debates of the future. Covering arguments such as transracial placements, intercountry adoption, open adoption and the adoption of children by single people, the book is comprehensive and child-centered in its outlook. There are also chapters on preparing adoptive parents and children for placement.

This is the first book to bring together in a single volume the theoretical, policy and practical issues surrounding adoption. Being an up to date summary and thorough review of the current state of knowledge, it will inform policy maker, student and practitioner alike. It contains material which will help those intimately involved in adoption, whether professionally or personally, to improve their understanding and enjoyment of the experience.

About the Author: John Triseliotis is a professor and Senior Research Fellow at the International Social Sciences Institute at the University of Edinburgh. His most recent co-authored books include Foster Care: Theory and Practice, and Teenagers and the Social Work Services. He is currently engaged in a large study of foster care and foster carers. He was made an OBE in 1989.

Joan Shireman is a professor at the Graduate School of Social Work at Portland State University, Portland, Oregon, where she currently is Director of the Ph.D. in Social Work and Social Research. She has authored a book and a number of articles on foster care and adoption and has been principal investigator on a longitudinal study of adoption, from which her latest publications are drawn.

Marion Hundleby has been a qualified social worker for over 20 years. Her experience encompasses social work practice, research and consultancy, with a particular interest in the fields of adoption and fostering and work with families. During the 1980s she was involved in two major research projects (Long Term Fostering and the Placement Outcome Survey) funded by the Department of Health. Her current post is that of Post-Adoption Specialist with the Catholic Children’s Society, Nottingham. She has post-graduate qualifications from the University of Oxford and the Royal College of Art (London).

About the Author: Rita J. Simon is a sociologist who earned her doctorate at the University of Chicago in 1957. Before coming to American University in 1983 to serve as dean of the School of Justice, she was a member of the faculty at the University of Illinois, at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and at the University of Chicago. She is currently a “University Professor” in the School of Public Affairs and the Washington College of Law at American University.

Professor Simon is the author and editor of numerous books and is currently the editor of Gender Issues.

Howard Altstein earned his B.A. from Brooklyn College in 1959 and his M.S.W. in 1962 from New York University. He has worked as a social worker in corrections, foster care, and education. After receiving his Ph.D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana in 1971, he became a lecturer at the Hebrew University School of Social Work. He has been with the University of Maryland School of Social Work since 1972, and is currently a professor, having served as dean for one year. Professor Altstein is the author of several books on transracial and intercountry adoption. Two additional books are forthcoming.

By the Same Author: Transracial Adoption (1977, John Wiley & Sons); Transracial Adoption: A Follow-Up (1981, Lexington Books); Transracial Adoptees and Their Families: A Study of Identity and Commitment (1987, Praeger); Adoption, Race, and Identity: From Infancy Through Adolescence (1992, Praeger); and The Case for Transracial Adoption (1994, American University Press), among others.