Valuable Books

E. Wayne Carp, Family Matters: Secrecy & Disclosure in The History of Adoption, 1998.  

Book Description
Family Matters cuts through the sealed records, changing policies, and conflicting agendas that have obscured the history of adoption in America and demonstrates how the practice and attitudes about it have evolved from colonial days to the present. 

Carp does, however, advocate search and consent registries, which do not work.  Nonetheless, it is an excellent book on the subject.

"The most fascinating aspect of this very accessible study is the ups and downs of the often questionable belief in the primacy of blood ties. Bringing clarity, historical perspective and objectivity, historian Carp offers a book that deserves the attention of anyone with an interest in adoption."
--PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

The New York Times Book Review, Judith Newman
...a solid contribution to understanding adoption in the United States today.

The Boston Globe, Diane Daniel
...could be the most revelatory book written on the subject.

Judith S. Gediman, et al., Birthbond: Reunions Between Birth Parents and Adoptees-- What Happens After, 1991.

Book Description
"Sensitively tracks the aftermath of adoption."--The New York Times

Paul Sachdev, Unlocking the Adoption Files, 1989.

From Book News, Inc. , December 1, 1989
Sachdev (social work, Cleveland State U.) describes the members of the adoption rectangle (adoptive parents, birth mothers, adoptees, and social work personnel) and their attitudes toward opening adoption records

Carol Schaefer, The Other Mother: A Woman's Love for the Child She Gave Up For Adoption, 1992.

An excellent perspective on adoption searching.  Ms. Schaefer was a birth mother and describes the trauma inflicted by a social and religious system that castigated unwed mothers and their infants.  It tell of her experiences as a young mother and of her search that began 17 years later.  As an adoptee, I was struck by the similarities in feelings I have felt as an adoptee who is searching and that mothers go through.

LaVonne H. Stiffler, Synchronicity and Reunion: The Genetic Connection of Adoptees and Birthparents, 1992.

The author, LaVonne H. Stiffler, April 13, 1999
An exploration: DNA or other causes?
After search and reunion, adoptees and birthparents begin to piece together the long years of separation and seek explanations for uncanny coincidental behavior and meaningful information transfer that occurred when normal sensory contact was absent. Anecdotes of synchronicity from 70 reunited families fall into categories of: names, places, dates, timing of search activity and major life events, dreams and intuition, pre- and perinatal memory, occupation, religiosity, preferences, and idiosyncrasies. The information is similar to that coming from research with twins reared apart, but obviously not with the same degree of one-to-one identical matching. Independent of the type (or lack) of ensuing relationship, significance is frequently expressed by the participants as evidence of an undeniable genetic connection, a motivation for personal growth and identity resolution, and God's involvement in a reunion that was thought impossible. A cathexis or unspoken emotional investment in the separated persons may serve to strengthen the likelihood of synchronicity in their lives. An 11-page bibliography is included.

Katarina Wegar, Adoption, Identity & Kinship: The Debate Over Sealed Birth Records, 1996.

Book Description
This thoughtful book offers a new perspective on adoption and the search debate. Sociologist Katarina Wegar shows that all those involved in the controversies over sealed adoption records--adoptees, birth parents, and adopting parents--are affected by persistent social beliefs that adopted children are somehow inferior to other children. She discusses how to stop the perpetuation of such harmful images.