Before you begin your search for your birth relatives…
Snag my in-depth reference guide to best equip you for the journey ahead.
Touched by Adoption
This blog is devoted to increasing awareness regarding the complicated issues surrounding adoption. I hope that it will encourage and foster a positive dialogue with all readers about adoption related issues.
Two Things That Bother Adoptees
Learn about the two things that bother adoptees more than anything else.
The Thing About Memory
Musings about memory and memoir writing.
Three Identical Strangers
Read how watching the documentary “Three Identical Strangers” reveals astounding details that trigger my own experience as an adopted identical twin.
I’m Adopted: I’m glad I Kept A Journal
Read about an adult adoptee’s experience with journal writing in the search for her birth family.
I’m Adopted, How Do I Find My Birth Family?
If you’re adopted and ever thought to yourself, “How do I find my birth family?” then this post is for you.
What Should I Call My Birth Mother?
Read my quandary about what to call my birth mother and how you can discover what to call yours.
“Twice a Daughter” Sneak Peak
Receive the first chapter of my award winning new release, “Twice a Daughter: The Search for Identity, Family and Belonging,” available now wherever books are sold.
Adoptee Resources
Adoption Reference Guides:
Adoption Terms & Language Quick Reference Guide by Julie McGue
National Foster Care & Adoption Directory Definitions by Child Welfare Information Gateway
Adoption Related Reference Books:
Brodzinsky, David M., Schechter, Marshall D., Marantz Henig, Robin, Being Adopted: the Lifelong Search for Self. New York: Anchor Books,1993.
Eldridge, Sherrie, 20 Things Adoptive Parents Need to Succeed: Discover the Secrets to Understanding the Unique Needs of Your Adopted Child-and Becoming the Best Parent You Can Be, New York: Delta Trade Paperbacks, 1999.
_____, Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew, New York: Delta Trade Paperbacks,
Fessler, Ann, The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade, New York: The Penguin Press, 2006.
Lifton, Betty Jean, Lost & Found: The Adoption Experience. The University of Michigan Press, 2009.
______, Twice Born: Memoirs of An Adopted Daughter. New York: McGraw Hill, 1975.
Newton Verrier, Nancy, The Primal Wound: Understanding the Adopted Child. Baltimore, MD: Gateway Press, Inc., 1993.
Schaefer, Carol, Searching…, For Healing After Reunion, New York: 2014.
Strauss, Jean A.S., Birthright: The Guide to search and reunion for adoptees, birthparents, and adoptive parents. New York: Penguin Books, 1994.
Self-Help/Other Reference Books:
Brown, Brene, Daring Greatly: How the Courage to Be Vulnerable Transforms the Way We Live, Love, Parent, and Lead, New York: Avery Books, 2012.
_____, Rising Strong, New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2015.
Adoption Blogs
- Adoptee Restoration Blog
- DearAdopted Blog
- Experiencecourage.com
- The Adopted Ones Blog
- The Declassified Adoptee Blog
Adoption Related News & Articles:
- Adoption recruiters find families still interested in adopting, fostering despite pandemic | WDTN.com
- The Baby Brokers: Inside America’s Murky Private-Adoption Industry
- Michigan deal bars LGBT discrimination in state adoptions
- Public Invited to give input on State Foster Care System at Regional Forums
- Adoptees seek Connecticut law change, want birth records
- Increasing Permanency: Seven Principles for Building Emotionally Stable Foster & Adoptive Families
- 6 Adoption Questions You Were Too Afraid To Ask
- A Millennial’s Guide To Foster Care & Adoption
- Indiana Residents Face Long Wait for Adoption Records
- Obtaining Birth and/or Adoption Records
- As I See It: All adoptees should have access to their birth certificates
- Nurse adopts baby she cared for in ICU
- Writer Regina Louise talks Lifetime biopic ‘I Am Somebody’s Child,’ being born into foster care
- Why So Many Women Choose Abortion Over Adoption
- Advantages of Having An Adoption Consultant
- Illinois Safe Haven Law in place to save abandoned newborns
- Griffis: Adoption laws vary state-by-state
- Man Meets His Family for the First Time After Being Given up for Adoption 40 Years Ago
- I’m Adopted And Pro-Choice. Stop Using My Story For The Anti-Abortion Agenda.
- Has adoption touched your life? – Has adoption touched your life?
- Explainer: What’s going on with faith-based adoption agencies? And what will happen next?
- Dear Therapist: The Child My Daughter Put Up for Adoption Is Now Rejecting Her
- NY weighs releasing original birth certificates to adoptees
- Senators back adoption standards bill
- WATCH: The endless journey for adoptees – accessing birth records
- Benevolant Society set to host free Adoption Connections meeting on South Coast
- 8 Adoptees Who Found Their Birth Parents Through DNA Kits
- New, stricter rules proposed for Illinois foster homes
- Access to post-placement and post-adoption services to expand under Peters new law
- When ‘You’re Adopted’ Is Used as an Insult
- Supreme Court and Religious Liberty: Catholic Foster-Care Case Looms
- What Adoption Was Like for Me – Women Share Their Stories
- Guest View: A hidden class of American
- This Family Approached Intercountry Adoption Differently, and It Worked
- Adoptive moms battle skepticism, hostility over maternity leave
- Scammers On Instagram Target Couples Hoping To Adopt | NPR Illinois
- Judge allows Michigan adoption agencies to bar LGBT homes | WCYB
- Here’s How to Pay for Adoption Costs
- Task force hoping to change Wisconsin adoption laws
- New rule would allow faith-based adoption organizations to deny service to LGBTQ couples
- Adoptions of 45 Madison County children to be finalized at Nov. 23 Adoption Day event
- 10 Things You Didn’t Know about Lisa Joyner
- Rule change on adoption will punish thousands of kids in foster care
- The Trauma of Transracial Adoption
- New York joins states allowing adult adoptees full access to birth certificates
- Iowa Adoptees Denied Access to Their Own Birth Certificates by Privacy Laws
- Indiana celebrates National Adoption Day
- Adoption Trends in America: Uncovering Its Prevalence and Cost – 2019 Edition
- South Dakota governor signs religious adoption protections
- Cities continue crusade against Catholic adoptions
- Adoptions across Texas surge, breaking records
- Lawyers, tribes raise concerns about adoption bills
- Linda Clausen: Maryland must change its adoption laws to allow access to birth certificates
- Gov. Lee expected to sign controversial bill allowing some adoption agencies to deny LGBT families
- Bill threatens to remove conscience protections for adoption agencies
- Virtual adoption ceremony: Pandemic doesn’t stop Flemington couple from adopting son
- What Prospective Parents Should Know About International Adoption
- Two Siblings Discover Each Other Through DNA Testing
- Reuniting with Birth Family: How to Search for your Biological Relatives
- Sia reveals she adopted teen boys who were aging out of foster care
- Pregnant and Alone: How to Move Forward When Your Baby’s Father Won’t Support You
- ‘Heartbreaking’: These families were set to adopt, but coronavirus put their plans on hold
- ‘Tell Me Who My Mother Is’: A Korean Adoptee Seeks Her Roots
- Plymouth woman finds biological mother, two sisters after genetics test
- Lori Falce: Adoption should be happily ever after
- Indicted adoption attorney pleads guilty in Utah, still faces indictment in Arkansas
- Angelina Jolie on Honoring and Learning from Her Adopted Children’s Roots
- ‘Side By Side’ Documentary Eloquently Voices Memories Of Korean Adoptees
- The Stranded Babies of the Coronavirus Disaster
- Do Adoptive Parents Have the Right to Write about Their Children? Kay Trimberger Responds
- Adoption in a pandemic: Royal Palm family adopts son via Zoom
- Families Persist With U.S. Adoptions. Coronavirus Makes It A Challenge.
- Giving Baby Up for Adoption at Birth
- 4 tools to speed up your search for biological family
- Five families adopt nine children during Back to School Adoption Day
- Religious groups square off ahead of major Supreme Court adoption case
- Hugh Jackman’s wife Deborra-Lee Furness talks candidly about adoption and says she was targeted
- Supreme Court will hear case to decide if adoption agencies can discriminate in November
- Gov. Holcomb Announces Indiana Top State in the Nation for Adoption
- $2.4M adoption and legal guardianship incentive award given to Arizona
- Amy Coney Barrett Raised Her Haitian Adoptions. Other Families and Children Were Listening
- Digging deep: adoptees share the emotional journeys of discovering their roots
- An adoption agency was told to stop turning away LGBTQ couples. The courts say they can.
- My parents hid the fact I was adopted, but I instinctively knew
- Despite Mixed Results, South Asian Adoptees Turn To DNA Tests To Find Relatives
- How the Trump Era Encouraged Publicly Funded Discrimination in Adoption and Foster Care
