Adoption, once a clandestine process shrouded in shame, is rapidly metamorphosing into a radically new process that is both sweeping the nation and changing it. It is accelerating our transformation into a more multi-cultural and multiethnic society, even as it helps redefine our understanding of "family". Adoption is also a highly visible example of a social institution that has benefited from and been reshaped by both the Internet and the exponential growth of alternative lifestyles, from single to transracial to gay. But negative stereotypes still remain, and new problems-mostly stemming from the corrosive influence of money-are becoming pervasive. In Adoption Nation, Adam Pertman, an award-winning journalist and adoptive father, provides valuable insights into the pleasures and perils of adoption. He shows how it now affects almost all our lives, whether we realize it or not. And he lays out the ways in which policymakers should revise our laws to improve the process of adoption, stop treating members of the "adoption triad" as second-class citizens, and remove the obstacles that keep the children who most need permanent homes from getting them. Filled with up-to-the-minute information and a wealth of dramatic real-life stories, Adoption Nation is essenial reading for adoptive families, for anyone contemplating adopting a child, and for the more than 22 million Americans who are touched by or curious about this extraordinary cultural transformation. From the inside book jacket. |
