Journeys after Adoption : Understanding Lifelong Issues

What can we learn about the experience of adoption from those who have taken that journey? How can those touched by adoption navigate successfully through the issues of search, reunion, and aftermath? Will those answers have a positive impact on adoption today? Drawing upon the experiences of dozens of triad members—adopted persons, birth parents, and adoptive parents—the authors offer insight into the concerns, issues, joys, and pain experienced by those who lives are framed by adoption. The book explores such questions as: •How do I make the decision to search for my parents? •How do I prepare emotionally? •What are my adoptive parents feeling and thinking? •What if I am rejected, encounter death, or reach a dead end? •How do I develop a relationship with siblings I've never known? The authors deal sensitively with these and many other issues. Attention is also given to the needs and concerns of adoptive parents as their children grow into adults. Practical advice helps prepare triad members to deal emotionally and psychologically with the process of search and reunion.