Summary
Contents
Subject index
Making Families Through Adoption provides a comprehensive look at adoption practices both in the United States and in other cultures, and a general understanding of the practices and ideology of kinship and family. The subject of adoption allows a window into discussions of what constitutes family or kin, the role of biological connectedness, oversight of parenting practices by the state, and the role of race, gender, sexuality, and socio-economic class in the building of families. While reviewing practices of and issues surrounding adoption, the authors highlight the ways these practices and discussions allow us greater insight into overall practices of kinship and family.
Adoption: Private Decisions, Public Influences
Adoption: Private Decisions, Public Influences
In the contemporary United States, 2.4 percent of families have been formed through adoption, and 2.5 percent of children under 18 years old are adopted (University of Oregon Adoption History Project website, http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~adoption/). Why don't more families participate in this process? What is behind the decision of some parents to undertake the process of adoption? How have federal and state laws and policies affected adoption practices? One way to answer these questions is to look at the patterns of adoption today and in the recent past; those patterns make it clear that adoption is not a random process. The parents who adopt children often share important characteristics with each other, as do the parents who relinquish ...
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