Suggested Reading

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Open Adoption

Please note: Some of the publications below reference laws in states other than Oregon and Washington and/or adoption practices different from those at OA&FS.

Children of Open Adoption

Kathleen Silber & Patricia Martinez Dorner

Corona Publishing Co., 1990.

Examines the effects of open adoption on the children. Among topics covered: bonding, grief, communication, entitlement, and adoption understanding among children.

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The Family of Adoption

Joyce Maguire Pavao

Beacon Press, 1998.

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How To Open An Adoption: A Guide for Parents and Birthparents of Minors

Patricia Martinez Dorner

R-Squared Press, 1997.

Provides guidance to both adoptive parents and birthparents who are seeking contact and how to do it in the most beneficial way for the children and their two families.

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The Open Adoption Book: A Guide to Adoption Without Tears

Bruce M. Rappaport

Macmillan Publishing Co., 1992.

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The Open Adoption Experience – From Making the Decision Through the Child’s Growing Years

Lois Ruskai Melina & Sharon Kaplan Roszia

Harper Perennial, 1993.

Guide to the issues and concerns of adoptive and birth families through all stages of the open adoption relationship, from making the decision through the child's growing years.

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The Spirit of Open Adoption

James Gritter

Child Welfare League of America, 1997

Required reading for Open Adoption & Family Services adoptive parents. Emphasizes adoptive parents, birthparents and adoptees coming together in a spirit of extended family that helps them overcome the fear, pain, shame and loss of adoption with honor, respect and reverence.

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What is Open Adoption?

Brenda Romanchik

R-Squared Press, 1999

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More for Adoptive Parents:

Headline: Making Room in Our Hearts

by Micky Duxbury

Keeping Family Ties Through Open Adoption, 2006

Based on interviews with more than one hundred adopted children, birth and adoptive parents, extended families, professionals and experts, the Making Room in Our Hearts is an effective and invaluable resource for those considering open adoption, those experiencing it, and professionals in the field. Openness has altered the landscape of adoption, and Making Room in Our Hearts will help us catch up to the reality that is open adoption today.

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Adopting After Infertility

Patricia Irwin Johnston

Perspectives Press, 1994

Helps prospective adoptive parents explore infertility issues and their readiness to adopt.

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Adoption is a Family Affair! What Relatives and Friends Must Know

Patricia Irwin Johnston

Perspectives Press, 2001

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The Adoption Resource Book

Lois Gilman

Harper & Row, 1998.

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Attaching in Adoption: Practical Tools for Today’s Parents

Deborah Gray

Perspectives Press, 2002

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Breastfeeding the Adopted Baby

Debra Stewart Peterson

Corona Publishing Co., 1994

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Lifebooks: Creating a Treasure for the Adopted Child

Beth O’Malley, 2000

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Making Sense of Adoption

Lois Ruskai Melina

Harper Collins, 1986

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Raising Adopted Children

Lois Ruskai Melina

Harper Perennial, 1989

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Reaching Out: The Guide to Writing a Terrific Dear Birthmother Letter

Nelson Handel

Easternedge Press, 2002

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Secret Thoughts of an Adoptive Mother

Jana Wolff

Vista Communications, 1999

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Talking With Young Children About Adoption

Mary Watkins and Susan Fisher

Yale University Press, 1993

The authors of this book discuss how young children make sense of the fact that they are adopted, how it might appear in their play, and what worries they and their parents may have. Includes accounts by twenty adoptive parents of conversations about adoption with their children.

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Telling the Truth to Your Adopted or Foster Child: Making Sense of the Past

Betsy Keefer, et al

Bergin & Garvey, 2000

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Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Parents Knew

Sherrie Eldridge

Dell Publishing, 1999

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More for Birthparents

Being a Birthparent: Finding Our Place

Brenda Romanchik

R-Squared Press, 1999.

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Birthparent Grief

Brenda Romanchik

R-Squared Press, 1999.

Helps birthparents define the loss and understand the grieving process. Not only for birthparents, this is a great book for anyone who wants to help a birthparent through a very difficult time.

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Dear Birthmother

Kathleen Silber and Phylis Speedlin

Corona Publishing, 1997.

An open adoption classic. Gently provocative, warm and convincing, this guide includes actual letters between adoptive parents and birthparents, and between the latter and the children they have.

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The Grief Recovery Handbook: The Action Program for Moving Beyond Death, Divorce and Other Losses

John W. James and Russel Friedman

Harper Collins, 1998.

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Out of the Shadows: Birthfathers' Stories

Mary Martin Mason

O.J. Howard, 1995.

Through stories and photos examines the thoughts, feelings and motives of birthfathers.

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Pregnant? Adoption is an Option

Jeanne Warren Lindsay

Morning Glory Press, 1996

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The Third Choice: A Woman's Guide to Placing a Child for Adoption.

Leslie Foge and Gail Mosconi.

Third Choice Books, www.thirdchoicebooks.com, 1999.

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Your Rights and Responsibilities: A Guide for Expectant Parents Considering Adoption

Brenda Romanchik

R-Squared Press, 1999

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For Children

Megan's Birthday Tree: a story about open adoption

Laurie Lears

Albert Whitman & Co., 2005

Every year Kendra, Megan’s birth mother, sends her a photo of the tree she planted in her yard the day Megan was born. When Megan hears that Kendra is moving, she worries about Kendra not having the tree to remember her by.

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And Tango Makes Three

Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2005

Two male penguins at the zoo raise the chick of a “couple” who are only able to care for one chick at a time. Based on a true story of penguins at the Central Park Zoo.

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Be My Baby: Parents and Children Talk About Adoption

Gail Kinn

Artisan: A Division of Workman Publishing Company, Inc., 2000

Photo essays about adoption from the perspective of birth parents, adoptive parents and adopted children.

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How I Was Adopted: Samantha's Story

Joanna Cole

William Morrow & Co Library, 1995

A young girl tells the story of how she came to be her parents' child through adoption.

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King & King & Family

Linda de Haan & Stern Nijland

Tricycle Press, 2004

King Lee and King Bertie take a honeymoon trip to the jungle and bring home a surprise.

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The Day We Met You

Phoebe Koehler

Simon & Schuster, 1990

Adoptive parents describe all the things they did the day they met their baby.

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Emma's Yucky Brother

Jean Little

HarperTrophy, 2002

Emma finds out how hard it is to be a big sister when her family adopts a four-year-old boy named Max.

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The Little Green Goose

Adele Sansone

Michael Neugebauer (North South Books), 2001

Mr. Goose finds an abandoned egg, hatches it, and raises a peculiar green-skinned long-tailed chick, who worries about his identity but comes to recognize that he has a loving parent.

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Horace

Holly Keller

Mulberry Books, 1995

Horace, an adopted spotted tiger, realizes that being part of a family depends on how you feel and not how you look.

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Did My First Mother Love Me?

A Story About an Adopted Child

Kathryn Ann Miller & Jami Moffett (illustrator)

Morning Glory Press, 1994.

A letter from her birthmother reassures a child how much her birthmother loves her and why she made an adoption plan for her. Includes an afterword for adoptive parents.

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How My Family Came to Be: Daddy, Papa and Me

Andrew R. Aldrich

New Family Press, 2003

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Pugnose Has Two Special Families

Karis Kruzel

R-Squared Press, 1996

Helps parents talk to young children about the beginnings of their open adoptions. Explores the feelings of everyone involved in an open adoption.

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Sam’s Sister.

Juliet C. Bond

Perspectives Press, 2004

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Tell Me About the Night I Was Born

Jamie Lee Curtis and Laura Cornell (Illustrator)

Harper Collins Juvenile Books, 1996

Asking her mother and father to tell her about the night of her birth, a young girl shows that it is a cherished tale she knows by heart. A heartwarming story of how a family was born.

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Tell Me a Real Adoption Story

Jean Lifton & Claire A. Nivola (illlustrator)

Alfred A. Knopf, 1993.

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The Adult Adoptee Perspective

Being Adopted: The Lifelong Search for Self

David M. Brodzinsky, Marshall D. Schechter and Robin Marantz Henig

Anchor Books, 1992

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Families Like Mine: Children of Gay Parents Tell it Like it Is

Abigail Garner

HarperCollins, 2004

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Journey of the Adopted Self: A Quest for Wholeness

Betty Jean Lifton

Basic Books, 1995

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Lost and Found

Betty Jean Lifton

Harper Collins, 1988

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May the Circle be Unbroken: An Intimate Journey into the Heart of Adoption

Lynn C. Franklin and Elizabeth Ferber

Three Rivers Press, 1998

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Twice Born: Memoirs of an Adopted Daughter

Betty Jean Lifton

Griffin Trade Paperback, 1998

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Transracial Adoption

Birthmarks: Transracial Adoption in Contemporary America

Sandra Patton

New York University Press, 2000

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Does Anybody Else Look Like Me? A Parent’s Guide to Raising Multiracial Children

Donna Jackson Nakazawa

Perseus Publishing, 2003

This fabulous book "addresses the special questions and concerns you face, explaining how we can best prepare multiracial children of all ages to confidently make their way in our color-conscious world."

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In Their Own Voices

Rita James Simon and Rhonda M. Roorda

Columbia University Press, 2000

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Inside Transracial Adoption

Gail Steinberg and Beth Hall

Perspectives Press, 2000

Offers general and culturally specific suggestions and advice on issues related to racial identity, family connection, and child development within the context of race.

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What Are You? Voices of Mixed-Race Young People

Pearl Fuyo Gaskins

Henry Holt & Co., 1999.

A collection of poetry, essays and interviews compiled from mixed-race youth who talk frankly about growing up in the USA today.

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Lesbian & Gay Adoption

Families Like Mine: Children of Gay Parents Tell it Like it Is

Abigail Garner

HarperCollins, 2004

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The Kid: What Happened After My Boyfriend and I Decided to Go Get Pregnant: An Adoption Story

Dan Savage

Plume, 2000

A hilarious account of a gay couple's adoption (through Open Adoption & Family Services). A wonderful, charming account of real "family values" that proves love knows no limits.

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Single Parent Adoption

Adopting on Your Own: The Complete Guide to Adoption for Single Parents

Lee Varon

Farrar Straus Giroux, 2000

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Toddler Adoption

Toddler Adoption, The Weaver's Craft

Mary Hopkins-Best

Perspectives Press, 1997

A powerful must-read for anyone considering adopting an older (non-infant) child. The book covers developmental stages, techniques to make the transition process run smoothly, resiliency and attachment.

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Misc. Adoption

Sacred Connections: Stories of Adoption

Mary Ann Koenig

photography by Niki Berg

Running Press Book Publishers, 2000

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Drug Exposure

Adoption & Prenatal Alcohol and Drug Exposure: Research, Policy, and Practice

Richard P. Barth et al

Child Welfare League of America, 2000

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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention web site:

www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/fas

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Children With Prenatal Alcohol & or Other Drug Exposure: Weighing The Risks of Adoption

Susan B. Edelstein, et al

Child Welfare League of America, 1996

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University of Washington Fetal Alcohol and Drug Unit web site:

www.depts.washington.edu/fadu/content.html