Lost and Found: The Adoption Experience - Softcover

Lifton, Betty Jean

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060971320 ISBN 13: 9780060971328

Publisher: HarperPerennial, 1988

Synopsis

Rich in insight and compassion, Lost and Found is an eloquent exploration of the psychological issues faced by adoptees and by all children who have been separated from a parent and denied the right to know their true origins. Betty Jean Lifton, herself an adoptee, draws upon her own experience and her extensive work with adoptees, birth mothers and fathers, and adoptive parents to explore the harmful effects of secrecy on the identity of a child and the liberating possibilities of openness. A new Preface links the psychology of the adopted to that of babies born of surrogacy and other reproductive technologies. And a new Afterword explores the most recent developments in the adoption field, such as post-adoption counseling, open adoption, and the controversy around the adoption syndrome. The author concludes with a code of rights and responsibilities for everyone in the adoption circle, along with an updated list of support groups and counseling clinics for the adoption triad in the United States and Canada.

About this title

Review:

Looks at adoption from all sides of the triangle: adoptee, birth mother, adoptive parents.... A provocative, comprehensive inquiry. - Kirkus Reviews ""Important and powerful.... [the author] is concerned not just with adoptees but with the experience of adoptive parents and birth parents."" - Psychology Today ""An articulate and convincing account of people Lifton has interviewed, men and women who feel crippled by not knowing who their parents were. Included are reports on dealers in black-market babies and equally disturbing information on supposedly reputable adoption agencies."" - Publishers Weekly

Synopsis:

The first edition of Betty Jean Lifton's "Lost and Found" advanced the adoption rights movement in this country in 1979, challenging many states' policies of maintaining closed birth records. For nearly three decades the book has topped "Recommended Reading" lists for those who seek to understand the effects of adoption - including adoptees, adoptive parents, birth parents, and their friends and families.This expanded and updated edition, with new material on the controversies concerning adoption and new reproductive technologies, continues to add to the discussion on this important topic. A new preface and afterword by the author have been added, as well as a greatly expanded Resources section that in addition to relevant organizations now lists useful websites and blogs as well.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperPerennial
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0060971320
• ISBN 13: 9780060971328
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 322