The Adoption Mystique

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Summary: The Adoption Mystique
Review: Because I am an adoptee who searched and found my biological family, I read Joanne Small's book "The Adoption Mystique" with great interest. Ms. Small has done a masterful job of debunking the propaganda the adoption industry spews out. We do not need or want the "protection" forced upon us by industry. In a country like ours that places such a high value on personal freedom, it is a shame that there is a necessity for writing such a book as this! This is a "must read" book for adoptees, birth and adoptive parents alike.

Rating:
Summary: The Adoption Mystique
Review: Because I am an adoptee who searched and found my biological family, I read Joanne Small's book "The Adoption Mystique" with great interest. Ms. Small has done a masterful job of debunking the propaganda the adoption industry spews out. We do not need or want the "protection" forced upon us by industry. In a country like ours that places such a high value on personal freedom, it is a shame that there is a necessity for writing such a book as this! This is a "must read" book for adoptees, birth and adoptive parents alike.

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Summary: An adult adoptee from New Hampshire
Review: How refreshing to find a book that tackles the societal mores revolving around adoption with such clear and concise explanations of the evolving institution. If you know nothing at all about adoption and the way that society views this institution then this is the book for you. If you think that you know all about adoption, read this book and you will find that there is more to learn. Ms. Small clearly outlines the views that were prevalent surrounding adoption from the past to the present with an insiders understanding that could only be arrived at through having lived within that very system. Her extensive education, as well as her work within the adoption field allow her a center seat on the adoption stage. Historically all adoption decisions have been made without input from the adoptee and it is only relatively recently that adoptees have found their voices. I, for one, am more than pleased to have Ms. Small speak on my behalf and on the behalf of all adoptees. Three cheers for such a well written, informative book. It should be required reading for all who participate in adoption, including those who regulate and/or facillitate it.

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Summary: Great Book!
Review: This little book of essays takes on big sacred cows both of the adoption industry and the adoption reform movement, and makes hamburger of them! Ms. Small, an adoptee, social worker, and long-time activist for adoptee rights, makes the case that the adoption system as it now exists, a culture of secrets and lies, is itself dysfunctional. She also questions the medical model of adoption (everyone is wounded and in need of therapy) and the pathologizing of adopted persons in such theories as "Adopted Child Syndrome"and the public fascination with adopted killers and other criminals. All of her essays are liberally footnoted, providing both documentation of her research and a whole world of adoption reading that readers may want to follow up on. This kind of careful scholarship is refreshing in a field full of unproven theories, unsupported claims and over-generalized statements.

Ms. Small was the only adoptee on the Model Adoption Legislation and Procedures Committee in 1978. Out of this committee came the Model State Adoption Act, which recommended open records for adopted adults. The National Council for Adoption was formed to combat this progressive act, and we have been battling them ever since. In her many years as an activist, Ms. Small has learned many lessons about politics and adoption reform which she shares in "The Adoption Mystique".

The most valuable and timely part of this book is the section on compromise and legislation, and what happened in Maryland in 1997 when a bill was introduced that featured contact vetoes and an elaborate and expensive mandatory intermediary system. Some adoption reformers supported this bill, with the rationale that without compromise nothing could pass, most adoptees could have reunions, and that this was a "baby step" to full adoptee rights. Ms. Small neatly and logically demolishes this flawed argument in her essay.

She makes a clear distinction between unconditional adoptee rights legislation, and search and reunion legislation, and why the latter is always in danger of compromise. Her analysis of the Maryland legislation is clear and well-reasoned and can serve as a guideline for other state groups on what not to do legislatively, and why a real civil rights bill can not have restrictions, vetoes, or conditions to the exercise of those rights. I hope everyone working on legislation in their own state makes this book their bible on what kind of legislation to introduce, support, and hold out for.

This is a well-written, well thought-out book that should be in the library of every adoption activist. Some may not agree with all of the conclusions or ideas, but all certainly can learn and question and begin their own dialogue on legislative activism, and how the mystique of adoption has become so ingrained in popular culture that it is hard to break through with reality and truth. I highly recommend The Adoption Mystique.