Check back often. This page is updated regularly.
Anthologies
The Colour of Time: A Longitudinal Exploration of the Impact of InterCountry Adoption in Australia (2017) by International Adoption Service Australia
Decoding Our Origins: The Lived Experiences of Colombian Adoptees (2017) by Abby Forero-Hilty, Rita Esmeralda Naranio, Paul Aboulafia, & 18 others.
It’s Not About You: Understanding Adoptee Search, Reunion, & Open Adoption (2017) by B. Randolph
Vietnamese Adopted: A Collection of Voices (2015) by various authors
Dear Wonderful You, Letters to Adopted & Fostered Youth (2014) Ed. by D.R. Christian & M.A. Ellerman
Adoptionland: From Orphans to Activists (2014) by J.M. Ja (author), Vance Twins (compiler), M.A. Potter (editor), A. Vance (editor)
Flip the Script: Adult Adoptee Anthology (the AN-YA Project) (2015) by M.C. Maltempo (author), D.R. Christian (editor), A.H.I., Transue-Woolston (editor), & R. Gonzalez (editor)
Adoption Therapy (2014) Ed. by Laura Dennis
It’s Not About You: Understanding Adoptee Search, Reunion, & Open Adoption (2017) ed. by Brooke Randolph
Dear Wonderful You, Letters to Adopted & Fostered Youth (2014) Ed. by Diane Rene Christian, Ed. by Mei-Mei Akwei Ellerman
Lost Daughters: Writing Adoption from a Place of Empowerment and Peace (2014) by Amanda H.L. Transue-Woolston (Author), Julie Stromberg (Editor), Karen Pickell (Editor), and Jennifer Anastasi (Editor)
Adoption Reunion in the Social Media Age: An Anthology (2014) Ed. Laura Dennis
Somebody’s Child: Stories About Adoption (2011) Edited by Bruce Gillespie and Lynne Van Luven
Snowflakes: A Flurry of Adoption Stories-By, For and About Children and Teens (2010) by Teresa Kelleher
Pieces of Me: Who Do I Want to Be (2009) by Robert L Ballard, ed.
Once They Hear My Name: Korean adoptees and their journeys toward identity (2008) by Ellen Lee, Marilyn Lammert and Mary Anne Hess
Outsiders Within (2006) by Jane Jeong Trenka, Julia Chinyere Oparah, and Sun Yung Shin
The Colour of Difference: Journeys in transracial adoption (2001) Ed. by S. Armstrong & P. Slaytor
In Their Own Voices: Transracial Adoptees Tell Their Own Stories (2000) by R. Simon & R. Roorda
Sacred Connections: Stories of Adoption Essays (2000) by Mary Ann Koenig
I wish You a Beautiful Life: Letters from the Korean Birth Mothers of Ae Ran Won to Their Children (1999) ed. by Sara Darow
By Adoptees
All You Can Ever Know (2018) by Nicole Chung, memoir
Keurium (2018) by J S Lee – fictional work
Not My White Savior (2018) by Julayne Lee – poetry
You Don’t Look Adopted (2018) by Anne Heffron, memoir
The Leavers (2017) by Lisa Ko – fictional work
Beyond Two Worlds: A Taiwanese-American Adoptee’s Memoir & Search for Identity (2017) by Marijane Huang, memoir
Umbilicus (2016) by Paula Gruben, memoir
Ghost of Sangju: A Memoir of Reconciliation (2015) by Soojung Jo
Fish Heads & Folktalkes: Reflections on Culture, Family, and Life from a Korean Adoptee (2014) by P.M. Moran, memoir
Lucky Girl: A Memoir (2009) by Mei-Ling Hopgood, memoir
somebody’s daughter: a novel (2005) by Marie Myung-OK Lee, memoir
The Language of Blood (2003) by Jane Jeong Trenka, memoir
A Single Square Picture: A Korean Adoptee’s Search for Her Roots (2002) by Katy Robinson, memoir
Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew (1999) by Sherrie Eldridge – highly recommend!
Healing & Counseling
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline – Phone: 1-800-273-8255. The Lifeline provides 24/7, free and confidential support for people in distress, prevention and crisis resources for you or your loved ones, and best practices for professionals.
Adoption Trauma Therapists – Comprehensive list of licensed adoption competent therapists listed by location. Those therapists with an asterisk by their names are adoptees. List compiled by Jessenia Aria, adoptee (2017).
The Celia Center – Non-profit organization founded by Jeannette Yoffe, MFT/Psychotherapist and Adoptee in Los Angeles, California. Offerings: Support groups for all members of the adoption constellation, parenting classes, and private counseling.
Yoffe Therapy – Group psychotherapy practice, Executive Director – Jeannette Yoffe, MFT/Adoptee, Los Angeles, California
Lesli Ann Johnson, MFT/Psychotherapist and Adoptee in Beverly Hills and Pasadena, California. She offers individual and couples counseling, family, child, and adolescent counseling, Adoptive parent coaching, groups for the adoption & foster care community, adoption education workshops, and telepsychiatry.
Katie Naftzger, LCSW/Psychotherapist and Adoptee, located in Newton Highlands, Massachusetts, in private practice. Contact Katie for all services offered. She also facilitates an Adoption, Teenhood, and Mental Health Group for Adoptive Parents and an Adoptive Parenting through the Life Cycle – Year-long Secret Facebook Community
Attachment Theory in Action: Building Connections Between Children and Parents (2017) ed. by Karen Doyle Buckwalter & Debbie Reed
Trust-Based Relational Intervention – Karyn Purvis, PhD and David Cross, PhD – Texas Christian University
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma (2015) by B. Van Der Kolk
Adoption Therapy (2014) Ed. by L. Dennis
Coming Home to Self: The Adopted Child Grows Up (2003) by N. Newton-Verrier
Journey of the Adopted Self: A Quest for Wholeness (1995) by B.J. Lifton
The Primal Wound: Understanding the Adopted Child (1993) by N. Newton-Verrier
Being Adopted: The Lifelong Search for Self (1992) by D.M. Brodzinsky, PhD, M.D. Schechter, MD & R.M. Henig
Podcasts
Attachment Theory in Action, host Karen Doyle Buckwalter – A podcast dedicated to therapists, social workers, counselors and psychologists who are working with clients from an attachment-based perspective. Interviews are conducted with individuals who are doing clinical work as well as leading attachment theory researchers.
Adoptees On, host Haley Radke, adoptee
The Rambler, host Mike McDonald, adoptee
Adapted | Korean-American Adoptees Living in Korea, host Kaomi Goetz, adoptee
Out of the Fog, co-hosts Kassaye MacDonald, adoptee, & Pascal Huynh
Global Adoptee Talk, host Marijane Huang, adoptee
Parenting
The Yes Brain: How to Cultivate Courage, Curiosity, and Resilience in Your Child (2018) by D. J. Siegel, MD & T. P. Bryson, PhD
Parenting in the Eye of the Storm: The Adoptive Parent’s Guide to Parenting the Teen Years (2017) by Katie Naftzger, LICSW, psychotherapist
Sensory Processing 101 (2015) by D. Abraham, C. Heffron, P. Braley, & D. Drobnjak
Groundbreaking Interventions: Working with Traumatized Children, Teens, and Families in Foster Care and Adoption (2014) by Jeannette Yoffe, MA, MFT & Adoptee
The Whole Brain Child: 12 Revolutionary Strategies to Nurture Your Child’s Developing Mind (2012) by D. J. Siegal, MD & T. P. Bryson, PhD
Parenting As Adoptees (2012) by A. Chau (author) & K. Ost-Vollmers (editor)
Nurturing Adoptions: Creating Resilience After Neglect and Trauma (2012) by D.D. Gray
The Connected Child (2007) by K. Purvis
Beneath the Mask: Understanding Adopted Teens (2005) by D. Riley (author) & J. Meeks (contributor)
The Out of Sync Child (2006) by Jane Kranowitz
Attaching in Adoption: Practical Tools for Today’s Parent (2002) by Deborah D. Gray
Parenting the Hurt Child: Helping Adoptive Families Heal and Grow (2002) by G. Keck, PhD and R. Kupecky, L.S.W.
Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew (1999) by Sherrie Eldridge
Foster Parenting Abused Children, 3rd ed. (1994) by E. Gil
Children & Youth Books on Adoption
Frankie and Friends Talk Adoption (2018) by Pam Kroskie & Marcie Keithley, adult adoptees
Dear Wonderful You, Letters to Adopted and Fostered Youth (2014) by Diane Rene Christian, ed. by Mei-Mei Akwai Ellerman
Love You From Right Here (2017) by Jamie Sandefer
Growing Grace (2017) by Erin Mason
The Moccasins (2004) by Earl Einarson, former foster youth
YA Fiction on Adoption
Girl in Reverse (2015) by Barbara Stuber
Half a World Away (2015) by Cynthia Kadohata
Documentaries
Abandoned, Adopted Here (2016) Director/Adoptee, Lucy Sheen
My Adoption (2016) a film short by Director, Chuang-Chieh Liao
Closure: A Documentary About Adoption (2015) Angela Tucker, adult adoptee
Twinsters (2015) story of adopted twins, Anais Bodier & Samantha Futerman
Finding Seoul (2014) Director/Adoptee, John C. Sanvidge
The Invisible Red Thread (2013) Director, M. Marovitch
Somewhere Between (2011) Director, L. Goldstein-Knowlton
Struggle for Identity: Issues in Transracial Adoption, PhotoSynthesis Productions
First Person Plural, Director/Adoptee, Dean Borshay Liem
Websites
Vivid Imagination Artworks – Artist & Korean adoptee, Caleb Yee
Julayne Lee – Writer, Korean Adoptee
InterCountry Adoptee Voices (ICAV)
Important Reads
Birth Mothers and Transnational Adoption Practice in South Korea (2016) by H. Kim
The Child Catchers: Rescue, Trafficking, and the New Gospel of Adoption (2013) by K. Joyce
The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption (2006) by A. Fessler
Search and Reunion
Child and Juvenile Information Center in TAIPEI, TAIWAN – This agency provides reunion services for adoptees seeking reunion with their first families in Taiwan.
There are two books that I got for myself recently that I think you might might want to read and add here (sadly, there aren’t any from Vietnamese mothers).
“I Wish For You a Beautiful Life” – Sara Dorrow (editor) is a beautiful book of letters written by Korean birthmothers to their children before or right after giving them up for adoption. Priceless for adoptees like myself, wondering what our birthmother’s might have to say to us, and heartbreaking.
“Message From an Unknown Chinese Mother” – Xinran (a chinese journalist) is a collection of true stories from Chinese birthmothers who gave up or even had to kill their children at birth (the one-child policy), and how they have lived with it years later.
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Dear Tara,
Thank you so much for your comments and for the book recommendations! I actually have “Message From an Unknown Chinese Mother” but have not read it yet. I’ll put it on my Resources page, as well as the other book you suggested, which sounds like a really good one. I’m always so happy to hear from other adoptees. Thanks for reaching out, and I hope we can continue to keep in touch 🙂
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Thank you so much for your email! I am in the process of crafting a longer one back, so you’ll hear from me in more detail soon! I’m so glad I found your blog, and I hope we can keep in touch too:)
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Hi Tara, no rush in getting back! I sincerely look forward to corresponding!
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We adopted our daughter from Taiwan in 2006. One book that was helpful for us was “Are Those Kids Yours” by Cheri Register. It was published some time ago so the stats are stale, but I found her frank discussion about interracial adoption to be challenging. She certainly makes you consider whether what you are doing is “best” for the child.
P.S. Love the blog. Thanks for sharing.
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Thanks, Nick, for recommending “Are Those Kids Yours!” It sounds like a very good book. I like that the author talks about the ethics of uprooting children from their birth heritage and issues on the rights of birth parents. Sounds to be a very “frank discussion” as you mentioned, but a good and necessary one for everyone involved in interracial adoption. I will add it to the list! It’s nice to hear from you, and all the best to you and your family!
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