An incomplete list, but a place to begin. I’ve read most of these books and seen most of the films (indicated by a *). While some I thought were better than others, they represent a list of suggested readings that would give an adoptive parent a start on educating themselves. I am not posting my own personal opinion about these resources because I believe each one will be meaningful to different people, for different reasons.
I also think that if you are an adoptee and are looking for resources for your own journey, these books and films could be a good place to begin. I don’t agree with all of the positions and opinions expressed in these books, but I do think they all have given me a lot of fodder for further exploration.
Please contact me at harlowmonkey at gmail dot com if you have suggestions for other resources.
Adoption (general)
*Adoption Nation by Adam Pertman
*The Morality Of Adoption: Social-Psychological, Theological, and Legal Perspectives by Timothy Jackson
* Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish their Adoptive Parents Knew by Sherrie Eldridge
Adoption – Transracial
*Are Those Kids Yours? American Families with Children Adopted From Other Countries by Cheri Register
*Beyond Good Intentions: A Mother Reflects On Raising Internationally Adopted Children by Cheri Register
*Birth is More Than Once: The Inner World of Adopted Korean Children by Hei Sook Park Wilkinson
*Children of the Storm: Black Children and American Child Welfare by Billingsley & Giovanoni
*Cultures of Transnational Adoption by Toby Alice Volkman
*Inside Transracial Adoption by Gail Steinberg and Beth Hall
*The Lost Daughters of China by Karin Evans
*Transnational Adoption: A Cultural Economy of Race, Gender, And Kinship by Sara Dorow
*Transracial Adoption and Foster Care by Joseph Crumbley
*Wanting a Daughter, Needing a Son: Abandonment, Adoption and Orphanage Care in China by Kay Johnson
Understanding adoption/foster care issues
*A Child’s Journey Through Placement by Vera Fahlberg
*Ambiguous Loss: Learning to Live with Unresolved Grief by Pauline Boss
*Being Adopted: The Lifelong Search for Self by David M. Brodzinsky
Coming Home to Self: The Adopted Child Grows Up by Nancy Verrier
* Helping Children Cope with Separation and Loss by Claudia Jewett Jarratt
*Journey of the Adopted Self: A Quest for Wholeness by Betty Jean Lifton
*The Primal Wound: Understanding the Adopted Child by Nancy Verrier
Adoptee /Fosteree Memoirs
*A Single Square Picture by Katy Robinson
*Black Baby, White Hands: A View from the Crib by Jaiya John
*Beneath a Tall Tree: A Story About Us by Jean Strauss
*Finding Fish by Antwone Quenton Fisher
My Father’s Daughter by Hannah Pool
*The Book of Sarahs by Catherine McKinley
*The Language of Blood by Jane Jeong Trenka
*The Unforgotten War: Dust from the Streets by Thomas Park Clement
*Jesus Land by Julia Scheeres
Anthologies
*After the Morning Calm: Reflections of Korean Adoptee by Hei Sook Park Wilkinson
In Their Own Voices by Rita Simon and Rhonda Roorda
*I Wish for You a Beautiful Life: Letters from the Korean Birth Mothers of Ae Ran Won to Their Children edited by Sara Dorow
*Outsiders Within: Writing on Transracial Adoption by Jane Jeong Trenka, Julia Chinyere Oparah and Sun Yung Shin
*Voices from Another Place: A Collection of Works from a Generation Born in Korea and Adopted to Other Countries edited by Susan Cox
Birthparents
*The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wade by Anne Fessler
Documentary films
China’s Lost Girls by National Geographic
*Crossing Chasms by Jennifer Arndt
*Daughter from Denang by Gail Dolgin and Vicente Franco
*First Person Plural by Deann Borshay
*Made In Korea by In Soo Radstake
*Struggle for Identity produced by PhotoSynthesis Productions
Search and Reunion
Birthbond: Reunions Between Birthparents and Adoptees – What Happens After… by Judith S. Gediman and Linda P. Brown
* Birthright: The Guide to Search and Reunion for Adoptees, Birthparents, and Adoptive Parents by Jean Strauss
Shadow Mothers:Stories of Adoption and Reunion by Linda Back McKay
