The Adoption Reunion Handbook - by Elizabeth Trinder & Julia Feast & David Howe (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The book describes the experiences that people have had when tracing their birth parents, as well as offering practical advice on how to go about searching and what to expect emotionally. Each section has an advice box which summarizes key points, notes issues to pay particular attention to, or offers draft letters that readers can adapt for their own needs. The appendix contains useful addresses and weblinks, and includes checklists for searching and for the reunion. Chapters include reunion with birth fathers and birth siblings, as well as with birth mothers, the relationship with the adoptive family and dealing with reunions that break down.

From the Back Cover

Many adopted people today try to find information about their origins and search for birth family members.

Based on a large-scale research study, the authors Liz Trinder, Julia Feast and David Howe have drawn on the real-life experience of adopted people who have searched for, and had a reunion with, birth relatives. The Adoption Reunion Handbook combines comprehensive and practical step-by-step guidance and advice on:

• how to begin
• what to expect emotionally
• the legal framework
• finding names and addresses
• how to set up a reunion
• making the reunion work long term
• rejection and reunion breakdown
• further help and advice.

This 'how to' guide is essential for everyone involved, particularly those considering searching for information on their birth relatives. It will also be of use to birth parents, adoptive parents, adoption charities, social workers, psychologists and counsellors.

Review Quotes

"A 'how to' guide, especially valuable if you are considering searching for birth relatives." (Practical Family History, December 2008)

"...advice-packed guide to adoption search-and-reunion...essential information and personal perspectives..." (www.adoption-net.co.uk, July 2004)

"...offers vital information..." (Sunday Express,15th August, 2004)

"...an advice packed guide...essential information and personal perspectives for every aspect of the process..." (Bath Chronicle, 27 July 2004)

"...this book is a gem...the authors have done a splendid job...will be hugely helpful..."(www.familyonwards.com, 11 August 2004)

"...4 stars...clearly written...considered and thoughtful text..."(Community Care, August 2004)

"...a user friendly how-to book..." (Eastern Daily Press, 25th August 04)

"...accessibly presented, and full of compassion and insights..." (Care and Health 14 September 2004)

"...a useful guide...one of the most important publications relating to adoption ever to be published..." (Intermix, The Newsletter - Summer 04)

"...The Adoption Reunion Handbook provides an advice-packed guide to adoption search-and-reunion..." (www.adoption-net.co.uk, 23 November 2004)

"...written in a straight-forward, enjoyable style free of jargon...as comprehensive a handbook as one could wish for..." (Adoption & Fostering, Vol 28 (4) 2004)

About the Author

DR LIZ TRINDER is a researcher into family relationships. Most of her work is in the area of contact after divorce, e.g. the recent report for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on Making Contact. This is the first time she has written about adoption. She was herself adopted.

JULIA FEAST currently works at the British Association of Adoption and Fostering (BAAF), London, as the Policy, Research and Development Consultant. In the past she managed the post-adoption and care counselling research project, The Children's Society and has counselled a number of people who have been adopted and also those who were brought up in Care through the search and reunion process. She has published many articles on the subject of Adoption Search and Reunion and also the information needs of children conceived as a result of donor-assisted conception. She is co-author of Preparing for Reunion: Experiences from the Adoption Circle (The Children's Society, 1994; new edition 1998) and Adoption, Search and Reunion: The Long-Term Experience of Adopted Adults (The Children's Society, 2000; now published by BAAF), and Searching Questions: Origins, Identity and Adoption (BAAF, 2003).

DR DAVID HOWE has a long-standing interest in all aspects of adoption. He is the author of many books, including Half a Million Women: Mothers who Lose their Children by Adoption (Penguin), Adopters on Adoption (BAAF), Patterns of Adoption: Nature, Nurture and Psychosocial Development (Blackwell Science), and, with Julia Feast, Adoption, Search and Reunion: The Long-Term Experience of Adopted Adults (The Children's Society, 2000; now published by BAAF).