Resources about Issues in Adoption, History & Present; Adoptee & First-Mother Voices

For @confused-goy, who asked for books, websites, etc., about adoption issues. These are all resources that follow the spirit of Flipping the Script on our mainstream view of adoption, and center on justice, reform, and activism.

All are encouraged to use these resources and reblog this list.

Nonfiction Books

The Child Catchers: Rescue, Trafficking, and the New Gospel of Adoption by Kathryn Joyce - “Anyone who seeks to adopt—of whatever faith or no faith, and however well-meaning—is affected by the evangelical adoption movement, whether they know it or not. The movement has shaped the way we think about adoption, the language we use to discuss it, the places we seek to adopt from, and the policies and laws that govern the process.”
The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe V. Wade by Ann Fessler - This period in U.S. history is known as the Baby Scoop Era
Black Anthology: Adult Adoptees Claim Their Space edited by Susan Harris O'Connor, Diane René Christian, and Mei-Mei Akwai Ellerman - A collection of short memoirs and pieces by black adoptees
The Language of Blood by Jane Jeong Trenka - A memoir written by a Korean adoptee
A Long Way Home by Saroo Brierley - The memoir on which Lion (2016) was based
I’ve read a few dozen books about adoption/being adopted; these are just some highlights.

Films & Documentaries

6 Word Adoption Memoir Project - If you don’t want to watch a long film, start here (17 min.)
Adopted - Ignore the comments (or perhaps: read them to get a sense of people’s typical reaction to an adoptee sharing her experience and pain)
The Adopted Life - Angela Tucker’s YouTube channel; her website is here and her documentary is called Closure
Off and Running
Resilience
Somewhere Between

Websites & Articles

Adoptee Rights Law
Bastard Nation - These first two links have information about the efforts to open sealed birth records and combat deportation; this page for starters might of be of interest
Dear Adoption - Letters written by adoptees from all walks of life
The Lost Daughters - A blog written and run by women adoptees
P.S. - Stories of Adoption Reunion - Written by those in reunion
…which is a part of Family Preservation 365
Article: “10 Things Adoptees Want You to Know”

Podcasts

Adoptees On - The most recent series focused on interviews with adult adoptees who are survivors of Canada’s Sixties Scoop (the abduction of First Nations children from their families, usually then adopted by white non-native Christians); host Haley Radke’s past series are worth a listen. She sometimes has therapists, who are adoptees themselves, on her show as well
Born in June, Raised in April
Out of the Fog [ended, as far as I know]
The Rambler [ended] - Interviews with transracial adoptees

#actuallydonorchild #adoption #adoption resources #non normative families resources #non normative families #resources #adoption history #history #us history #antiracism #transracial #transracial resources #abortion #adoptees rights #human rights #transethnic #birth records #activism #social justice #*Reblogging for the Resources #*DO NOT DERAIL #(I'm still making my way through these)#(A lot of this material may be TOUGH to read and ***YOU WILL LIKELY BE MADE UNCOMFORTABLE BY IT***)#(But again I am sick to DEATH of seeing constant vagueing and FANWARS about {x} so and so chara{s} involving *NON CANONICAL* Adoption wank-#historical revisionism #donor children rights #(Again also interconnect with A LOT OF THIS so YES *my* personal experience is relevant and this kind of info IS)#(RELEVANT TO ME PERSONALLY so YES I'm reblogging to MY BLOG for MY REFERENCE)#(+in my or donor childrens case the issues are *also* very very adjacent to being given legal access to our biological relatives)#MEDICAL RECORDS