I too, met Adam Pertman when, as a new adoptive parent, he was just starting his journey into understanding adoption. As an adult adoptee working for my rights and as a member of several boards of directors for adopted-life self-help groups, I worried we'd try to get the issues of adoption across to this reporter and then read the same old human interest story. Luckily for those whose lives are touched by adoption, Pertman is not just a reporter, but a journalist; trained to give all sides and the facts, and he does just that.

This sophisticated, yet clearly written book is aimed at understanding adoption from the point of view of all the parties to adoption, birth parents, adoptees, adoptive parents, adoption professionals. Adoption Nation examines all the issues of adoption; public systems and private practice, open adoption, the growing role of the Internet, adult adoptee access to information about themselves, the role of secrecy and shame in adoption, and the harm secrecy, and silence brings to adoption practice and those who live adoption.

Pertman points out how International, transracial and gay and lesbian adoption are changing the face of America and perhaps the world; with the same reverberating impact on society that the racial and ethnic melting pot has always created in the United States. Adoption Nation discusses the important issues of special needs children: the thousands of children waiting for adoption in the public systems of every state, hampered only by age, race, and health and/or mental challenges.

No other book brings all these issues to one forum.

In reading some of the less positive reviews of this book I feel some of the reviewers may not have realized that while Pertman wants to retain the human aspect of adoption he is trying to avoid the common summation that reduces adoption to human interest or to writing a book on the emotional impact of adoption. This is the work of a journalist, not a psychologist or social worker. (See The Adoption Triangle or, Adoption: A Lifelong Search for Self or the works of B.J. Lifton, Claudia Jewette Jarratt, and many other competent and professional authors.)

Pertman's book is well reserched and well documented. It is a must for anyone who wants to learn about adoption holistically, if you are a policy maker, planning to adopt, or have lived adoption and are working to change the adoption system and Adoption Nation will give you a broader understanding of adoption as a whole.

Just as I would recommend Ron Nydam's "Adoptees Come of Age" to clerical counselors, I recommend Adoption Nation to anyone who wants to learn about the system and issues of adoption policy in depth.

After 27 years as a social worker involved in child placement I can firmly say that Adoption Nation is a book whose time has come, finally! This past year has seen major advances toward a more dignified adoption practice in the US. The rights of adult adoptees being slowly but increasingly written into law and acknowledged in the media. Adoption Nation helps to explain this process. It documents very well the painful history of adoption practice in the US. It is well written and for me was very exciting reading. This story had to be told! This book is must reading for anyone involved in the adoption process, birth parents, adoptive parents, and the adoptees they love. Anyone with adoption triad members involved in their lives should read this book. It will help them understand the basic human issues of adoption that this book addresses in very taseful stories throughout. This book should be REQUIRED reading for social workers and anyone else who is planning to work in child placement. It should be read BEFORE any damage is done with a poorly planned adoption. Finally, this book must be read by our legislators. If they read and understand it then all the adoption laws in the US will be changed within the year to return the fundamental right to a birth hertiage to all adult adoptees, a right which was removed slowly, state by state, over the past 50 years. With this book the reversal of that process will continue to gather speed! Thank you Adam Pertman! I hope to meet you someday and thank you in person.

Before writing any review, I scan the existing feedback to make sure I'm not repeating myself. I have to say that I was more than a little confused by the less enthusiastic reviews - what book did they read? Not only does Adam Pertman include a great deal of information not previously reviewed (his statistics are the latest available) but he also NEVER implies that anyone goes through the adoption process (child, birth parent, or adoptive parent) emotionally unscathed. What he does contend is that greater access to information for all parties leads to better adjustment and more contented individuals, both with themselves and the adoption process in general.

The book is a comprehensive and successful undertaking. Pertman manages to give historical perspective of both domestic and international adoption, review the evolution of legislation surrounding the adoption process and records availability, while offering a sound emotional basis for participants in the process. (Pertman was adopted himself and has also adopted children with his wife, so he comes at it from many perspectives. He also has interviewed numerous birth parents for the book, and has an open relationship with the birth parents of his children.) I was flabbergasted again and again by the empathy for all parties this author displayed all the while presenting scads of information about each step of the adoption process for the reader. He has an excellent list of resources at the back of the book.

This reader is truly a must-have for anyone considering adopting a child, considering giving up a child for adoption, interested in the legal aspects of adoption and record availablity, or interested in the history of adoption.