| Acknowledgments |
|
xiii | |
| Introduction |
|
xv | |
| Fate's Echo |
|
xix | |
| Part I: A Look at Issues and Their Impact |
|
1 | (32) |
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Secrecy in Adoption and the High Cost It Required |
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|
3 | (14) |
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Lifelong Psychological Presence: Can Family Members Really Be Invisible? |
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|
17 | (16) |
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|
| Part II: Focus on the Adopted Person |
|
33 | (32) |
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Growing Up in Closed Adoption |
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|
35 | (14) |
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A Walk into the Wilderness: Learning of Your Adoption As an Adult |
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|
49 | (16) |
| Part III: Focus on the Birthparent |
|
65 | (28) |
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Birthmothers and Birthfathers-The Lifelong Journey Discovery, Disclosure, Decisions |
|
|
67 | (12) |
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Birthmothers and Birthfathers-The Journey Continues: The Lifelong Impact of Relinquishment in Closed Adoption |
|
|
79 | (14) |
| Part IV: Focus on Understanding Adoptive Parents in Search and Reunion |
|
93 | (16) |
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Communicating the Decision to Search to Your Adoptive Parents |
|
|
95 | (14) |
| Part V: The Process of the Search |
|
109 | (62) |
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Making the Decision: To Search or Not to Search |
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|
111 | (14) |
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Preparing Emotionally for and Initiating the Search |
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|
125 | (18) |
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Patchwork Siblings: Adoptees in Postreunion Relationship |
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|
143 | (14) |
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|
|
|
157 | (14) |
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| Part VI: Dealing with Special Issues within the Search |
|
171 | (74) |
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When the Pieces Don't Fit: Finding Dead Ends or Death |
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|
173 | (14) |
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Revisiting an Old Wound: Encountering Denial or Rejection |
|
|
187 | (10) |
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Facing a History of Abuse or Neglect |
|
|
197 | (14) |
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Searching in Midlife: What Are the Implications? |
|
|
211 | (12) |
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Postreunion Relationships: Now What? New Beginnings |
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|
223 | (20) |
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|
|
243 | (2) |
| Appendix One Growing Up in Open Adoption: An Essay of Life Experience |
|
245 | (8) |
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| Appendix Two Growing Up in Transracial Adoption: An Essay of Life Experience |
|
253 | (6) |
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| Appendix Three Search and Reunion Etiquette: The Guide Miss Manners Never Wrote |
|
259 | (8) |
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| Appendix Four Making Contact After the Search |
|
267 | (8) |
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|
| Appendix Five Resources and Recommended Readings |
|
275 | (4) |
| Selected Bibliography |
|
279 | (4) |
| Index |
|
283 | (8) |
| About the Authors and Contributors |
|
291 | |