PUBLICATIONS RELEVANT TO ADOPTION AND INFERTILITY

Infertility Stress Syndrome, 

A Study of Infertile Pre-and Post- Adoptive Parents by Maryl W. Millard, Ph.D.  134 pages.  Contains measures for evaluating the extent of PTSD symptoms, as well as measures that identify the actual stress events encountered.

Trust between adoptive parents and birth/first parents is vital to any open adoption agreement. PTSD sufferers (adoptive and birth/first parents alike) can compromise an agreement when their insecurities are triggered if they have no expert help. ISS is a statistically-supported study of infertility/adoption-related PTSD. It comes with questionnaires created by the author from her clinical experience. One measure, the Impact of Events Scale, was authored by Mardi J. Horowitz, M.D.

The IES was used as a cornerstone measure of the study, because it is one of the most valid and reliable measures used in PTSD research. Dr. Millard’s study was the first to validate the retrospective validity of the IES measure. The study also validated significant gender differences in infertility and adoption-related PTSD, a dynamic which creates significant communication problems for couples. Any of Dr. Millard’s questionnaires in this study may be utilized in assessment of PTSD for the same population, (pre-and-post-adoptive parents in open adoptions). The IES (Horowitz) measure evaluates the severity of symptoms common to any type of PTSD. Copies of Infertility Stress Syndrome are available now on Amazon and Kindle .

Adopting After Infertility by Patricia Irwin Johnston

Infertility always has an impact on the quality of the adoption experience, before, during and after the adoption. We need counselors, therapists and educators who understand the ongoing legacy of infertility-adoption stress. When adoptive parents are helped through the maze of their insecurities into healing, they can avoid damaging the relationship with their adopted children; they can embrace the importance of ancestral relationships. In this way, their adopted children do not need to compartmentalize first parent and adoptive parent relationships as they form their identities.

The Family of Adoption: Revised Edition

by Joyce Maguire Paveo, Ed.D., LCSW, LMFT

“I am most interested in the best interest of the baby and child, not for just one moment in time, but for all moments of that child’s lifetime. Adoption is not an event. It is not a snapshot in time. It is a moving picture that goes on through this life, and into the ones that follow.”  Dr. Joyce Maguire Paveo.

As adoptees mature, they require a more comprehensive understanding of adoption. Some children mature in closed adoptions and are seeking to learn about their origins through a reunion with their birth/first parents. Other children are maturing with ongoing contact with birth/first parents. Decades of Dr. Paveo’s professional counseling experience in adoption, and insights from growing up as an adoptee, make this a valuable contribution.

·     The Spirit of Open Adoption by James L. Gritter

·     Life Givers: Framing the Birthparent Experience in Open Adoption by James L.  Gritter        

James Gritter is one of the most intelligent and compassionate writers on the subject of adoption. His understanding of the birthparent experience and his support for the birthparent’s dignity is timeless. Life Givers is a book filled with respect for every birthparent; and honest discussion of how the adoption industry has treated birthparents in the past, with recommendations for better practices in the future. Birthparents who read it may have their first opportunity to be in the presence of someone who strives to understand and respect them.

Adoption Nation: Adam Pertman: How the Adoption Revolution is Transforming Our Families––and America

Revised Edition.

The Seven Core Issues of Adoption by Sharon Kaplan Roszia and Deborah Silverstein.  

A therapeutic focus on Loss, rejection, guilt, shame, grief, identity, intimacy, mastery/control. Excellent! As long as adoption exists, these issues will be present and deserve acknowledgment.

The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Years Before Roe v. Wade by Ann Fessler

The Girls Who Went Away focused on the Baby Boomer era, yet it is relevant to birthparents, adoptees, and adoptive parents who participated in closed adoptions no matter what era.

Looking for an Internet Book List? Search for the following: Top Adoption Books and Resources: A Not to Be Missed List––Chicago Now. Carrie Goldman.