The books listed here have been recommended by guests appearing on the podcast Adoptees On — where adoptees discuss the adoption experience.
Adoption Therapy: Perspectives from Clients and Clinicians on Processing and Healing Post-Adoption IssuesEdited by Laura Dennis
With writing by adoptees, adoptive parents, and clinicians, Adoption Therapy is a first-of-its-kind and wholly unique reference book, providing insight, advice, and personal stories which highlight the specific nature of
All You Can Ever Know: A Memoirby Nicole Chung
What does it mean to lose your roots―within your culture, within your family―and what happens when you find them? Nicole Chung was born severely premature, placed for adoption by her
Bastards: A Memoirby Mary Anna King
In the early 1980s, Mary Hall is a little girl growing up in poverty in Camden, New Jersey, with her older brother Jacob and parents who, in her words, were
Black Anthology: Adult Adoptees Claim Their SpaceEdited by Susan Harris O'Connor, MSW; Diane René Christian; Mei-Mei Akwai Ellerman, PhD
People who identify as Black adoptees are vaguely known within both adoption circles as well as universal discussions. We are just beginning to be introduced to one another. This anthology
Coming Home to Self: The Adopted Child Grows Upby Nancy Newton Verrier
Although written with adult adoptees in mind, Coming Home to Self is a book that can help anyone who has had early childhood trauma or who feels as if he
The Family of Adoption: Completely Revised and Updatedby Joyce Maguire Pavao
Full of wonderful stories that give insight into a wide variety of adoption issues, now revised in light of recent developments, The Family of Adoption is a powerful argument for
The Girls Who Went Away: The Hidden History of Women Who Surrendered Children for Adoption in the Decades Before Roe v. Wadeby Ann Fessler
In this deeply moving and myth-shattering work, Ann Fessler brings out into the open for the first time the astonishing untold history of the million and a half women who
Identical Strangers: A Memoir of Twins Separated and Reunitedby Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein
Elyse Schein had always known she was adopted, but it wasn’t until her mid-thirties while living in Paris that she searched for her biological mother. What she found instead was
Journey Of The Adopted Self: A Quest For WholenessBetty Jean Lifton
Betty Jean Lifton explores further the inner world of the adopted person. She breaks new ground as she traces the adopted child’s lifelong struggle to form an authentic sense of self.
Lost and Found: The Adoption Experience (3rd edition)by Betty Jean Lifton
The first edition of Betty Jean Lifton's Lost and Found advanced the adoption rights movement in this country in 1979, challenging many states' policies of maintaining closed birth records. For
A Man and His Mother: An Adopted Son's Searchby Tim Green
From Tim's life as a gangly youngster to competing in the grueling National Football League to having children of his own, this is an impassioned exploration of the special relationship
The Primal Wound: Understanding the Adopted Childby Nancy Newton Verrier
The Primal Wound is a book which is revolutionizing the way we think about adoption. In its application of information about pre- and perinatal psychology, attachment, bonding, and loss, it
Restored: Pursuing Wholeness When a Relationship Is Brokenby Deanna Doss Shrodes
Have your hopes been dashed into pieces when you tried to make a relationship work and the other person didn’t respond as you wished? Have you asked someone to forgive
Twice Born: Memoirs of an Adopted Daughter (reissue)by Betty Jean Lifton
In this significant and lasting account, Betty Jean Lifton, acclaimed author of several books on the psychology of the adopted, tells her own story of growing up at a time
Worthy To Be Foundby Deanna Doss Shrodes
Worthy To Be Found chronicles the joys and obstacles of a Christian adoptee relinquished at birth in the 1960s American South. Deanna was called by God from a young age. Driven
You Don't Look Adoptedby Anne Heffron
Adoption can be wonderful and tricky. There is love of the parents, love of the child, but there can also be problems. The adopted child often wonders Who am I?