Adopted People

Please find some of our best articles, essays and reviews on this topic.

For more topics and articles, check out our full listing on our Resource Library.

Too often in the adoption field, the adoptee perspective is subordinated to that of the adoptive parent. Pact believes that adult adoptees are the truest experts on their own experience. We welcome adoptee voices and support them as part of our mission. Topics include lifelong issues, search and reunion, parenting, birth parent relationships, loss, and adoption identity.

If you prefer, you can use our Library Search Tool to search by title or author. All the material in this section is copyrighted by Pact; for permission to reproduce or re-post it, please contact us at education@pactadopt.org.

• "Don't You Dare Repeat Any of This" Thoughts of Adoption By An Adoptee-By-The-Sea
  by Joyce Maguire Pavao (1997 | 328 KB | )
  
• A Biblical View of Adoption
  by Chené Tucker, MSW, LCSW (1994 | 107 KB | )
  
• A Day In My Life
  by Amanda Kirby (1997 | 66 KB | )
  
• A Long Journey Home
  by Molly McCullough (2008 | 351 KB | )
  
• Adoptees Experience
  by JoAnne Whittington (1998 | 85 KB | )
  
• Adoption Means Having Two Family Legacies
  by Francie Portnoy (2004 | 99 KB | )
  
• Adoption and Generations
  by Linda Yellin (1998 | 81 KB | )
  
• Adoption Milestones
  by Susan Soon-keum Cox (2000 | 69 KB | )
  
• Adoption, Race and Where's the Hairbrush?
  by Lisa Lerner (2008 | 117 KB | )
  
• All This Time
  by Paul Kamm & Eleanor MacDonald (2009 | 319 KB | )
  
• Ambiguous Loss
  by Jae Ran Kim (2008 | 111 KB | )
  
• Ask Pact: Is There Something Wrong With Me?
  by Pact (2010 | 327 KB | )
  
• Ask Pact: Black Hair and the Politics of Beauty
  by Lisa Marie Rollins (2008 | 380 KB | )
  
• Ask Pact: How to Deal with Teasing About Adoption
  by Susan Ito (2009 | 340 KB | )
  
• Balance Beam: Being A Parent/Being Adopted
  by Susan Ito (1997 | 327 KB | )
  
• Bastard Nation - What's In a Name
  by Damsel Plum (1998 | 121 KB | )
  
• Beginnings
  by Susan Ito (2005 | 88 KB | )
  
• Book Review: Daughter of the Ganges
  by Asha Miro (2008 | 434 KB | )
  
• Book Review: Forever Fingerprints
  by Sherrie Eldridge (2007 | 86 KB | )
  
• Book Review: In Their Parents' Voices
  by Rita Simon and Rhonda Roorda  (2006 | 104 KB | )
  
• Book Review: In Their Siblings' Voices
  by Rita Simon and Rhonda Roorda (2009 | 89 KB | )
  
• Book Review: Lucky Girl
  by Mei-Ling Hopgood (2010 | 183 KB | )
  
• Book Review: Once They Hear My Name: Korean Adoptees and Their Journey
  by Marilyn Lammert, Ellen Lee and Mary Anne Hess (2009 | 406 KB | )
  
• Book Review: Pieces of Me: Who Do I Want to Be?
  by Robert Ballard (2010 | 210 KB | )
  
• Book Review: Slant
  by Laura Williams (2010 | 361 KB | )
  
• Book Review: The Colours in Me: Writing & Poetry by Adopted Children & Youth
  Edited by Perlita Harris (2009 | 412 KB | )
  
• Book Review: The English American
  by Alison Larkin (2008 | 304 KB | )
  
• Book Review: The Women Who Raised Me
  by Victoria Rowell (2005 | 82 KB | )
  
• Book Review: Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew
  by Sherri Eldridge (2005 | 104 KB | )
  
• Book Review: Why Can't You Look Like Me?
  by Ola Zuri (2010 | 525 KB | )
  
• Borders of Belonging
  by Sofia Arroyo (2008 | 309 KB | )
  
• Building An Adoptive Identity
  by Harold Grotevant (2009 | 129 KB | )
  
• Coming Full Circle, Becoming a Parent
  by Hollee McGinnis (aka Lee Hwa Yeong) (2009 | 114 KB | )
  
• Director's Corner - Seeking Solutions
  by Beth Hall and Gail Steinberg (1992 | 105 KB | )
  
• Director's Corner: Did I Cry Too Much?
  by Beth Hall (2009 | 384 KB | )
  
• Director's Corner: Facing Our Worst Fears Telling the Truth to Adopted Children
  by Beth Hall (2010 | 144 KB | )
  
• Director's Corner: Getting Over It and Stepping It Up
  by Beth Hall (2011 | 130 KB | )
  
• Director's Corner: Why Did This Happen To Us?
  by Beth Hall (2012 | 123 KB | )
  
• Encouraging Reluctant Teens & Tweens to Attend Teen Club
  by Pact (2011 | 342 KB | )
  
• Family Stories: Surviving Foster Care - A Day with Shane Salter
  Interviewed by Roxanne Agur (1997 | 373 KB | )
  
• Family Story: Dan O'Brien - The World's Greatest Athlete - A Transracially Adopted Hero
  Interviewed by Gail Steinberg (1997 | 390 KB | )
  
• Feelings of Differentness
  by Jean Benward (1994 | 106 KB | )
  
• Film Reviews: Adopted & We Can Do Better
  by Pact (2009 | 253 KB | )
  
• Film Review: Wo Ai Ni Mommy
  by Michele Rabkin (2010 | 115 KB | )
  
• Forgotten Child
  by Lynn Calza (1998 | 112 KB | )
  
• Fostering the Autonomy of the Adopted Person
  by Susan Harris (1995 | 317 KB | )
  
• Four Lifelong Issues in Adoption
  by Beth Hall and Gail Steinberg (2007 | 116 KB | )
  
• Hambun-Hambun
  by Susan Ito (1995 | 339 KB | )
  
• How Adoption Has Shaped My Life
  by Joyce Maguire Pavao (1994 | 335 KB | )
  
• I Never Thought of It Before - I Was Someone Else Before I Was Me
  by Lori Clemmons (1997 | 112 KB | )
  
• If The Shoe Doesn't Fit
  by Gail Steinberg (1995 | 131 KB | )
  
• If You're Color Blind, How Do You See Me?
  by Kevin Hofmann (2012 | 101 KB | )
  
• Kinship Style - Open, Closed, or Shifting
  by Gail Steinberg and Beth Hall (1994 | 104 KB | )
  
• Multicultural Identities in the Making: You Are What You Speak
  by John Raible (2009 | 120 KB | )
  
• My Crooked Family Tree
  by Lynn Calza (2007 | 105 KB | )
  
• My Dog Story
  by Penny Callan Partridge (1997 | 301 KB | )
  
• My Name Is Roxanne
  by Roxanne Agur (1995 | 110 KB | )
  
• Narrative Burden: Adoptees Responses to Outsiders Questions
  by Robert Ballard (2010 | 60 KB | )
  
• Never
  by Ellwyn Kauffman (2010 | 304 KB | )
  
• Non-Adoptee Privilege
  by Kelly Reineke (2009 | 67 KB | )
  
• Not Just "White Parents with Kids of Color" - The Importance of Racial Identity Work for Parents
  by Gina Miranda Samuels, Ph.D., MSSW (2012 | 129 KB | )
  
• On Being Adopted Older with "Special Needs"
  by Carol DeMuth (1997 | 349 KB | )
  
• One of Them
  by Kirstin Nelson (2004 | 88 KB | )
  
• Pact Camp Offers Parenting Insights FCC Northern California, Summer 2006
  by Annie Stuart (2006 | 66 KB | )
  
• Pact's Perspective on Therapy and Adoption
  by Jeannie Lin in collaboration with Pact staff (2004 | 340 KB | )
  
• Perspectives on Transracial Adoption - Transracially Adopted Child's Bill of Right
  by Liza Steinberg (2003 | 63 KB | )
  
• Positive Discipline
  by Lisa Kelly (2010 | 329 KB | )
  
• Prenatal Trauma and the Adoptee Experience
  by Sally Clark (1996 | 112 KB | )
  
• Promoting Understanding of Adoption Issues
  by Patricia Irwin Johnston (1993 | 337 KB | )
  
• Quien Yo Soy? Identity Issues in Trans-ethnically Adopted Children
  by Beth Hall (1992 | 108 KB | )
  
• Recognizing Loss
  Becca Martinson (1994 | 106 KB | )
  
• Rejoice in What Unites Us - Creating Kinship Systems
  by Beth Hall and Gail Steinberg (1994 | 110 KB | )
  
• Rethinking Fit in the Context of Transracial Adoption
  by Julia Sudbury Oparah (1998 | 60 KB | )
  
• Searching for Me
  by Lynne Connor (2008 | 114 KB | )
  
• So You Want To Open Your Child's Adoption
  by Leslie Foge (2004 | 332 KB | )
  
• Straight Talk
  by Liza Steinberg (1996 | 95 KB | )
  
• Teaching Culture Understanding the Complexities
  by Lisa Marie Rollins (2007 | 104 KB | )
  
• Teen Corner: A Letter From My Heart
  by Melissa Cunningham (2010 | 327 KB | )
  
• Teen Corner: Adopted Teens Speak Out
  by Pact Teen Club (2009 | 373 KB | )
  
• Teen Corner: Dominique's Journey
  by Dominique Parker (2005 | 94 KB | )
  
• Teen Corner: Making Sense of Living Transracially
  by Ryo and Jake (2010 | 53 KB | )
  
• Teen Corner: Mission Possible
  by Rabia Cons (2008 | 83 KB | )
  
• Teen Corner: Picture Me
  by Sofia Arroyo (2005 | 72 KB | )
  
• Teen Corner: Psychological Heavy Lifting
  by Lilah Goldthwaite (2008 | 350 KB | )
  
• Teen Corner: TRA (Transracial Adoptee) Understanding and Love
  by Sara Blair (2007 | 83 KB | )
  
• That Time of Year
  by Penny Callan Partride (1998 | 306 KB | )
  
• The Art & Soul of Adoption & Foster Care: Expressive Means to Communication and Healing
  by Joyce Maguire Pavao (2010 | 330 KB | )
  
• The Benefits of Pact Camp
  by John Raible (2009 | 132 KB | )
  
• The Lifelong Impact of Adoption
  by Marlou Russell (1995 | 309 KB | )
  
• The Name Game
  by Jae Ran Kim (2007 | 327 KB | )
  
• The Spirituality of Adoption
  by Father Thomas Brosnan (1996 | 113 KB | )
• Two Stories of Reunion
  A Review by Susan Ito (2011 | 122 KB | )
  
• Unknown - I Was Adopted
  by Liza Steinberg (1996 | 106 KB | )
  
• When I First Started Thinking About It
  by Liza Steinberg Triggs (1995 | 101 KB | )
  
• Whoness - A Question of Identity
  by Nasoan Sheftel-Gomes (1995 | 104 KB | )
  
• Whose Birth Certificate is it Anyway?
  by Pam Hasegawa (1997 | 331 KB | )
  

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