Ethics of Adoption

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.

Adoption should always be about child welfare first, but there are questions about ways in which the system has been susceptible to influence by money or adults who aren’t placing children first. Articles in this section address ethical concerns voiced by members of the adoption triad as well as systemic and practice issues that raise questions about how adoption professionals ethically serve adopted children, birth parents, and adoptive parents.

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.

• A Biblical View of Adoption
  by Chené Tucker, MSW, LCSW (1994 | 107 KB | )
  
• A Long Journey Home
  by Molly McCullough (2008 | 351 KB | )
  
• About Concerned United Birthparents
  by Bonnie Bis (1998 | 116 KB | )
  
• Adoption Reversals
  by Michael Trout (1998 | 98 KB | )
  
• Adoption Stories
  by Annette Baran (1998 | 93 KB | )
  
• Adoptism
  by Beth Hall & Gail Steinberg (1995 | 330 KB | )
  
• and Many a Tear Will Fall
  by Sharon Kelly (1998 | 101 KB | )
  
• Ask Pact: Unexpected Birth Parent Contact
  by Pact (2008 | 121 KB | )
  
• Bastard Nation - What’s In a Name
  by Damsel Plum (1998 | 121 KB | )
  
• Climbing Mount Adoption
  by Shane Salter (1992 | 320 KB | )
  
• Director’s Corner: Aftershocks of the Hatian Earthquake
  by Beth Hall (2010 | 306 KB | )
  
• Director’s Corner: Getting Over It and Stepping It Up
  by Beth Hall (2011 | 130 KB | )
  
• Director’s Corner: Naming NATE
  by Beth Hall & Gail Steinberg (2009 | 572 KB | )
  
• Does Fost-Adoption Encourage Healthy Growth?
  By Jodee Kulp (1995 | 333 KB | )
  
• Family Stories: Carnegie & Sons
  by Pact (2009 | 130 KB | )
  
• Family Stories: Juantia, Lucas & LuzMari: Latino Culture
  by Pact (2008 | 123 KB | )
  
• Fine Tuning Openness: Tools for Managing Relationships Between Birth and Adoptive Families
  by Adele Jones (2004 | 108 KB | )
  
• GenderWars in Adoption ? The Myth of Choosing
  by Pact (2011 | 506 KB | )
  
• Gentle Transitions: A Newborn Baby’s Point of View about Adoption
  by Michael Trout (1997 | 101 KB | )
  
• How Do We Measure Potential for Success in Adoptive Parents?
  by Beth Hall (2010 | 59 KB | )
  
• Laughter, Attachment and Adopting Older Kids
  by Pat O’Brien (1996 | 340 KB | )
  
• Lessons
  by Sharon Kaplan Roszia (1994 | 311 KB | )
  
• Living An Open Adoption
  by Jennifer Ferrara (1997 | 120 KB | )
  
• Losing Lauren
  by Rachel Angeline (1994 | 324 KB | )
  
• Noble Choice - Or No Choice?
  by Paula O’Loughlin (2010 | 123 KB | )
  
• Open Adoption Relationships
  by Becca Martinson (1992 | 111 KB | )
  
• Openness In Adoption
  by Pact (2010 | 52 KB | )
  
• Pact’s Position on the Multi-Ethnic and Inter-Ethnic Placement Acts
  by Beth Hall and Gail Steinberg (1997 | 117 KB | )
  
• Perspectives on Transracial Adoption - Transracially Adopted Child’s Bill of Right
  by Liza Steinberg (2003 | 63 KB | )
  
• Please Tell Me What I Should Do?
  by Lynn Lape (1996 | 111 KB | )
  
• Promoting Understanding of Adoption Issues
  by Patricia Irwin Johnston (1993 | 337 KB | )
  
• Racial Politics The ?Business? of Domestic Private Adoption
  by Beth Hall, Joe Kroll and Ruth McRoy (2010 | 308 KB | )
  
• Rethinking Fit in the Context of Transracial Adoption
  by Julia Sudbury Oparah (1998 | 60 KB | )
  
• Stepping Out of the Shadows: Birth Fathers Speak Out
  by Mary Martin Mason (1995 | 330 KB | )
  
• Supporting Transracial Families: Start From Where They Are
  by Gail Steinberg and Beth Hall (1994 | 99 KB | )
  
• That Time of Year
  by Penny Callan Partride (1998 | 306 KB | )
  
• The Best Support
  by Carol Schaefer (1992 | 313 KB | )
  
• The Body’s Wisdom
  by Carol Schaefer (1995 | 324 KB | )
  
• The Decision Makers?
  by Barbara Termitiere (1995 | 324 KB | )
  
• The Name Game
  by Jae Ran Kim (2007 | 327 KB | )
  
• The Optimal Adoptive Launch
  by Michael D. Trout (1994 | 346 KB | )
  
• The Rights of Fathers in Prospective Infant Adoptions
  by Jon Ryan (1998 | 117 KB | )
  
• Transracial Adoption
  by Jim Mahoney (1992 | 323 KB | )
  
• Unconditional Love
  Maria Felipa (1998 | 94 KB | )
  
• Who Are The Real Parents - Revisiting Extended Family as a Support System for Children in Need of Adoption or Foster Care
  by O. Virginia Phillips (1995 | 111 KB | )
  
• Whose Birth Certificate is it Anyway?
  by Pam Hasegawa (1997 | 331 KB | )
  

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