Personal Stories 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.

Reading first-person narratives can help us understand other people’s experiences, both those with whom we have commonality and those in other positions of the adoption triad. These personal stories describe family dynamics and personal journeys of adoptive parents, foster parents, birth parents, and adopted adults and children, as well as non-adopted siblings, extended family members, and others in the community who are impacted by adoption.

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.

• "Racially Conscientious" - Parenting In A "Colorblind" Society
  by Terry Keleher (2011 | 124 KB | )
  
• A Birth Grandparents Perspective Gone Too Soon
  by Mary Stephenson (1993 | 338 KB | )
  
• A Different Kind of Normal
  by Joan McNamara (1998 | 339 KB | )
  
• A Long Journey Home
  by Molly McCullough (2008 | 351 KB | )
  
• A World of Hurt Even a Mother Can’t Soothe
  by Meri Nana-Ama Danquah (1997 | 118 KB | )
  
• Adopted Person Profile - Race And My Family
  by Liza Steinberg (1997 | 96 KB | )
  
• Adoption and Generations
  by Linda Yellin (1998 | 81 KB | )
  
• Adoption and Genetics: Why We Need To Pay Attention
  by E. Kay Trimberger (2011 | 125 KB | )
  
• Adoption and My Life
  by Gail Steinberg (1997 | 91 KB | )
  
• Adoption Loss: A Birth Mother Remembers
  by Debra Baker (2011 | 112 KB | )
  
• All of Nathan’s Family
  by Pamela, Barbara, Suzanne & John (1997 | 91 KB | )
  
• ...and Many a Tear Will Fall
  by Sharon Kelly (1998 | 101 KB | )
  
• Ask a First Mother: Who are Adoptive Childrens’ Forever Parents?
  by Susan Dusza Guerra Leksander (2012 | 456 KB | )
  
• Ask Pact: Taking Risks and Making Connections
  by Martha Rynberg (2012 | 127 KB | )
  
• Being a Birth Father
  by David Leymone Jones (2000 | 51 KB | )
  
• Being A Mommy - A Birth Parent Story
  by Marta Barton (2005 | 99 KB | )
  
• Birth Father Story
  by Paul Weber (2919 | 139 KB | )
  
• Birth Parent Profile - My Secret Life
  Michelle Cabrerra (1997 | 124 KB | )
  
• Blended Families
  by Beth Hall (2000 | 54 KB | )
  
• Book Review: Daughter of the Ganges
  by Asha Miro (2008 | 434 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: Parenting Adopted Adolescents: Understanding and Appreciating Their Journeys
  by Gregory Keck (2009 | 408 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 Woman Who Raised Me
  by Victoria Rowell (2005 | 82 KB | )
  
• Borders of Belonging
  by Sofia Arroyo (2008 | 309 KB | )
  
• Coming Full Circle, Becoming a Parent
  by Hollee McGinnis (aka Lee Hwa Yeong) (2009 | 114 KB | )
  
• Considering Placing a Child for Adoption: Thank You for Listening & Thoughts on Birth Motherhood
  by Susan Ledesma & Joy Retzlaff (2010 | 310 KB | )
  
• Deciding About Decisions
  by Becca Martinson  (1994 | 96 KB | )
  
• Different IS Normal
  by JilChristina Vest (2008 | 331 KB | )
  
• Director’s Corner: Naming NATE
  by Beth Hall & Gail Steinberg (2009 | 572 KB | )
  
• Director’s Corner: Things We Have Learned Along The Way -- Parenting a Child with Learning Disabilities Differences
  by Beth Hall (2005 | 118 KB | )
  
• Director’s Corner: Why Did This Happen To Us?
  by Beth Hall (2012 | 123 KB | )
  
• Emotion Coaching: Teaching Your Child to Self Regulate
  by Mary Sheedy Kurcinka (2009 | 332 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 Love, Feelings of Pain
  by Kim Malcolm (1992 | 94 KB | )
  
• Film Review: Foster Parents Speak: Crossing Bridges and Fostering Change
  by Photosythesis Productions (2009 | 469 KB | )
  
• Forgotten Child
  by Lynn Calza (1998 | 112 KB | )
  
• From A Birth Mother
  by Victoria Tittle (1995 | 95 KB | )
  
• How Did You Get So Close?
  by Holly van Gulden (1998 | 331 KB | )
  
• I Am an Adoptive Parent to Be -- We Are an Adoptive Family to Me
  by Desiree Corbett Korelich (2005 | 81 KB | )
  
• If You’re Color Blind, How Do You See Me?
  by Kevin Hofmann (2012 | 101 KB | )
  
• Letter From a Birth Father
  by David Jones (1997 | 107 KB | )
  
• Letting Go - Launching Adolescents
  by Beth Hall (2007 | 49 KB | )
  
• Losing Lauren
  by Rachel Angeline (1994 | 324 KB | )
  
• Loss of Innocence
  by Becca Martinson (1995 | 95 KB | )
  
• Mathilde’s Awakening . . . And Mine too.
  by Marie Claude Provencher (2008 | 118 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 | )
  
• My School
  by Fatima Goss (1998 | 93 KB | )
  
• Noble Choice - Or No Choice?
  by Paula O’Loughlin (2010 | 123 KB | )
  
• On Being Adopted Older with "Special Needs"
  by Carol DeMuth (1997 | 349 KB | )
  
• Pact Family Stories
  (2012 | 2.54 MB | )
  
• Pact Family Stories: Up Close and Personal with Jamie Lee Curtis - an Interview with an Adoptive Mom
  Interviewed by Gail Steinberg (1997 | 413 KB | )
  
• Parenting the Next Time
  by Brenda Romanchik (1997 | 325 KB | )
  
• Perspective From a Young Korean American
  by David Kim (1998 | 114 KB | )
  
• Regret
  by Gillian J. Freney (2011 | 121 KB | )
  
• Rethinking Fit in the Context of Transracial Adoption
  by Julia Sudbury Oparah (1998 | 60 KB | )
  
• Rosa’s Story: Adoption Then and Now Doing the Right Thing for the Wrong Reasons
  Anonymous (1997 | 85 KB | )
  
• Still Parenting After All These Years
  by Gail Steinberg (1992 | 96 KB | )
  
• Straight Talk
  by Liza Steinberg (1996 | 95 KB | )
  
• Taking Somebody’s Baby
  by Becca Martinson (1996 | 124 KB | )
  
• Teen Corner: Dominique’s Journey
  by Dominique Parker (2005 | 94 KB | )
  
• Teen Corner: Picture Me
  by Sofia Arroyo (2005 | 72 KB | )
  
• The Book Worm: Mixed Race Literature
  by Michele Rabkin (2010 | 316 KB | )
  
• The Importance of Support
  by Becca Martinson (1992 | 94 KB | )
  
• The Name Game
  by Jae Ran Kim (2007 | 327 KB | )
  
• Unconditional Love
  Maria Felipa (1998 | 94 KB | )
  
• Union and Transitions: A Ceremony of Entrustment
  by Rebecca Weller (1997 | 346 KB | )
  
• Unknown - I Was Adopted
  by Liza Steinberg (1996 | 106 KB | )
  
• What Kind of Name is That?
  by T. Chedgszey Smith (1996 | 100 KB | )
  
• What, me worry? or How I Learned to Embrace My Inner Worrier
  by Robin Lisa Sewell (2006 | 97 KB | )
  
• When I First Started Thinking About It
  by Liza Steinberg Triggs (1995 | 101 KB | )
  
• When Racism is Part of the Story
  by Beth Hall & Gail Steinberg (1998 | 128 KB | )
  
• Whose Birth Certificate is it Anyway?
  by Pam Hasegawa (1997 | 331 KB | )
  

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