The Praeger Handbook of Adoption [2 volumes]

by Vern L. Bullough, Kathy Stolley

Overview

Since early times, families have adopted children in all parts of the world. Records describing adoption in Ancient Rome, Babylonia, and China show the similarities and differences to the adoption practices we know today. This comprehensive resource provides both historical and current information on all aspects of adoption, from many countries and religions, including Africa, Britain, Canada, China, India, Islam, Japan, Jewish, Mexico, Mormon, and others. It provides information on the cultural, ethical, financial, legal, medical, psychological, and social implications of adoption. It highlights perspectives of the birth parents, adopting parents and the adopted child; open and closed adoption; national and international adoption; and grandparent and single-parent adoption. Primary documents, biographies of those in the adoption field, and sidebars identifying special facts relating to the history and experience of adoption, complete this most exhaustive resource that no library serving adopting parents, adoptees, or practitioners in the field will want to be without.

Entries include: Abandonment and Adoption in European Folk Tales, Adopted Child Syndrome, Adoptee Search Movement, Adoption Literature Sample, Africa and Adoption, Assisted Reproductive Technologies Adoption, Birthfathers, Child Welfare League of America, Chinese History and Adoption, Embryo Adoption, Gay Adoption, Grandparent Adoption, Group Adoption and Shared Motherhood, Judaism and Adoption, Medical Issues in Adoption, Orphanages, Post Adoption Services, Termination of Parental Rights, and U.S. Children's Bureau and Adoption.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780313333354
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	10/30/2006
Pages:	916
Sales rank:	1,031,795
Product dimensions:	7.30(w) x 10.30(h) x 2.60(d)

About the Author

Kathy Shepherd Stolley is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Virginia Wesleyan College in Norfolk, Virginia. Her emphasis is applied sociology. Her work on adoption includes journal articles on statistics, relinquishment, and the portrayal of pregnancy resolution options in college textbooks. Dr. Stolley edited the applied journal, Social Insight: Knowledge at Work. She is the author of The Basics of Sociology (Greenwood, 2005).

Vern L. Bullough was Distinguished Professor Emeritus at the State University of New York. He was the author, co-author, or editor of over 50 books, contributed chapters or sections to 100 other books, authored over 150 articles in refereed journals, and hundreds of others in a variety of publications. He traveled and lectured in over 35 foreign countries, and in most of the states of the United States. He was a fellow of the Society for the Scientific Study of Sexuality, a Laureate in the International Academy of Humanism, a fellow of the American Academy of Nursing, and won numerous awards for his research and writing including the Alfred Kinsey award, and the John Money award. He received an honorary doctorate from the State University of New York. Among other things he served on the advisory board for the Los Angeles County Board of Adoptions, and was the proud parent of both natural and adopted children.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Adoption in History Vern L. Bullough

A-Z Entries

APPENDICES

:Appendix A PRIMARY: Timeline of Adoption History

Appendix B: Concerns about Children in Need

Appendix C: Illegitimacy

Appendix D: Federal Legislation

Appendix E: International

Appendix F: Outcome Research/The Science of Adoption

Appendix G: Changes in Adoption/Social Work Practice

Appendix H: Trafficking

Appendix I: Transracial and Minority Issues

Appendix J: Selected Bibliography

About the Contributors

Editorial Reviews

"In these beautifully rendered volumes, one is first struck by the photographic images showing that adoption crosses all racial lines. Just as the imagery depicts the multiple races touched by adoption, so too do the contents of this thorough, interdisciplinary, multicultural handbook. These volumes excel in detailed coverage and in their perceptive treatment of various topics. The editors take full advantage of the expertise of others, reproducing essays from numerous sources, and including many primary documents. They emphasize strongly the ethics of adoption and the need for sensitivity to cross-cultural perspectives. They convey the triad perspective of the process—numerous parties are involved, and all must have their human rights protected....With its astonishingly thorough, interdisciplinary approach, this work may well be the most comprehensive overview of adoption in a single publication to date. Extensive bibliographies and sidebars throughout, and comprehensive indexing and appendixes enhance the text. For reference collections with limited funds, this is the set to purchase. Essential. All libraries." - Choice

"[T]he Praeger Handbook fills a niche unmet by any other reference work. For the researcher looking to gain a deeper understanding of adoption from multiple perspectives, and a historical one in particular, the Praeger Handbook is a valuable tool. It is most suitable for academic and special libraries that serve scholars and practitioners in the social sciences." - Reference & User Services Quarterly

"In two volumes, this comprehensive encyclopedia presents information on all aspects of adoption relating to topics such as culture, child welfare, advocacy, selected famous adoptees and adopters, birthparents, characteristics, and cross-cultural issues. Awareness, financial issues, same-sex adoption, foster care, and history are other categories, and perspectives on international adoption from African countries, Britain, Canada, China, India, Japan, and Mexico, and US adoptions from other countries are considered. Other entries involve legal issues and key legislation, medical issues, psychology, religious perspectives, science, special needs categories, and stress." - Reference & Research Book News

From the Publisher