false 2073436 2 <p> <i>Strangers and Kin</i> is the history of adoption, a quintessentially American institution in its buoyant optimism, generous spirit, and confidence in social engineering. An adoptive mother herself, Barbara Melosh tells the story of how married couples without children sought to care for and nurture other people's children as their own. It says much about the American experience of family across the twentieth century and our shifting notions of kinship and assimilation. Above all, it speaks of real people striving to make families out of strangers. </p><p> In the early twentieth century, childless adults confronted orphanages reluctant to entrust their wards to the kindness of strangers. By the 1930s, however, the recently formed profession of social work claimed a new expertise--the science and art of child placement--and adoption became codified in law. It flourished in the United States, reflecting our ethnic diversity, pluralist ideals, and pragmatic approach to family. Then, in the 1960s, as the sexual revolution reshaped marriage, motherhood, and women's work, adoption became a less attractive option and the number of adoptive families precipitously declined. Taking this history into the early twenty-first century, Melosh offers unflinching insight to the contemporary debates that swirl around adoption: the challenges to adoption secrecy; the ethics and geopolitics of international adoption; and the conflicts over transracial adoption. </p><p> This gripping history is told through poignant stories of individuals, garnered from case records long inaccessible to others, and captures the profound losses and joys that make adoption a lifelong process. </p> 2078684 2002 Strangers and Kin: The American Way of Adoption total:3|4:2|3:1| 3 11 10 1 4 0 false false Thu Nov 06 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Oct 19 16:45:16 -0700 2008 Thu Nov 06 06:48:25 -0800 2008 more...]]> 0 0 false false Tue Oct 20 18:43:50 -0700 2009 Tue Oct 20 18:43:50 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Thu Sep 24 11:56:46 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 24 11:56:46 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Wed Sep 23 14:40:09 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 23 14:40:09 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Sun Sep 13 14:00:04 -0700 2009 Sun Sep 13 14:00:04 -0700 2009 4 0 false false Tue Mar 17 12:15:34 -0700 2009 Fri Dec 05 01:38:00 -0800 2008 Tue Mar 17 12:15:34 -0700 2009 0 0 false false Tue Aug 12 15:04:30 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 12 15:04:32 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Tue Aug 12 12:20:04 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 12 12:20:04 -0700 2008 3 0 false false Fri Oct 03 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Tue Aug 05 01:18:08 -0700 2008 Mon Oct 06 17:49:43 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Sun Feb 24 17:36:05 -0800 2008 Sun Feb 24 17:36:09 -0800 2008 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=2073436