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Being Adopted: The Lifelong Search for Self
by
David M. Brodzinsky,
Robin Marantz Henig (Goodreads Author), Marshall D. Schecter
Like Passages, thisgroundbreaking book uses the poignant, powerful voices ofadoptees and adoptive parents to explore theexperience of adoption and its lifelong effects. A majorwork, filled with astute analysis and movingtruths....more
Paperback, 224 pages
Published
March 1st 1993
by Anchor
(first published 1992)
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This is a great book for someone just getting started in the adoption world. I felt that much of the material was a review for me since I have already studied much about adoption and worked in the field as a social worker. In addition, I wished that the book was more current as it focused on what I like to call "old school adoption" (they call it traditional adoption) where the adoptions were mostly closed and often secretive. Adoptions have come along way since the early 90s when this book was...more
While mostly focused on Erikson's seven stage model of the lifecycle, there are interesting bits and bobs related to the adoptees development similarities and challenges within the model. Found the "genealogical bewilderment" concept powerful.
Having been adopted and having found my birth mother, I was intrigued by this book. It covers various seasons in an adoptees life and examines questions or actions of the adopted child. I found it to mirror many of the perspectives I have. I would highly recommend it to parents who have decided to adopt - it will help to understand the adoptee's perspective. By the way, I am extremely grateful for the parents who have raised me. I consider my birth mother to be a woman who made a terrifically di...more
A reference book I always come back to gain insight and wisdom from another source.
This is the best book I've read about adoption and I've read a few.
Very important writing about what it is to be adopted, the stages one goes through, internal dynamics, and one that I will refer to often.
Brodzinsky explains with examples and logic the processes of growth an adoptee transcends. I had to take it in bites so the information could be assimilated within.
Now that I'm at the 50 year mark, I am looking for the resolutions he speaks of and how to incorporate all of myself...find myself and peace.
Everyone that is touched by adoption should read this...w...more
Brodzinsky explains with examples and logic the processes of growth an adoptee transcends. I had to take it in bites so the information could be assimilated within.
Now that I'm at the 50 year mark, I am looking for the resolutions he speaks of and how to incorporate all of myself...find myself and peace.
Everyone that is touched by adoption should read this...w...more
A topic I am interested in. Learned a lot.
The authors apply established psychological thinking to the adoption world, examining the internal struggles faced by adoptees at different points in the life cycle. This book was published in the early 90s so the discussion of adoption is not very current -- eg, open adoption, which is now fairly mainstream, was very new at the time. Nonetheless, the authors make some interesting points. Worth reading for those with an interest in adoption.
finally made it all the way through, start to finish. The 4 star rating was after I first got it based on reading the section appropriate to my age. I identified with a lot of what the authors propose adoptees feel. Maybe that's the way it's meant to be read; reading from beginning to end was a chore. Overall a good reference to understanding yourself and the various emotional cycles that accompany being an adopted person.
Apr 20, 2008
Liz Latty
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
adoptees, adoptive parents
Recommended to Liz by:
my mom
someday someone will write a book about adoption that reads true and unsentimental and scathing and loving and critical and grateful and real to those of us who have experienced it...someday...
what is the task at different ages as the adoptee discovers the self
May 17, 2013
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Jul 19, 2009 03:35pm