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Unlearning Adoption: A Guide to Family Preservation and Protection is the culmination of ten years worth of research into past and present adoption practices, the aftermath of adoption for surrendering parents and adopted people, and the unethical laws and lies that permeate adoption today.  

Written by an activist who is neither an adoptee nor an exiled parent, this book examines the complex issues created by adoption and cites numerous ways individuals, social workers, doctors, and other professionals can assist struggling families.  Offering alternatives to adoption for children in need and addressing the various situations that lead to adoption today, Unlearning Adoption was crafted for those who want to examine adoption from all angles.

Researchers and students will appreciate the comprehensive foot notes accompanying the text.  Relevant to both social work and women's studies courses, Unlearning Adoption offers future professionals the opportunity to approach adoption from a fresh perspective, yet to been seen in traditional media coverage of adoption.  

Prospective adopters and expectant parents contemplating the surrender of their children will gain a true understanding of what it means to be adopted or to lose a child to adoption.  Our society is all too familiar with cliched adoption phrases like "loving option" and "best interests of the child."  Now it is time to dig deeper, past the media hype, past the deep pockets that fuel the adoption industry, and into the blinding reality that is adoption for so many dismembered families.

In its most basic sense, "unlearning" means throwing out everything you thought you knew to make room for new and more valid ideas.  As a culture, we desperately need to unlearn adoption and all the myths that accompany it.  By deconstructing  the adoption experience, re-evaluating the costs and benefits of adoption, and seeking out better ways to handle children and families in need of assistance, we can forge new paths toward compassion, support, and justice for all the individuals who would have previously been subject to the adoption industry.