Adoption

Adoption: Embracing Harmony and Facing Discord is a compilation of stories shared by people involved in different sides of adoption. Adoptive families experience both great joy and the challenge of navigating complex circumstances when growing their families. The relationships of the children, birth parents, adoptive parents, and siblings all need to be considered, as well as possible extended family. The author is an adoptive parent and grandparent and found that talking with others helped her process her own experiences and better understand the different layers of the adoptive realm. Included in this book are perspectives from adopted persons of different ages, adoptive parents, and birth mothers. Several accounts also include foster-parent experiences. The stories span the last ninety-plus years, are ethnically diverse, and multigenerational. It is the author's hope to raise social awareness about the growing need for more available support and intervention for adoptive families who struggle with serious developmental, identity, and behavioral issues. It is imperative that we explore and develop ways to better meet these concerns, both in the Christian community and in our social systems.