Resources

Adoption Support Groups and Search Resources

Adoptees can write for their "non-identifying information."  This is a list by state - http://www.adopting.org/non_id.html
List of search and support groups around the United States, it is down for now, but should be back soon - http://home.comcast.net/~paadoptionreunionregistry/BluePage.htm
Free International Soundex Reunion Registry - http://www.isrr.org
Search Finders of California - http://www.searchfindersofcalifornia.com
Salvation Army Booth Babies info - http://salvationarmy-usaeast.org/find/booth_babies.htm
Emergency Medical Locators - http://www.adoption-free-search.org/registrationpage.htm
Research all branches of the military - www.militarycity.com
The Colombia Adoption Sibling Registry through yahoo groups - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ColombiaAdoptSibRegistry
The Little Prince - support and hope to adoptive parents who have a child with Reactive Attachment Disorder (RAD) - http://www.thelittleprince.org
Family History Centers - http://www.genhomepage.com/FHC/fhc.html
Phone Searches a fee service - http://www.phonesearchcentral.com
Public Records Locator - http://www.searchsystems.net
Births, deaths and marriage records - http://vitalrec.com
Government listing of public records - http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/howto/w2w/alphabet.htm
Links for state and county records - http://publicrecords.netronline.com
Origins Canada an international organization which supports those separated by adoption - http://www.originscanada.org
Search information for the United States
Search Information for Canada
Registration information for siblings from donor insemination
International Search Information

Organizations that Support Openness and Honesty in Adoption

Bastard Nation - http://www.bastards.org
Adoptee Rights News Blog for up-to-date information - http://adopteerightsnews.blogspot.com
Concerned United Birthparents - http://www.cubirthparents.org
Post Adoption Center for Education & Research - http://www.pacer-adoption.org
Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute - http://www.adoptioninstitute.org
Center For Family Connections - http://www.kinnect.org
Child Welfare League of American - http://www.cwla.org
Child Welfare Institute - http://www.gpcwi.org
American Adoption Congress - http://www.americanadoptioncongress.org
Adoption Mentoring - http://www.adoptionmentoring.org
The Mothers Project - http://themothersproject.com
Ethica, a Voice for Ethical Adoption -http://www.ethicanet.org
Filipino Adoptees Network (FAN) - http://www.filipino-adoptees-network.org
Adoptee advocacy organization in France - http://www.x-en-colere.org
Canadian Council of Natural Mothers - http://www.ccnm-mothers.ca
Origins USA - http://www.geocities.com/inquiry_usa
Bay Area Birthmothers Association -
http://www.bayareabirthmothers.org
Connected Indian Roots - http://freenet-homepage.de/connectedindianroots
Unplanned Pregnancy Without Crisis - http://www.motherhelp.info

Website Links

Research

National Adoption Information Clearinghouse http://naic.acf.hhs.gov
Adoption History Project http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~adoption
Bastardette Blogspot http://www.bastardette.blogspot.com
William Gage’s extensive directory of adoption related literature - http://members.aol.com/billgage/lit-list.htm
Birthmother Research Project - http://home.att.net/~judy.kelly/thesis.htm
Online Adoptee Law Library - http://www.chrisphilippo.com
Vietnam Babylift adoptees - http://www.vietnambabylift.org
Wake up Little Susie: Single Pregnancy and Race before Roe v. Wade and Beggars and Choosers: How the Politics of Choice Shapes Adoption, Abortion, and Welfare in the United States by Rickie Solinger – Available on http://www.barnesandnoble.com

Books, Articles and Information

Orfan by Corie Skolnick
The Sound of Hope: A True Story of an Adoptees Quest for her Origins by Anne Bauer
Shea's Search Series - A Definitive Guide to Self-Empowered Adoptee Search
Artwork by Lina Eve
Adoption greeting cards and photographs by Patrick McMahon
Shedding Light on the Dark Side of Adoption by Mirah Riben
A Birthmother's View of Adoption: Suggestions for Reform by Heather Lowe
Birthparent Grief by Brenda Romanchik
New Directions in Adoption and Taking the Crisis out of Pregnancy by Laurie Frisch
A Ghost At Heart's Edge by Susan Ito and Tina Cervin
Chasing Away the Shadows; An Adoptee's Journey to Motherhood by Zara Phillips
Alison Larkin, adoptee and performer - http://www.alisonlarkin.com
Adoption Wisdom by Marlou Russell, PhD
The Family of Adoption by Dr. Joyce Maguire Pavao
The Primal Wound: Understanding the Adopted Child and Coming Home to Self
by Nancy Verrier
Lifelong Issues in Adoption - The 7 Core Issues by Deborah N. Silverstein and
Sharon Kaplan
Talking to Your Adopted Adolescent About Adoption by Randolph W. Severson
Fumbling Toward Divinity: The Adoption Scriptures by Craig Hickman
Adoption Stories of Search and Connection
Adoption Nation by Adam Pertman
Growing in the Dark by Janine Baer
Burning of the Marriage Hat by Margaret Benshoff-Holler
Adoption Healing: A Path to Recovery for Adoptees by Joe Soll
A Passage to the Heart: Writings from Families with Children from China by Amy Klatzkin
Wanting a Daughter, Needing a Son by Kay Ann Johnson and Amy Klatzkin – Amazon.com
Kids Like Me in China by Ying Ying Fry, Amy Klatzkin and Brian Boyd – Amazon.com

(Many more books are listed on adoption organization websites.)

Essays

Telling our stories in film, plays, books and essays empowers the author and all who see and read them.

The Eight Fallacies of Adoption by Anne D. Slagle, adoptee from The Alma Society
The idea of adoption: an inquiry into the history of adult adoptee access to birth records.  53 Rutgers L. Rev. 367-436 (2001) by Elizabeth J. Samuels
The Recovery Process, Post-reunion by Kate Neal, from the point of view of an adpotee.
The Day I Threw My Guilt Away by Sheila Ganz
they said a poem by Sheila Ganz
Thesis to the play "they said, 'pretend it didnt happen'" by Sheila Ganz
Rape, Relinquishment and Closed Records by Sheila Ganz, an essay originally written for an anthology supporting the civil right of adult adoptees to obtain their original birth certificate and other information about their adoption. 
A Bullet to the Brain a poem by Mary Jane Klein Hagofsky
Come my little angel a poem by Jennifer Beck-Robinson
Seek and ye shall find by Andy
Mirror, Mirror a poem by Craig Hickman
Letter to a Wisconsin Adoption Bureaucrat, June 2001 by Craig Hickman

If you would like to contribute an essay to this website, please email your essay to Sheila Ganz at unlockingheart@hotmail.com

Online Support Groups

Sunflower Birthmom Support Page
Online Support for Birthmoms
Norcap Supporting adults who are adopted
Whose Child? Adoption Forum Triad Consulting

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