Adoption: Changing Families, Changing Times

Edited by Anthony Douglas and Terry Philpot.
Routledge
ISBN 0-415-25684-4 (hardback) – £50
ISBN 0-415-25685-2 (paperback) – £17.99

Contributions from people with an interest in adoption,
including adoptive parents, adopted people, social workers and
their managers and academics are brought together in this
work.

The testimonies of the adopted people and adoptive parents keep the
realities of adoption to the fore. They tell of the joy and
satisfaction, as well as the challenges and pain.

The range of contributors gives the reader many perspectives of the
issues, emotions, dilemmas, complexities and responsibilities of
all involved in planning placement and caring for children needing
adoption. Although this is a strength of the book, it also means
that there is some unevenness.

While recognising the importance of adoption, the book challenges
the political nature of recent debates, and some of the established
practice in adoption. It puts adoption in its place by reminding
the reader of the far greater number of children that will need
family support in their own families and in foster care.

One hopes that politicians, policy makers and social workers will
read this volume in order to inform and ensure that adoption takes
its rightful place in child care planning.

Elizabeth Webb is project supervisor, post-adoption and
post-care team, The Children’s Society.