The Adoption Reunion Handbook

Star rating: 4/5.

By Liz Trinder, Julia Feast and David Howe.
John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 0470094222
£12.99





With the government currently consulting on requests for intermediary services for birth relatives to trace adopted adults, this book could not be more timely, writes Jonathan Pearce.

Informed by Howe and Feast’s research for the Children’s Society, originally published in 2000 and mainly concentrating on adoptions of relinquished children, it sheds light on searching and reunions from all perspectives. No doubt future editions will provide insight into work involving those adopted from care, who will have far more complex histories.

Anyone involved in adoption reunion work, whether from a personal or professional standpoint, will find this book invaluable.

It is clearly written, and the considered and thoughtful text sits alongside advice boxes with practical tips, end-of-chapter summaries and, importantly, lengthy extracts and anecdotes from those who have been through the process.

Jonathan Pearce is director of Adoption UK, the national support organisation for adoptive families.