Review | Adoption Unfiltered: Revelations from Adoptees, Birth Parents, Adoptive Parents and Allies

"By flattening the adoption experience and upholding principles of patriarchy, capitalism, racism, and classism, these tropes do real damage to everyone in the adoption constellation."

Everyone thinks they know about adoption because adoption stories abound in literature, movies, and television. But the adoption narrative has long been warped by misconceptions that primarily benefit the adoption industry and adoptive parents: the mother who gives up her child is morally compromised; the adoptee should be grateful for being saved from a less fortunate life; adoptive parents should be admired and lionized for rescuing an unwanted child; and more. By flattening the adoption experience and upholding principles of patriarchy, capitalism, racism, and classism, these tropes do real damage to everyone in the adoption constellation, and indeed to society in general. Seeking to present an honest portrayal of the American adoption experience, adoptee Sara Easterly, birth/first mother, Kelsey Vander Vliet Ranyard, and adoptive mother, Lori Holden have written a much needed, first-of-its-kind resource, Adoption Unfiltered: Revelations from Adoptees, Birth Parents, Adoptive Paren…