ADOPTION -- IS IT FOR YOU?

by Colette Dywasuk ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 17, 1972

Miss Dywasuk's report on current trends in adoption practices is generally heartening (if overly simplistic in spots) for prospective adoptive parents with first thoughts. Agency emphasis has changed, according to the author, from serving the needs of childless couples to active concern for the parentless child. Adults once rejected by agencies -- for example, single men and women, racially different clients, older couples or even those below a certain income level -- are now in many places being considered and often accepted as adopting parents. And there are now increased attempts to place ""problems"": the older child, the handicapped, the black or mixed race youngster. Concerning the latter, the author points out that a larger percentage of blacks than whites adopt children, but often blacks are put off by white-oriented agencies. Miss Dywasuk discusses the risks and rewards involved in all types of adoptions and throughout makes a warm and moving plea for the child deprived of family. There is also a sunny outline of all those procedures, but if your social worker turns out to be a dud (or at least less enlightened than Miss Dywasuk's model) then you might try selective reading via the author's helpful list of references for a fuller view of what you should demand in services. It would have been useful also to include more specifics on that first meeting with the child chosen -- but in the main, this is a cheerful, unintimidating, instructive overview.

Pub Date: Jan. 17, 1972

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1972

Categories: NONFICTION