RELEASE DATE: DECEMBER 14, 2014
KINSEARCHING
by
Marleta Childs
P. O. Box 6825
LUBBOCK, TX 79493-6825
[email protected]
Many of the people tracing their pedigree today were raised by their biological parents. Advances in modern medicine, the gay and lesbian movements, and the vast increase in the world’s population, however, have created families by different means. Numerous individuals seeking their ancestors come from these other backgrounds. A fascinating new book that focuses on these genealogical aspects is THE ADOPTION AND DONOR CONCEPTION FACTBOOK: THE ONLY COMPREHENSIVE SOURCE OF U. S. & GLOBAL DATA ON THE INVISIBLE FAMILIES OF ADOPTION, FOSTER CARE & DONOR CONCEPTION by Lori Carangelo, founder of Americans for Open Records (AmFOR).
Carangelo has compiled an up-to-date collection of her findings pertaining to all angles, including the legal or political status, of adoption and donor conception. With the advent of industries concerning these fields, new terminology has been created to describe the people connected to them and services they offer. For example, the author defines the distinctions between such terms as adoptees, birth parents, parents by estoppel, de facto parents, adoptive parents or adopters, intended parents, foster parents, psychological parents, donors, donor offspring, carriers, gestational surrogates, altruistic surrogates, and custody evaluators. For each category, she furnishes the number of individuals involved, their background, and the usual outcome of a particular process. In addition, she furnishes the pros and cons of the various points of view.
Scattered throughout the narrative are interesting back stories and details. A survey made of the 2010 census, for instance, estimates that 1.6 million children in the United States are adopted. Americans adopted more than 46,000 Russian children between 1999 and 2013, while approximately 10,000 American-born children were taken out of the U. S. for adoption abroad. Eighty-two percent of the 641,016 adult adoptees polled were actively searching for their birth families. Ninety-eight percent of birth mothers who were located by their offspring were happy to be reunited with them.
An unique genealogical reference work, THE ADOPTION AND DONOR CONCEPTION FACTBOOK: THE ONLY COMPREHENSIVE SOURCE OF U. S. & GLOBAL DATA ON THE INVISIBLE FAMILIES OF ADOPTION, FOSTER CARE & DONOR CONCEPTION will be useful to a wide assortment of individuals, including family researchers, activists, lawmakers, journalists, and other persons who want to learn the facts about America’s multi-million dollar adoption, foster care, and assisted reproduction industries. All genealogical libraries should have a copy on their shelves.
The 210-page book has soft covers, a foreword, tables, a bibliography, and an index. To the book's price of $29.95, buyers should add the cost for postage and handling charges. For U. S. postal mail, the cost is $5.50 for one book and $2.50 for each additional copy; for FedEx ground service, the cost is $7.50 for one copy and $2.50 for each additional book. The volume (item order #8812) may be purchased by check, money order, MasterCard, or Visa from Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 3600 Clipper Mill Rd., Suite 260, Baltimore, Maryland 21211-1953. For phone orders, call toll free 1-800-296-6687; fax 1-410-752-8492; website at www.genealogical.com.