The Adoption Paradox: Putting Adoption in Perspective is an ambitious book started by Jean Widner, an adult adoptee, to explore the current and historical culture of American adoptions through the lens of different perspectives. She has cultivated interviews with adoptees, birth parents, and adoptive parents and provides perspectives on the good, the bad, and the everywhere in between. Yes, it is a collection of stories, but it is this country’s truth when it comes to how children are treated and raised, as well as sexual suppression and its revolution.
A paradox means that there are seemingly opposite and dual realities. Adoptees are rescued, repaired, loved, rejected, celebrated, abandoned, made to feel special, made to feel less than. Adoptees are both grateful and angry. Adoptees are different from everyone else, and yet they are the same.
Over the centuries, adoptee children have been stolen, sold, loved, wanted, abused, made into indentured servants, used as farm hands, and honored with wealth, education, and opportunities that their native birth families could never have afforded them. This isn’t simply my story. This is our story. This is where American adoption started, evolved – and yet failed at the same time. It’s the truth of select people doing the best they can in life, some seeking answers – others seeking healing – and many who simply want their voices heard. This book isn’t as much my story but the truth of many…
