NEWSHOUR BOOKSHELF - "Far From the Tree"

"Award-winning ‘Far From the Tree’ is teen tale of adoption and long-lost family" PBS NewsHour 12/7/2017

Excerpt

SUMMARY:  What makes a family?  Blood?  Circumstance?  Closeness?  In author Robin Benway's "Far From the Tree," she tells the story of three siblings who are put up for adoption as babies, and grow up without knowing each other exists.  Benway, who won this year's National Book Award for Young People's Literature, joins Jeffrey Brown for a conversation.

ADOPTION - Online Private Re-Homing Problems

"Some Parents of Adopted Children Turn to Online Networks, Triggering Problems" PBS Newshour 9/11/2013

Excerpt

JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour):  The stories focus on how some parents are using the Internet to turn over their adopted children to new families after finding they're having problems raising the children, in a practice called private re-homing.

The investigation by Reuters titled "The Child Exchange" documents cases in which the transfer began on online bulletin boards and led to instances of neglect and abuse and were carried out in a largely unregulated environment.

Megan Twohey spent 18 months working on the investigation for Reuters.  Also joining us now is Adam Pertman, executive director of the Donaldson Adoption Institute, a national nonprofit that focuses on adoption research and policy.  He's also the author of the book "Adoption Nation."