The children money can buy Stories from the frontlines of foster care and adoption

Anne Moody

Book - 2018

Foster care and adoption can be rewarding ways to become parents. But the system itself seems almost rigged for failure, confusion, fraud, and disappointment. This book takes readers on an insider's tour of the system, its successes and failures, and the joys adoption can bring through the real stories of those involved on all sides.

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Subjects
Published
Lanham, Maryland : Rowman & Littlefield [2018]
Language
English
Main Author
Anne Moody (author)
Item Description
Includes index.
Physical Description
vi, 260 pages ; 24 cm
Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN
9781538108024
  • Introduction
  • Part I. Foster Care
  • 1. Why Do I Want This Job?
  • 2. Service Plans
  • 3. Who Are These Parents and Children?
  • 4. Foster Home Highs and Lows
  • 5. The Cycle of Dysfunction
  • 6. Boy Troubles
  • 7. Termination of Parental Rights
  • 8. Making My Escape
  • Part II. Agency Adoption
  • 9. The Home Study Process
  • 10. Adoption Is the Good Thing That Happens
  • 11. Adoption Disruptions
  • 12. "Doing Good" Isn't Always Good
  • 13. The Need for Open Adoption
  • 14. Finding Just the Right Home
  • Part III. Adoptive Parenthood and Sisterhood
  • 15. Children Are Exactly Who They Are Meant to Be
  • 16. How to Talk about Adoption
  • 17. A Homeland Tour: Honoring Your Child's Heritage
  • 18. A Sister's Journey of the Heart
  • 19. Awkward (and Worse) Encounters for Adoptive Families
  • 20. Jocelyn's Birth Mother
  • Part IV. Adoption Connections
  • 21. Our Own Adoption Agency
  • 22. Birth-Parent Counseling Etiquette
  • 23. Two Open Adoptions
  • 24. Choosing an Adoptive Family
  • 25. Money Matters
  • 26. Scammers
  • 27. Trevor and Amanda
  • Part V. Changes
  • 28. A Battle for Gay Adoption
  • 29. Baby Brokers
  • 30. The Ethics of International Adoption
  • 31. The Ethics of Foster Care
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgments
  • Index
Review by Booklist Review

Over more than 40 years working in foster care and adoption, Moody became a collector of stories of children on the margin, of parents trying to regain custody, and of other adults desperate to have a child of their own. Her story is interspersed throughout. It was not only her professional life that prompted her to research and write this frank and powerful book; she is an adoptive parent herself. She covers generations of change in the foster care systems, for better or for worse, and looks at domestic and international adoption, pausing to examine the evolving ethics of both. Often recounting misery and bureaucracy, Moody admits to a self-protective cynicism reinforced by unanswerable questions. Her difficult choices were between terminating parental rights and preserving a child's bond with a parent, even an abusive one, and between closed and open adoptions, with birth parents included or removed forever. Thoroughly researched and astonishingly emotional, this book is a necessary deeper look into an often heartbreaking topic.--Paloutzian, Andie Copyright 2018 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

As a young 20-something with a master's degree in social work, Moody took a job as a child-welfare caseworker that introduced her to the world of adoptions and foster care, beginning a lifelong commitment that is chronicled in this compassionate work. Moody touches on the adoption sector's ugly side, such as "baby buying" and profit-driven adoption facilitators. She takes care to counterbalance these negatives, however, by also detailing the positive changes that have occurred in the field over the course of her career. These include the increasing acceptance of "open adoptions," in which birth parents are allowed to play some role in their children's lives, and of same-sex couples as adopters. Throughout, Moody shares the personal experiences of many children and parents (whose identities are protected), some happy, some sad. The author also recalls her commitment at 13 to eventually become an adoptive parent, a dream she made real 23 years later. Moore's experiences certainly inform her practical approach, which touches on subjects including how to talk about adoption with children and how adoptive families can present themselves to the outside world. For any family that has faced the difficult issues of adoption or fostering from any perspective, Moore's book will be a valuable tool. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved