The Routledge Handbook of Adoption

Gretchen Miller Wrobel, Ph.D., is the University Professor of Psychology at Bethel University, USA and co-investigator on the Minnesota-Texas Adoption Research Project. Dr. Wrobel’s research interests include information seeking related to curiosity about one’s adoption and adoptive family communication. She is past editor of Adoption Quarterly. Emily Helder, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Psychology at Calvin University, USA. Dr. Helder is a clinical neuropsychologist whose research and training have focused on the impact of early experience on later development, language, and the experience of abuse, neglect, and early deprivation. Elisha Marr, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Sociology and Director of Gender Studies at Calvin University, USA. Dr. Marr’s research on transracial adoption includes identifying trends in adoption rates, experiences of transracial adoptees and their adoptive parents, and racial preferences of adoptive parents. More recently, Marr has expanded to exploring motivations to adopt.

Part I: Adoption in context



1. Historical and contemporary contexts of US adoption: an overview



2. US adoption by the numbers



3. An economic perspective on ethics in adoption policy



4. Domestic adoption in Ethiopia



5. Intersection of information science and crisis pregnancy decision-making



6. Respecting children’s relationships and identities in adoption



7. The Early Growth and Development Study: using an adoption design to understand family influences and child development



Part II: Diversity in adoption



8. Unique challenges and strengths for families formed through international adoption



9. A critical adoption studies and Asian Americanist integrative perspective on the psychology of Korean adoption



10. A nationally representative comparison of Black and White adoptive parents of Black adoptees



11. Racial and gender preferences among potential adoptive parents



12. Adoptive families headed by LGBTQ parents.



13. Post-institutionalized adopted children: effects of prolonged institutionalization and adoption at an older age



14. Adoptees with disabilities or medically involved children: a multidisciplinary approach for preparing parents, assessing the child, and supporting successful family formation



15. Adoption in the context of natural disaster



Part III: Lived experience



16. Birth mothers’ options counseling and relinquishment experiences



17. Transracial adoptees: the rewards and challenges of searching for their birth families



18. Communication about adoption in families



19. Open adoption



20. How adoptive parents think about their role as parents



21. Religiosity and adoption



22. Adoptive microaggressions: historical foundations, current research, and practical implications



23. Maltreatment of adoptees in adoptive homes



Part IV: Outcomes



24. Speech and language development in adopted children



25. Behavioral and emotional adjustment in adoptees



26. The neurobiological embedding of early social deprivation in children exposed to institutional rearing



27. Post-adoption short- and long-term social adaptation and competence of internationally adopted children



28. Academic performance and school adjustment of internationally adopted children in Norway.



29. Parenting stress in adoptive families



30. Adoption instability, adoption breakdown



Part V: Adoption Competency



31. Adoption competent clinical practice



32. Training for Adoption Competency curriculum



33. Awareness of adoption at school



34. Post-adoption se