****** - Verified Buyer
4.5
Adoption Nation is an amazing, eye-opening book about the great, wide world of adoption. It is very helpful if you would like to develop a broad perspective on this phenomenon - from the history of adoption (fascinating) to the current landscape of domestic and international adoption (fascinating).My husband and I are just at the beginning of the process of considering adopting a child. We had never even thought about many of the issues that Pertman raises, and we are really glad that we read this book at the beginning of our journey to find our child.Although we LOVED this book, we do have a few criticisms:First, and most relevant to our family, which consists of one US citizen and one non-US citizen, Pertman's discussion of domestic and international adoptions does not address the intersection of the two. He addresses mixed race families, but not mixed nationality families. We mixed nationality families face a very particular set of challenges. We're finding that we're not [something] enough for different governments and different agencies - not American enough, not Chinese enough, not this, not that. We're sure we'll figure it all out, but we would have loved to hear about global adoptions, where parents and kids might have multiple countries of residence and different passports. It's more common than you might think, but maybe we're still just a teensy tiny fraction of the world of adoption.Second, Pertman has a tendency to repeat himself. The writing and structure could be tighter, but it didn't stop us from considering this a page turner.Third, Pertman raises many extreme cases in order to make the various points he is trying to make. He states this explicitly, and he always adds disclaimers, but it is hard not to end up feeling overwhelmed after reading all of these extreme stories at once. He repeatedly states that the benefits of adoption for everyone involved far outweigh the drawbacks, but still - we came away thinking "Okay, let's give this whole idea of adoption a re-think."We're thankful for the opportunity to re-think adoption with the help of Adoption Nation, though. We're pretty sure we will still adopt after re-thinking the whole endeavor, but we will be much more informed and sensitive to a range of issues than we might have been otherwise.In short, this is a fantastic resource that will alert you to many nuances of adoption that might never have entered your consciousness otherwise. Give it a read!
