Ethics in Adoption

Check out some of Pact’s most timely and popular publications. For permission to reprint or repost, please contact Beth Hall at beth@pactadopt.org.

Book Review: Relinquished

Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood  by Gretchen Sisson (St. Martin's Press, 2024) reviewed by Michele Rabkin Relinquished by Gretchen Sisson is essential reading--and will likely be deeply unsettling for adoptive parents...

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Marketing Motherhood: Ethics in Adoption Recruitment

by Parker Dockray and Susan Dusza Guerra Leksander 2017 Mother’s Day can bring fraught feelings for many of us. This is particularly true for mothers touched by adoption, whether as first/birth mothers or as adoptive mothers, because for both groups there remains...

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Choice in Adoption: A Birth Mom’s Call to Empathy

by Kathleen Neilsen 2015 Choice is treasured in our society. From what we eat, to where we shop, to what we watch on television, Americans value having options. Some hypothesize that this value is associated with being members of a capitalist society. Regardless of...

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Doubting Fathers in the Child Welfare System

by Rosalio Chavoya 2018 In July 2018, Rosalio Chavoya shared his experiences with the child welfare and criminal justice systems as a guest speaker at Pact Family Camp West. The perspective of the father is often ignored or neglected when talking about foster care and...

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Shadism: Skin Color Bias in Adoption

by Malaika Parker 2014 Shadism (a preference or privilege based on lighter over darker skin tones) is a conversation that gets directly to the heart of racism and its roots. In an effort to fight against these preferences and privileges, Pact does not engage in...

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Understanding adoption and pregnancy decision-making

by Gretchen Sisson, PhD 2019 The decisions women make about pregnancy and childbearing are often the subject of intense political scrutiny and debate. Frequently, these conversations present adoption as a panacea for social challenges of all stripes, including teen...

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The Mothers that Mother’s Day Forgot

by Michele Rabkin 2016 As Mother’s Day approaches, you may be shopping for greeting cards. You can easily find a card for your mother, your grandmother, your mother-in-law, or for that special woman who has been “like a mother” to you. What you can’t find is one for...

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