First/Birth Parents
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.
by Susan Dusza Guerra Leksander, LMFT updated 2024 Note: I use the term “first parent” to be inclusive of all birthing people who place a child for adoption, including those who do not identify as women at or after the time of birth. What happens to those of us who...
Book Review: Adoption Unfiltered: Revelations from Adoptees, Birth Parents, Adoptive Parents, and Allies by Sara Easterly, Kelsey Vander Vliet Ranyard, and Lori Holden reviewed by Pact Staff If you’re seeking to move past the “fairy tale” and deepen your understanding...
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...
2014 When we asked Pact members what they wish they had known before they adopted, we weren’t sure what kind of response we would get. The feedback we received, overwhelming in volume, was primarily from white parents parenting children of color. Clear themes emerged,...
by Beth Hall 2014 Mom… Hey, sweetie! Mom, I have something to tell you. For those of you who have adult children old enough to live away from home, you will no doubt recognize the fear these words put into the hearts of parents. Is anything wrong? No, no, at least I...
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...
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...
by Katie Wynen 2015 Adoption literature is dominated by the voices of adoptive parents, with a sprinkling of adoptee voices and even fewer birth parent voices. The book Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew by Sherrie Eldridge was published in...
2014 Families often consult Pact about how to tell their communities when they have a new baby join their family through adoption. Adoptive parents James and Heidi sent the following letter to parents and teachers in their school community, and gave us permission to...
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...
by Beth Hall 2014 At Pact, we get many calls from families asking about the possibility of connecting with their children’s birth parents. When adoptive parents consider opening their child’s adoption with one or more birth family members while that child is still a...
by Beth Hall 2018 Why adoptive parents need to talk about birth/first parents Birth parents are surely the least understood and most often villified members of the adoption triad.[1] Outsiders to the experience of adoption will often recommend that it is best to...
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...
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...