Interview with the Author of "Relinquished"

Creating a Family: Talk about Adoption & Foster Care

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Join us for this discussion with Dr. Gretchen Sisson, the author of Relinquished, the Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood.
In this episode, we cover:

• Book focuses on private adoptions between 2000-2020. Not on parents where parental rights were terminated by the state and not on international adoptions.
• Full of first-person stories from birth moms.
• How many women are currently placing a child for adoption compared to the number of births?
• How does this compare to the number of women who decide on abortion? Only 25 % considered adoption, and only 9% relinquished. Turnaway Study
• 90% of relinquishing moms considered parenting, but only 40% considered abortion.
• What is the demographic of the mom who relinquishes her child for adoption between 2000-2020?
• Why do women relinquish or choose adoption?
• What does the research show on how many women who decide against abortion or can’t have an abortion because their pregnancy is too advanced opt for adoption?
• Why do so few women who are considering an abortion not consider adoption?
• Very often, the moms in your book and in your research describe adoption as their only option. Why were the other options not seen as viable? “When women have more options available to them, they are less likely to relinquish.”
• Options counseling.
• How has openness in adoption changed things?
• Some research shows birth moms are mostly happy with their decision to place a child for adoption. NCFA Adoption Profile: Birth Parents Experience (1400 birth parents)
• The issues of substance abuse disorder, acute mental illness, or extreme poverty are real. Why is it not in the child’s best interest for the mom to choose adoption?
• Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997- “fast-tracked termination of parental rights”—failed to talk about the reality of kids growing up in foster care.

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