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The Volunteer Search Network

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Other Resources to Visit When Beginning A Search

• Shea's Search Series, the definitive guide to adoptee-empowered search.

• Comprehensive Guide to Beginning a Search created by Jeff Hartung

• State Adoption Disclosure Laws At A Glance provided by Bastard Nation

• Shea's Adoption Law Library containing links to U.S. and International adoption statutes as well as other legal resources.

• Adoptees Internet Mailing List page created by Dana Katherine Kressierer, list maintained by Dana Katherine Kresseirer, Vicki Rummig, and Carter Thompson.

• The Coalition For Adoption Registry Ethics, (C.A.R.E.), was created in response to the need for standardization of policies and procedures of online reunion registries. It is the goal of C.A.R.E. to provide a way for the online searching adoption community to safely and effectively search for birth relatives online without being exploited for profit. It is also a goal of C.A.R.E. to help educate the online searching adoption community about the effective use of registries, particularly the International Soundex Reunion Registry (ISRR).

  C.A.R.E. will achieve these goals by:

  • setting and upholding ethical standards for the operation of free online reunion registries
  • promoting registries that conform to these standards
  • promoting awareness of the International Soundex Reunion Registry.

• US Search & Support Groups originally compiled by Rosemary Ventura, currently maintained by Kevin McCarty.

• International Search Resources originally compiled by Rosemary Ventura, currently maintained by Kevin McCarty.

• Adoption Search and Reunion, a comprehensive collection of search information maintained by Rema.

Reading Resources

• Adopting Resources (1995) Common clinical issures [sic] among adoptees. [Online]. Available: World Wide Web, http://www.adopting.org/commmonis.html.



• Brodzinsky, D. M., & Schechter, M. D. (1990). The Psychology of Adoption NY:Oxford University Press, Inc.



• Brodzinsky, D. M., Schechter, M. D., & Henig, R. M. (1992) Being adopted: The lifelong search for self. NY:Doubleday.



• Church, J. (1973) Understanding your child from birth to three. NY: Random House.



• Kaplan, L. J., (1978) Oneness and separateness: From infant to individual. NY: Simon & Schuster.



• Lifton, B. J., (1988). Lost and Found: The adoption experience. (2nd ed.). NY: Harper and Row Publishers, Inc.



• Lifton, B. J., (1994) Journey of the adopted self: A quest for wholeness. NY: Basic Books/HarpersCollins Publishers, Inc.



• Reitz, M. & Watson, K., (1992) Adoption and the family system. NY: Guildford Publications.



• Sorosky, A. D., Baran, A., & Pannor, R., (1978) The adoption triangle. NY: Anchor Press/Doubleday



• Strauss, Jean A. (1994). Birthright: The Guide to Search and Reunion for Adoptees NY:Penguin Books



• Verrier, N. N. , (1993). The Primal Wound: Understanding the adopted child. Baltimore, MD: Gateway Press, Inc.