The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Thirty Years as an Historian of Adoption

Abstract

abstract:This article is part memoir of my writing about the adoption reform movement, part history of the movement itself, and part history of the evolution of adoption studies. It describes the rise, and sometimes the fall, of those adoption and childhood organizations, conferences, publications, and journals with which I have had a personal relationship. These organizations include the American Adoption Congress, the National Committee for Adoption, Bastard Nation, the Society for the History of Childhood and Youth, the International Conference on Adoption Research, the Alliance for the Study of Adoption and Culture, and the journals Adoption Quarterly and Adoption & Culture. When appropriate, I identify the many activists and scholars with whom, in one form or another, I have had a personal or professional relationship.