Prologue—Setting the Stage

The prologue provides historical context for the book, detailing, for example, how adoption has changed over time, particularly with regard to structural openness (i.e., contact between birth and adoptive families) and communicative openness in adoption (i.e., how parents talk about adoption), two key concepts in the book. In addition to changes in openness, other major societal shifts have occurred over the past several decades that impact and intersect with adoption: namely, the rise in gay parenthood and the rise and expansion of the Internet in society. The prologue also introduces the research participants who were interviewed for the book: namely, lesbian, gay, and heterosexual couples who adopted through private domestic adoption or foster care, and who were interviewed at various points from preadoption to 8 years after they adopted. The prologue also addresses the major theoretical perspectives (family systems, life course, developmental) that frame the book.