Nancy E. Riley - Making Families Through Adoption

A Series by Pine Forge Press, an imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc

Series Editor
Susan J. Ferguson
Grinnell College

Volumes in This Series

Families: A Social Class Perspective
Shirley A. Hill

Making Families Through Adoption
Nancy E. Riley and Krista E.Van Vleet

Forthcoming

Families and Health, Second Edition
Janet Grochowski

Global Families, Second Edition
Meg W. Karraker

Key Issues in American Family Policy
Janet Z. Giele

Family Caregiving in Later Life
Twyla Hill

NANCY E. RILEY

Bowdoin College

KRISTA E. VAN VLEET

Bowdoin College

SUSAN J. FERGUSON, SERIES EDITOR

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Copyright 2012 by Pine Forge Press, an Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Printed in the United States of America

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Riley, Nancy.

Making families through adoption / Nancy E. Riley, Krista E. Van Vleet.

p. cm. (Contemporary family perspectives) Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-4129-9800-0 (pbk. : acid-free paper)

1. AdoptionUnited States. 2. FamiliesUnited States. 3. Intercountry adoption.
4. Interracial adoption. 5. Interethnic adoption. 6. Adoption. I. Van Vleet, Krista E., 1965- II. Title.

This book is printed on acid-free paper.

11 12 13 14 15 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Series Preface

Contemporary Family Perspectives

Susan J. Ferguson

Grinnell College

T he family is one of the most private and pervasive social institutions in U.S. society. At the same time, public discussions and debates about the institution of the family persist. Some scholars and public figures claim that the family is declining or dying or that the contemporary family is in crisis or is morally deficient. Other scholars argue that the family has been caught in the larger culture wars taking place in the United States. The current debates about legalizing same-sex marriage are one example of this larger public discussion about the institution of the family. Regardless of ones perspectiveviewing the family as declining or caught in broader political strugglesscholars agree that the institution has undergone dramatic transformations in recent decades. U.S. demographic data reveal that fewer people are married, divorce rates remain high, at almost 50 percent, and more families are living in poverty. In addition, people are creating new kinds of families via Internet dating, cohabitation, single-parent adoption, committed couples living apart, donor insemination, and polyamorous relationships. The demographic data and ethnographic research on new family forms require that family scholars pay attention to a variety of family structures, processes, ideologies, and social norms. In particular, scholars need to address important questions about the family, such as, What is the future of marriage? Is divorce harmful to individuals, to the institution of the family, and/or to society? Why are rates of family violence so high? Are we living in a postdating culture? How do poverty and welfare policies affect families? How is child rearing changing now that so many parents work outside the home and children spend time with caretakers other than their parents? Finally, how are families socially constructed in various societies and cultures?

Most sociologists and family scholars agree that the family is a dynamic social institution that is continually changing as other social structures and individuals in society change. The family also is a social construction with complex and shifting age, gender, race, and social class meanings. Many excellent studies are currently investigating the changing structures of the institution of the family and the lived experiences and meanings of families. Contemporary Family Perspectives is a series of short texts and research monographs that provides a forum for the best of this burgeoning scholarship. The series aims to recognize the diversity of families that exist in the United States and globally. A second goal is for the series to better inform pedagogy and future family scholarship about this diversity of families. The series also seeks to connect family scholarship to a broader audience beyond the classroom by informing the public and by ensuring that family studies remain central to contemporary policy debates and to social action. Each short text contains the most outstanding current scholarship on the family from a variety of disciplines, including sociology, demography, policy studies, social work, human development, and psychology. Moreover, each short text is authored by a leading family scholar or scholars who bring their unique disciplinary perspective to an understanding of contemporary families.

Contemporary Family Perspectives provides the most advanced scholarship and up-to-date findings on the family. Each volume contains a brief overview of significant scholarship on that family topic, including critical current debates or areas of scholarly disagreement. In addition to providing an assessment of the latest findings related to their family topic, authors examine the family utilizing an intersectional framework of race-ethnicity, social class, gender, and sexuality. Much of the research is interdisciplinary, with a number of theoretical frameworks and methodological approaches presented. Several of the family scholars use a historical lens as well to ground their contemporary research. A particular strength of the series is that the short texts appeal to undergraduate students as well as to family scholars, but they are written in a way that makes them accessible to a larger public.