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Adoption over Time: Change, Policy, and the Complex History
By Teesta Bhola-Shah For much of the twentieth century, adoption in America followed a familiar pattern. Agencies facilitated placements, birth records were kept private, and contact between biological and adoptive families was rare. Today, that system looks very different. Through decades of firsthand experience, Richard Pearlman has watched adoption evolve from a largely closed process…
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The Adoption Chronicles: Preserving the Stories
In a world where so many stories disappear with time, the Adoption Chronicles Project exists to make sure adoption stories are not forgotten. Founded by Richard Pearlman, the project is built on one central idea: to chronicle the modern era of adoption before its voices fade away. When explaining the project, Pearlman starts with the…
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Richard Pearlman: A Life in Adoption and Storytelling
By Teesta Bhola-Shah Richard Pearlman does not describe his career as something he carefully mapped out from the beginning. Instead, his path into adoption work began almost by accident. “I inadvertently became involved in the field of adoption in the early 1980s,” he explains, reflecting on a professional journey that spans more than four decades…
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Indian Child Welfare Act – A Deep Dive into one of the US’s Most Interesting Pieces of Adoption Legislation
A while back, I started MyAdoptionStories to talk about adoption from a personal perspective, especially because of my adopted brother. Early on, my research included learning about the Indian Child Welfare Act (ICWA) of 1978, which is a policy that sets standards for Native American adoption. When I started researching this act, I realized there…
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Adoption With Special Needs – What You Should Know
