cover image May the Circle Be Unbroken: An Intimate Journey Into the Heart of Adoption

May the Circle Be Unbroken: An Intimate Journey Into the Heart of Adoption

Lynn Franklin. Harmony, $24 (288pp) ISBN 978-0-517-70755-5

Franklin's memoir/study, written with the assistance of Ferber (Steven Spielberg), is in keeping with the current emphasis on open adoption, whereby members of the adoption ""triad"" (birth parents, adoptive parents, adoptees) have contact with one another. In 1966, Franklin, pregnant, unmarried and under pressure from her parents, placed her newborn son, Andrew, with the Spence-Chapin adoption agency. In 1993, mother and son were reunited. Drawing on her own experience as well as on research and extensive interviews, Franklin strongly advocates assisting interested adoptees in searching for their birth parents. Even though reunions are not necessarily happy and the process is emotionally difficult for everyone--most often, especially the adoptive parents--Franklin maintains that meeting one or both birth parents is a crucial step toward easing the adoptee's feelings of abandonment. Franklin's open adoption agenda can sometimes cloud her arguments. She admits that many who go abroad to adopt do so ""because they do not want to deal with birth parents,"" but she counters with an unconvincingly categorical proof: ""We know, however, that no matter how distant these birth parents may be, they continue to exist in the hearts and minds of the children."" Franklin, a literary agent who now serves on the board of Spence-Chapin, covers a wide gamut of topics, from transracial adoption to the rights of birth fathers to the importance of support groups in helping triad members build cooperative rather than adversarial relationships. Ultimately, this is a helpful guide for readers already convinced of the wisdom of open adoption. (Nov.)