The National Crittenton Foundation has launched a new service on their website called Crittenton Connections, which aims to help connect people looking for birth parents, adult adoptees or other family members. The service can be accessed via The Foundation’s website here. Crittenton Connections was created in response to the calls and emails received by the Crittenton family of agencies across the country and The National Crittenton Foundation from people looking for a family member. The service enables individuals who were involved at any point with a Crittenton agency (parents, children and family members) to post their contact information and to search for individuals who have also input information into the database. More information on the history of The National Crittenton Foundation is here.
birth parents
New service will help link adult adoptees and birth parents
The National Crittenton Foundation has launched a new service on their website called Crittenton Connections, which aims to help connect people looking for birth parents, adult adoptees or other family members. The service can be accessed via The Foundation’s website here. Crittenton Connections was created in response to the calls and emails received by the Crittenton family of agencies across the country and The National Crittenton Foundation from people looking for a family member. The service enables individuals who were involved at any point with a Crittenton agency (parents, children and family members) to post their contact information and to search for individuals who have also input information into the database. More information on the history of The National Crittenton Foundation is here.
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Birth Parents: TAKE THIS SURVEY

If you are a birth parent (mother or father) in an open or closed adoption who relinquished voluntarily or had your rights terminated, PLEASE TAKE THIS SURVEY. They are looking for 600 participants by December 1, 2008. Let's blow that number out of the water.
Here's some info:
The Surrender Survey Project is for parents (mother and fathers) who have voluntarily relinquished and/or had their rights (involuntarily) terminated. And so, in that way, it is all inclusive. More over, the questions pertain to both parents in closed and open adoption, not just one or the other. I know that there are some things that try to exclude one group or the other but this survey acknowledges both. In fact, this survey's success depends on answers from both closed and open adoption birth parents.
Of special note: for parents that have relinquished more than one child, you are asked to take it once for each child relinquished. (Meaning, if you have placed two children, please take the survey twice, answering specifics for each individual child on each individual survey attempt.)
(If you need a bit more info, read the birth/first parent blog. Or just take the survey!)
The Spirit of Open Adoption
CWLA Press
1997
978-0878686377
314
$18.95
Published in 1997, The Spirit of Open Adoption remains one of the best available presentations of the philosophy (not the mechanics) of open adoption. Gritter—a long-time social worker whose agency helped pioneer current open adoption practices—advocates for a value-based, child-centered approach to openness. Blending philosophy, spirituality, and personal experience, he makes a compelling case for ongoing, face-to-face contact. Throughout, he emphasizes the importance of honesty, respect, and mutual commitment from all participants. Realistic about the pain and possible ethical pitfalls of domestic adoption, he also recognizes its potential joys.
Gritter writes to a wide audience, including first parents, adoptive parents, adoptees and adoption professionals. As a result, the book can be unwieldy and could stand a good edit. (This, not the content, keeps me from rating it higher.) Readers willing to slog through some of the more repetitive sections, however, will discover one of the classics of open adoption literature.