Adoption: Changing Families, Changing Times draws together contributions from all those with an interest in adoption: adopted people; birth parents and adoptive parents; practitioners and managers in the statutory and voluntary sectors; academics and policy makers. Chapters on research and policy are interspersed with those from people with first-hand experience of being adopted, becoming an adoptive parent or giving a child up for adoption. Together, they provide unique insights into a subject that although regularly in the media is often surrounded by prejudice and misconception. Topics covered include:

* children and young people in care

* trying to adopt

* waiting for adoption

* life after adoption

* the politics of adoption.

This accessible text offers a comprehensive view of adoption policy, practice and services and analyses why adoption has become so controversial. It provides professional and general reader alike with a fully rounded picture of adoption and exposes some of the myths surrounding it.