by Dawn Hartman
SFDS Parent
On Monday, October 17, adoptive families at SFDS hosted an evening with Adam Pertman. Adam is a Pulitzer-nominated journalist and one of the country’s leading experts on adoption, foster care, and family issues. Currently, he is the Executive Director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. Adam has won numerous awards for his work, writes and speaks extensively about family issues, and is frequently interviewed by news agencies, such as The New York Times and NPR, and has appeared on Oprah and the Today show. Recently, he was on Nightline discussing Steve Jobs’ death; Steve was an adoptee. During our event, Adam discussed some of the research and findings from his two newly published books – Adoption Nation: How the Adoption Revolution is Transforming Our Families – and America and Adoption by Lesbians and Gay Men: A New Dimension in Family Diversity. These books are available in the reference section of the SFDS Library.
For Adam, adoption is like a prism through which the spectrum of modern families is reflected and can be better understood. He also talks about the concept of normal, but different. The definition of a “normal family” is evolving every day and yet many still cling to the concept of a biologically formed nuclear family. In reality, a large percentage of children have adoptive, divorced, single, LGBT, step, and/or foster parents. Others have skin color or other physical attributes that are different from those of some of their family members. Thankfully, the SFDS community is composed of many types of families, and everyone is encouraged to bring their “whole” selves to school.
November is National Adoption Month and this campaign was created to raise awareness. As such, please note that every member of our community has a real connection to adoption. SFDS students, faculty and staff, parents, and extended family members are part of adoptive and/or birth families. For information on upcoming Parent Ed events, please click here.
