Product Description

An anthology of 100 lively, informative articles on all aspects of adopting from China.

The voices in Passage are fresh, direct, and informed. Read original research by Kay Johnson and her Chinese colleagues--the world's top authorities on adoption and abandonment in China. Get advice from renowned physicians Dana Johnson, Jerri Ann Jenista, and others who specialize in international adoption. Enjoy personal accounts from adoptive parents about the joys of adopting and the challenges and triumphs of parenthood.

The writers--adoptive parents and adoption and medical professionals from across the United States, Canada and Britain--discuss the process up close and personally, from the emotionally charged period of waiting to adopt, through the adoption journey, settling in as a new or enlarged family, specific issues of health and development in young children adopted from China, the special rewards and challenges of adopting children over the age of one and of single parenting, perspectives on adoption from China from inside and outside the adoption community, the loaded issues of culture, language, identity, and race, accounts of going back to China after adopting, and, finally, a look down the road of adoptive family life at issues that don't come up in families formed the "usual" way.

A Passage to the Heart: Writings from Families with Children from China is the collaborative effort of more than two dozen chapters of FCC and similar adoptive-family support groups in three countries. Each purchase benefits both the Amity Foundation (fccny.org/oaa.asp) and the Foundation for Chinese Orphanages (thefco.org), which have been working to improve conditions in Chinese orphanages since the mid 1990s.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #269630 in Books
• Published on: 1999-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 341 pages

About the Author
Amy Klatzkin, editor of the forthcoming Adoptive Families Guide to Adoption, 2000-2001, lived and worked in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, from 1984-86 and has been editing books about China for more than 20 years. She is a board member of San Francisco Bay Area Families with Children from China and the Chinese Culture Foundation of San Francisco and is on the editorial advisory board of Adoptive Families magazine.

Customer Reviews

A handbook for adopting a daughter from China
I wasn't expecting the wealth of information that I got from this book! I was expecting short heartfelt stories about adopting from China. It has that, but also so much more. It is full of useful information for every step of the process, including information for pediatricians that might not have experience with chinese children. I highly recommend!

great book
This book is very informative, not so much on the official processes but in what to expect when returning home. There are also many useful resources listed in the book.

A Tad More Perspective
I have been reading this marvelous resource but was deeply discouraged when I read four articles in a row about sickly children. It reminded me of Sophie's Choice in having to choose. How does one do that??? Here is how it goes: you arrive in China, are handed a very ill child and the next day, having spent a significant amount of time with this child and attempted to bond, are handed another one. You are then left with the onerous choice you must make. I was so moved by this only to move on to the next article with a like scenario. Two different outcomes. THEN the next article contains yet another sick child. Then the editors move to the next subject. Very disheartening. The book is all what everyone else has written as well, but be forewarned, that there are some tough scenarios of others whose paths we all intend to follow. I have now changed my prayers to reflect the reality check the book provided. Being so close to our referral date was probably not great timing to confront these issues.