Preparing emotionally and psychologically for search is a profound challenge for adult adoptees. This important new book, Searching For A Past: The Adopted Adult’s Unique Process of Finding Identity, provides a sensitive and realistic look at the various mazes an adoptee must navigate in order to find him-/herself.

This is not a how-to-find-your-birth-family book. Instead, the book is designed to help the adult adoptee prepare for the emotional side of the search-and-reunion process. The author begins by discussing the unique struggles a child faces growing up adopted, then addresses the issues involved in deciding whether or not to search, how to communicate a decision to search to adoptive parents, how to prepare emotionally for the search. and how to initiate the search and the first contact.

Additional chapters give insight into special issues within the search, such as learning of your adoption as an adult, finding dead ends or death, facing a history of abuse or neglect, and encountering denial or rejection. Other chapters discuss the implications of search during mid-life and the concerns of searching as a teenager.

The final section of the book addresses the concerns, challenges and rewards of incorporating birth-family members into one’s life.

Searching For a Past is valuable reading not only for the adoptee, but also for adoptive parents, significant others of adoptees, adoption counselors, and anyone who desires a clearer, stronger understanding of the search-and-reunion experience. A thorough and valuable guide for any adopted adult, it is filled with sensitivity and compassionate insight into the adoption experience. It can become a very affirming and helpful asset to anyone approaching or processing their search and reunion issues.