cover image Birthmothers: Women Who Have Relinquished Babies for Adoption Tell Their Stories

Birthmothers: Women Who Have Relinquished Babies for Adoption Tell Their Stories

Merry Bloch Jones. Chicago Review Press, $14.95 (296pp) ISBN 978-1-55652-192-8

Often revealing their experiences for the first time, 72 American mothers who gave up their babies answered questionnaires and participated in in-depth interviews with sociologist Jones ( Step Mother ) for this searching study. Although their ages and backgrounds vary widely, almost all of the mothers, the author notes, share regrets about their decision to relinquish their babies, with a majority reporting troubled marriages. Most traumatized among those interviewed were teenagers too young to have a voice in the decision to surrender the baby, or who felt stigmatized by illegitimacy. Sixty percent of those who gave up a baby to adoption agencies that ``seal'' records later sought to locate their children. A chapter titled ``Finding, Winning and Losing'' sums up the obstacles to establishing intimacy after reunion, and discusses relationships between birth parents and adoptive parents. First serial to New Woman. (Oct.)