Swimming Up the Sun is now available for purchase at amazon.com!

Detroit filmmaker Joan Mandell recalled shooting the stories of birth mothers and fathers as part of a campaign to help teens become more aware of the effects of unwanted pregnancy. "The stories were so powerful, especially those of birth fathers. I'd always assumed that the men, who had no legal rights whatsoever, also had no feelings. Not true. Like the birthmothers who were often coerced into giving up their children to closed adoption, the birth fathers rememberd and grieved, in their own ways." Adoption activist Mary Martin Mason, author of Out of the Shadows: Birthfathers' Stories, helped arrange the Mandell interviews. "The adoption agency in Minnesota that helped us find the participants took control of the footage," said Mandell. "I wish I could get access to work with it. The stories were moving; many years later, they still haunt me."

I've been making the rounds of local adoption agencies and adoption counselling organizations: CASE, Adoptions Together, and the Barker Foundation. I find many adoptive parents on staff, fine people. I'm seeking opportunities to promote my book and become an adoption speaker. On the current domestic scene, most birth mothers negotiate for living as well as medical expenses. The Internet allows direct communication and a kind of bidding process has developed. It's definitely a seller's market for domestic babies. The other way to adopt domestically  is through the foster care system. According to a report I read about, there are three or four families ready and willing to foster and adopt for every child available. The barrier is the social services bureaucracy. Internationally, lawyers, adoption agencies, and brokers exact fees in the thousands of dollars, and there are additional expenses for immigration arrangements. Many countries are developing domestic adoption services, and fewer countries allow their children to be adopted away. My Dad paid one pound, three shillings for me, as I recall.

I've got a busy Fall schedule of events and would love to see you at any of them. First up is an author signing at Borders Books in Downtown Silver Spring, Friday, October 17 at 6pm, 8518 Fenton Street, Silver Spring, Maryland. Next, I'll be at the Greenbelt Community Center in Old Greenbelt, Maryland for "The Artful Afternoon," Sunday, November 2, from 3-4 pm. Following that, I'll journey to the Fairfax County Library (Pohick Regional Branch) on Sunday, November 15, from 3-5 pm. It's fun to meet people and discuss adoption from their standpoints. All the events are free. Come join us!