The Alternate Path Book

A good example of a book that annoyed me in spite of the fact that I agree with the basic premise that open adoption is overall a good choice. The tone is patronising, and there's a large section devoted to the author looking down his nose at women who choose abortion or single motherhood rather than adoption. It was incredibly off-putting. The rest of the book is basically a cheerleading section for open adoption, with a brief chapter that gives lip service to the need for counselling for all parties involved. Dozens of positive "testimonials," often given without even so much as the first name of the person being quoted, with no other evidence given to balance it out. I realise the book was written a quarter of a century ago, which is probably why it's so much in favour of practices which are now considered unnecessarily coercive toward expectant mothers and fathers (extensive pre-birth contact, the presence of the prospective adoptive parents in the delivery room, etc.). The author also refers to expectant parents as birth parents, which was an irritant throughout the book. Birth parents are only termed thus *after* parental rights have been terminated and the adoption is final, not before.