Families and Adoption looks at  two broad aspects of adoption: the ways in which adoption reflects attitudes about families and family making on the one hand and, on the other, the ways in which adoption rests on unequal relations of power. 

In the first part, the authors explore what adoption teaches us about family norms and forms at different historical moments and in different historical contexts. In the second half of the book, the authors focus on the intersections of various relationships of power and the ways inequalities shape the adoption processes. As adoption involves individuals, it also involves the wider society and is influenced by systems of power and inequality. Families and Adoption concludes by revisiting the broad issues of adoption to highlight what adoption teaches us about families, social institutions, and relationships of power within and across societies.

Families and Adoption is part of "Families in the 21st Century", a Pearson series of short texts that focus on critical issues facing families today.