Allison Davis Maxon LMFT is the Chief Operating Officer at the National Center on Adoption and Permanency. She has 26 years of adoption practice in child welfare, foster care and mental health. She is a curriculum developer and Master Trainer based in California, USA. Sharon Roszia, MS, is a Consultant at the National Center on Adoption and Permanency, and was the developer of the Seven Core Issues in Adoption and Permanency in 1988. She has 55 years of adoption clinical practice in the field of child welfare. She is a national and international trainer, as well as a curriculum developer. She is based in California, USA.
What do you get when two highly experienced, talented, thoughtful and respected adoption experts write a book together? The answer is this exceptional piece of work, which falls into the rare `must have, must read and must use' category of literature relating to all sorts of `nontraditional' families. From my perspective as both an adoption professional and an adoptive parent, I couldn't recommend it more strongly. -- Adam Pertman, President of the National Center on Adoption and Permanency and author of Adoption Nation As an adoptive Dad of three kids from foster care, I found the book to be an insightful and useful resource. It gives voice to both the challenges and resiliencies of those touched by foster care and adoption. -- Sean Anders, writer/director of Paramount Pictures' Instant Family Too often as healthcare providers, we focus on the medical, contractual, and economic aspects of adoption and 3rd party reproduction. Acknowledging the 7 core issues and their impact on all parties associated with this process is an important first step in improving the care we deliver to our patients. -- Matthew C. Goering, Ph.D., HCLD University of Kansas School of Medicine, Center for Advanced Reproductive Medicine As an adopted person, I'm very familiar with the seven core issues, both comprehensively and experientially. Yet even with my prior knowledge, there was a deeper understanding to be attained through the pages of this book. Having had the pleasure to work with and consider both Sharon and Allison my friends, I've seen first hand the passion they have for adoption and helping children find permanence. Their collective expertise, contained here, is, in my opinion, the gold standard for understanding and working towards permanence in adoption. -- Keith Silverstein, Voice Actor and Adoption Advocate A beautifully-organized handbook, full of both strong, conceptual understandings and practical recommendations for living, surviving and thriving in this world of adoption. -- Michael Trout, Director The Infant-Parent Institute For decades, I have been responding to these seven core issues as an adopted person, as a parent by adoption, as a poet. Now I imagine myself as a therapist trying to help someone in the adoption constellation. I would definitely want this book close at hand. -- Penny Callan Partridge, Co-founder in 1973, Adoption Forum of Philadelphia