Somebody's Child: Stories from the Private Files of an Adoption Attorney

After two heartbreaking losses, an adoptive couple find that "the third time's a charm".

A birth mother is abandoned by her adoptive sponsors-only six weeks before her due date.

A birth mother is caught in a torturous cycle of drugs, theft, and prison, where she bears one child while handcuffed to her bed.

An African-American couple adopts a biracial child-only to find racism on both sides of the fence.

Today, adoption can be a complex legal procedure, a high-stakes game of chance, an expensive investment, and a heart-wrenching drama. Here are personal narratives from birth mothers and adoptive parents alike, framed by the perspective of an adoption attorney. These stories touch on many issues surrounding adoption including adoption scams, gay adoption, and open adoption, and touch on the hopes and fears on both sides of the adoption agreement.

Randi Barrow received her law degree from Loyola Law School and has since been practicing as an adoption attorney. A leading voice in both adoption and fertility issues, she is a frequent speaker at RESOLVE seminars, the national infertility support organization, and has given California State Bar courses on adoption. She has contributed a chapter to the book Infertility Counseling: A Handbook for Clinicians.