The three authors of a groundbreaking new book, Adoption Unfiltered are celebrating their book launch right here in the metro area.
Adoptee Sara Easterly, who grew up in Littleton, and adoptive parent Lori Holden, who grew up in Arvada and has raised her children there, along with birth parent Kelsey Vander Vliet Ranyard, who hails from Indiana, will launch Adoption Unfiltered on its official release date of December 1, at 6 p.m. after hours at the Arvada Library, 7525 W 57th Ave, in Olde Town. Admission is free, but registration is requested.
“Essential”
Adoption Unfiltered: Revelations from Adoptees, Birth Parents, Adoptive Parents, and Allies is already being praised by professors, adoption professionals, adoption luminaries, adoption educators, and others from all parts of the adoption constellation as an essential title in every adoption library.
“For too long,” says author Sara Easterly, “the adoption narrative has been crafted by adoption professionals and adoptive parents. While well-meaning, this lens misses the important perspectives of the central figures in adoption: adoptees, who have lived experience that needs to inform adoption practices in our homes and in our culture. Our book is adoptee-centered and adoptee-led and includes 50 qualitative interviewees of varying backgrounds and experiences.”
Kelsey Vander Vliet Ranyard, another author, states a goal of the book. “We aim to expand the over-simplistic win-win view people tend to have of adoption and add nuance and complexity for better understanding. Because really, adoption is not a win-win – we only wish it were. We are often unprepared for the complexities that inevitably come, intensifying the suffering for adoptees, birth parents, and adoptive parents.”
“In Part 1 we unfilter adoptee experiences, in Part II we unfilter birth parent experiences, and finally in Part III we unfilter adoptive parent experiences,” says third author Lori Holden. “With vulnerability and candor, we help introduce ourselves to ourselves, and then to each other. When we listen for understanding, we cultivate compassion for ourselves and for each other, and with that understanding we can re-imagine adoption in ways that better serve adoptees and their parents, which is Part IV on Healing and Hope.”
Thought Leaders Spanning Three Generations
Together, the three authors bring 75 years of lived experience about adoption, not to mention each being considered a thought leader in adoption spaces. Sara is founder of the Adoptee Voices writing groups and an award-winning author and essayist; Kelsey helped write a brand new bill about adoption transparency that was recently introduced with bi-partisan support by Congressional Representative Doug Lamborn (the ADOPT Act); and is co-host of the first-ever podcast for birth moms, Twisted Sisterhood; and Lori is the author of another must-have adoption book, The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption and was honored by Senator Michael Bennet as an Angel in Adoption®. They span three generations: a millennial (Kelsey), a genXer (Sara), and a boomer (Lori). The trio also collaborates on a video podcast called Adoption Unfiltered.
Published by Rowman & Littlefield, Adoption Unfiltered: Revelations from Adoptees, Birth Parents, Adoptive Parents, and Allies is available for pre-sale through your preferred online bookseller and will be available at the launch event thanks to sponsor and independent bookstore, The Bookies. Along with a book signing, the launch party will feature live music and art by adoptees, interviewees as panelists, light refreshments, and fun giveaways. For more info and to RSVP, visit https://adoptionunfiltered.com/events/denver-release-party/
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. While clicking these links won’t cost you extra money, they help us keep this site up and running. See our disclosure policy.
Author: Mile High Mamas
