Based on research carried out with over 500 adopted people, this book explores what happens in the long term when adopted adults search for - or are searched for by - their birth relatives.

This book explores what happens in the long term when adopted adults search for - or are searched for by - their birth relatives. Based on research carried out with over 500 adopted people, the book examines the process of searching for identity: being "told" and openess about origins; the adoption experience; feelings of difference and belonging; tracing relatives; being rejected; the reunion experience and beyond. It also examines the particular dynamics of adoptions between people of different racial origins.