MY THANKS GO FIRST TO THE OVER FIFTY young people who gave me their time and their information. I agreed not to publish their names and so cannot thank them individually. Thanks also to the Adoptive Families Association of B.C. who, with the Chris Spencer Foundation, supported the more recent research project.
Following is a list of people who offered suggestions and information when I first began researching. Some are quoted in the book and some are not. All added greatly to my knowledge, and I appreciate their interest and their caring attitude toward the teenagers I was trying to understand:
Mary Beauchamp, Program Officer, Department of Social Services, Government of the North West Territories; Child Welfare League of America, New York; Susan Drysdale, Co-ordinator, Children in Care, Department of Social Services, Halifax, N.S.; Pam Hendy, Canadian Adoptee Reform Association, Williams Lake, B.C.; Anne Lea, Adoption Resource Centre, Edmonton; Dolores Lindsay, mother of five, Winnipeg; Clair Marcus, author, adoptee reform activist; Joyce Masselink, Social Worker, Ministry of Human Resources, Victoria, B.C.; Linda MacDonald, Canadian Adoptee Reform Association; Nancy Nelson, Community Worker, Victoria; Patricia O'Brian, Ministry of Community and Social Services, Toronto; Irene Patterson, Program Consultant for Adoption Exchanges, Fredericton, N.B.; Rolland Perrin, psychiatric social worker, Department of Health, Williams Lake, B.C.; Wanda Pillon, Parent Finders, Victoria, B.C.; David Ross, Friendship Centre, Williams Lake, B.C.; Audrey Scrammell, Canadian Adoption Reunion Registry, Victoria, B.C.; Mark Spence-Vinger, Department of Human Resources, Williams Lake, B.C.; Betty Stinston, Social Worker, Department of Health and Human Resources, Whitehorse, Yukon; birth mothers, Anna K., Kelli A., Tammi K., Barb H., Lou S., and Chris P., who gave me hours of their time. I am also grateful to the many parents and adopted adults who phoned and visited with their stories in the hope that they would help others.
Special thanks, too, to the ten teenagers who agreed to share their time to help with further research, and others, in particular Diedre and Danielle, who kept calling to encourage me, and Karen Madeiros, Helen Mark, Margaret Robinson, Anne Melcombe, Jennifer Hillman, Margaret Kwong, and Harriet Sancott, all of the Adoptive Families Association of B.C.; Rodney Louie, Stliatliimx, Band Chief; Gail Barth, Jennifer Murn, and Fern Crook, adoptive mothers; Danielle Finnegan, an adopted adult who read and commented on my manuscript; Lizabeth Hall, Scott Clark, and Mark Handley, United Native Nations; Betty Stewart, Parent Finders; Joss Halverson, Librarian; Sharon Jinkerson, aboriginal adoption counsellor; Vivienne Green and Christine Patsey of the Gitanmaax Reserve; Dean Fortin, adopted adult who read the manuscript; and the many people who have taken the time to tell me their adoption stories. You are all, in some way, a part of this book.