Considering Adoption

Considering Adoption

By Mary Motley Kalergis

Considering Adoption is a deeply human portrait of one of life's most complex and hopeful decisions. Photographer and oral historian Mary Motley Kalergis spent years listening to adoptive parents, birth parents, and adoptees as they reflected on what it means to create a family through adoption. Her black-and-white documentary photographs and first-person narratives capture the emotional and practical realities of the adoption journey-from the first, tentative conversations about whether to adopt, through waiting and matching, to the joy and challenges of welcoming a child.

The stories reveal the courage and vulnerability of everyone touched by adoption: expectant parents considering placement, individuals navigating domestic or international adoption, and families formed through foster care. Kalergis offers an honest, compassionate look at the hopes, fears, and transformations that define this life-changing choice.

Originally published to acclaim and now reissued in a beautifully crafted new edition, Considering Adoption is an inspiring resource for prospective adoptive parents, birth parents, social workers, counselors, and anyone drawn to the personal stories behind adoption.