Drawn from the compelling stories of people who have been adopted, this book provides an intelligent and accessible description of the distinct emotional and spiritual challenges faced by adoptees and their families.

In engaging language Ronald Nydam acquaints the pastor, the pastoral counselor, and all the members of the adoption triad -- adoptee, birth parent(s), and adoptive family -- with some of the struggles that adopted people confront in their development and in their adult lives.

Avoiding overstating this plight, Nydam maps out an alternative developmental pathway that adoptees travel, given the realities of relinquishment and adoption. Adoptees may grow up well and joyfully, Nydam concludes, but they do grow up differently.