Gretchen Sisson
@gesisson
Followers
4K
Following
576
Media
38
Statuses
3K
Sociologist @ANSIRH/UCSF; author of “Relinquished." Please find me on IG (gretchen.sisson) or Bluesky (gretchensisson).
San Francisco, California
Joined February 2009
Tomorrow afternoon, my Seattle book talk with @theadoptedlife will be on @BookTV @cspan. I really enjoyed this conversation with Angela! Many thanks to her for joining me.
1
7
16
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but:. You can love an adopted person (even in your own family) and still be critical of adoption as a system, and want to envision what abolition means. In fact, it’s often because of one’s love for that person that you do.
2
42
201
"Adoption experts, including academics, adoptees and a birth mother, told Hearst Newspapers the campaign’s fundamental message paints a misleading picture & oversimplifies what is a complex, traumatic experience for mothers who relinquish their child.".
houstonchronicle.com
Seven adoption experts told Hearst Newspapers the campaign’s fundamental message paints...
4
33
86
It was so wonderful to meet you in person, Sandra. Thank you for being there. 💜.
Here in the Tenement Museum, Lower East Side, at the watch party for @gesisson in conversation with Christina Baker Kline. As a Baby Scoop Era #adoptee and manufactured orphan who came from an Orphan Train Movement adoption agency, I’ll be the one hanging on every word.
1
0
19
And… here’s the link. (Oops.).
washingtonpost.com
In “Relinquished,” sociologist Gretchen Sisson presents a little-seen side of adoption: The women who lose their children.
0
0
5
Thank you to @Tatum_Hunter_ at @washingtonpost for this thoughtful review. I am grateful for her perspective as a reporter, a reader, and a relinquishing mother.
2
18
64
Today’s the day! ‘RELINQUISHED’ is available from @stmartinspress. Fourteen years after beginning this project, I’m so excited to share it with the world. I hope you’ll pick up a copy today, and I can’t wait to hear what you think.
3
16
42
Thank you, Julia!.
It's rare that a book comes along and so dramatically expands my perspective as much as @gesisson's forthcoming book, about adoption, did. She centers voices we rarely hear in adoption narratives: American birth mothers relinquishing their infants
0
0
4
Thank you @damemagazine for sharing this excerpt from ‘Relinquished’ on the history of adoption and family separation.
damemagazine.com
To understand contemporary adoption, it is essential to understand the long and far-reaching tradition of family separation throughout American history. These historical traumas shape how adoption is...
1
16
43
0
4
0
RT @JennieinDC: Y’all I’m 2/3 of the way through @gesisson’s book and it’s an absolute must read. 10/10 would totally recommend.
0
2
0
What does adoption have to do with poverty and inequality in the US?. Everything.
4
72
222
Also, please be sure to talk to people other than adoption professionals whose jobs are specifically to promote adoption when writing on this issue.
1
9
73
This article misrepresents our findings. It’s not that 90% of those with unplanned pregnancies chose parenting over adoption. It’s that 91% of those *specifically denied abortion* still choose parenting over adoption. This is MUCH lower. @JoanneKenen.
politico.com
4
59
232
Well, look what's up for preorder. 👀.
bookshop.org
The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood
3
9
37
“But I still would have said, for so many years, that I loved that home. Because it was the only place I felt safe for so long. God, I even thought about getting pregnant again so I could go back there. Thank goodness I didn’t.”.
0
2
17
“The trauma obliterated me. Destroyed me. The love was gone after she was born. I would go through cycles of trying to keep my life together, getting my GED, so she’d be proud of me if she met me. But then the grief would swamp me and I’d drink and it would be rock bottom again.”.
1
3
20
“There were a few moments, when the baby would kick, or when I’d see an outfit and think about getting to dress her up myself. I wish, I wish, I wish, I could have seized one of those moments and run, run, run away so far and so fast.”.
1
2
17