The Real Price of a Baby - A Birth Mother’s Story of Domestic Infant Adoption, Coercion, Loss, and Reunion

This memoir offers a timely, firsthand examination of private domestic infant adoption in the United States from a birth mother’s perspective. As the mother of three adult children placed through adoption—a 35-year-old daughter and 33-year-old twins—I bring lived authority to a subject often told without the mother’s voice.
The Real Price of a Baby exposes how the private adoption industry—not foster care or child protective services—can pressure vulnerable women toward relinquishment while presenting adoption as the only responsible choice. The book challenges readers to reconsider consent, coercion, and the true cost of adoption for mothers and children.
The narrative also follows five years of reunion with my children, showing the lifelong impact on the adoption triad, especially adoptees. By combining personal testimony, industry critique, and practical resources for women in crisis pregnancies, the manuscript speaks to current conversations about reproductive autonomy, family separation, and adoption reform.
The Real Price of a Baby is positioned for readers of memoir, women’s issues, social justice, adoption reform, and family separation narratives.