Gretchen is the author of Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood, forthcoming from St. Martin’s Press in February 2024.
“Meticulously and empathetically researched, Relinquished offers a close examination of motherhood in the United States by analyzing who is able to enjoy the privilege of mothering on their terms, who our society deems worthy of investment, as well as who continues to be excluded and marginalized. The stories of these women are gripping, intimate, and powerful.”
“Sisson’s powerful, poignant research into the aftermath of adoption is a must-read in this era of staggering income inequality, escalating abortion bans and a non-existent social safety net. Relinquished confronts the question too many choose to ignore: “’What do ‘choice’ and ‘agency’ really mean, when the system has already whittled away all your options?’”
— Jessica Bruder, Nomadland: Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century
Gretchen Sisson, PhD, is a sociologist who studies abortion and adoption in the United States. She is a researcher at Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health, part of the Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology, and Reproductive Sciences at the University of California, San Francisco. Her studies on adoption include hundreds of in-depth interviews with women who have relinquished infants for domestic adoption over the past 60 years, with a particular focus on women who have relinquished since Roe v. Wade.
Her research examining adoption decision-making after abortion denial (as part of The Turnaway Study) was cited in the Supreme Court’s dissent in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health from Justices Breyer, Kagan, and Sotomayor. In response to the oral arguments and decision in Dobbs, she authored pieces in the Washington Post, The Nation, and the Washington Post (again). Gretchen’s research has been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered and Consider This, as well as in New York Magazine, VOX, and other outlets.
Gretchen is represented by McKinnon Literary. She lives in San Francisco with her husband, three children, and their little free library. She is a native of Pennsylvania, and an alumna of Amherst College and Boston College.
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The Adoptive and Foster Family Coalition of New York returns with the 35th Annual New York State Foster Care and Adoption Conference!
LIVE and in person! PLUS continued virtual delivery in the AFFCNY.Network!
Thursday, May 9th and Friday, May 10th at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY!
