A doptees face challenges becoming part of a new family in the context of separation from the biological family. To see adoption as a simple variation on the typical manner in which families are formed is to miss the complexity surrounding the processes of relinquishment and adoption. As Brodzinsky, Smith, and Brodzinsky (1998) point out, overall adoption statistics are difficult to come by as national data have not been systematically collected for some time. States are not required to record

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... r report the number of private, domestic adoptions, although international adoption statistics are reported. The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute (1997) estimates that there are 1.5 million adopted children in the United States-that is, more than 2% of American children. When other members of the "adoption triad" (birth and adoptive parents) are added to these numbers, as well as extended birth and adoptive families and all those who will become connected to adoptees during their lives (e.g., adoptees' spouses, children, grandchildren), the percentage of persons touched by adoption grows considerably. The Evan B.