History of U.S. Adoption

Kinship by Design: A History of Adoption in the Modern United States (Ellen Herman)

Explores modern U.S. adoption history and how standards, expertise, and policy shaped who gets separated and how adoption is justified. University of Chicago Press

Family Matters: Secrecy and Disclosure in the History of Adoption (E. Wayne Carp)

Explores how secrecy and disclosure practices evolved, and what records regimes do to adoptees/families. Harvard University Press

Adoption in America: Historical Perspectives (E. Wayne Carp, ed.)

Explores multiple historical angles (institutions, law, culture) that help readers see separation as policy + ideology, not fate. Google Books