Speaker

Adam Pertman blog

Adam Pertman is Executive Director of the Donaldson Adoption Institute, a national nonprofit that is the pre-eminent research, policy and education organization in its field. Pertman, a former Pulitzer-nominated journalist, is also Associate Editor of Adoption Quarterly, the premier research journal dealing with adoption and foster care. He is the author/editor of two newly published books, Adoption Nation: How the Adoption Revolution is Transforming Our Families and America (which has been reviewed as "the most important book ever written on the subject") and Gay and Lesbian Adoption: A New Dimension in Family Diversity, and has written many other chapters and articles on adoption- and family-related issues in books, scholarly journals and mass-market publications.

Pertman has delivered hundreds of keynotes, trainings and other presentations in this country and internationally for organizations including the Child Welfare League of America, the American Adoption Congress, the National Academy of Sciences, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Joint Council on International Children's Services, the Massachusetts Adoption Resource Exchange, the National Association of Child Advocates, and numerous professionals including judges, social workers, psychiatrists, educators and journalists - as well as pre-adoptive and adoptive parents, birthparents and adopted persons. Pertman's commentaries on families and children have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Christian Science Monitor, Boston Globe, Baltimore Sun, Miami Herald and on National Public Radio, CNN, NBC, CBS, ABC and Fox News, among others. Articles about him, his book and the Adoption Institute have appeared in numerous publications nationwide, including the New York Times and People. As a leading expert on adoption and family issues, he is widely quoted in the media and has been a guest on many programs, including "Oprah," "Today," "The View" and "Nightline."

Pertman was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for his writing about adoption in The Boston Globe. His other honors include a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Florida Adoption Council, an Angel in Adoption award from the U.S. Congressional Coalition on Adoption Institute; the Special Friend of Children Award from the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry; the Dave Thomas Center for Adoption Law's first award for "the nation's greatest contributor to public understanding about adoption and permanency placement issues;" the Friend of Children Award from the ODS Adoption Community of New England; a Family Builder Award from the American Fertility Assn., the Century Foundation's prestigious Leonard Silk Journalism Award; the President's Award from the African American Cultural Council of Virginia; the Year 2000 Journalism Award from Holt International Children's Services; and the American Adoption Congress' first award for the journalist who most informed the nation on adoption issues and "for his eloquent witnessing of contemporary adoption."

Before embarking on his current career, Pertman was a senior journalist with The Boston Globe for more than two decades. His positions included Foreign Editor, Washington News Editor, Diplomatic Correspondent, National Political Correspondent, Family and Children's Issues Reporter, and restaurant reviewer. His assignments included the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Philippine revolution, the Gulf War, the Mideast peace process, the O.J. Simpson trials, and several presidential elections. He is a member of the Council on Contemporary Families, the Editorial Advisory Board of Adoptive Families magazine, the National Adoption Advisory Committee of the Child Welfare League of America, and the Advisory Board of Orphans International Worldwide. He and his wife, Judy Baumwoll, live in Massachusetts with their two children: Zachary, 18, and Emilia, 15.