Adoption

DNA autoradiogram in a petri dish (Photo Rafe Swan/Alamy)

Spring 2019

Genomics fills a gap for adoptees

If you have gene variants such as BRCA or Lynch Syndrome, both of which may lead to difficult-to-treat cancers, “you’ve noticed it,” says Thomas May, an endowed professor of bioethics in Washington State University’s College of Medicine. “Noticed” is May’s measured way of saying that “multiple people in your family have died” of breast or colon cancer.

“Unless you don’t have access to family health history,” May adds.

One of the primary diagnostic tools available to doctors is family medical history. Breast cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other conditions are often genetic. Knowing that a parent had a disease is important information … » More …

Summer 2011

A Home for Every Child

Patricia Susan Hart ’91 MA, ’97 PhD

Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest with University of Washington, 2010

At the end of the 19th century, adoption became part of a broader movement to reform the orphanage and poor farm system in the United States. In her most recent book, Patricia Susan Hart, who teaches journalism and American studies at the University of Idaho, looks at the issue of child placement in Washington. The book … » More …

Fall 2004

WSU Mom of the Year listened to her heart

In the early 1980s, Susan Jackson of Lakewood wasn’t interested in marriage, but longed for a child. Although single-parent international adoptions were rare in those days, within four years she adopted two little girls from India. Jennifer graduated in May 2004 from Washington State University, and Krissy will complete her WSU degree in December.

In a five-page letter of nomination, Jennifer successfully spelled out why her mother should be honored as 2004 WSU Mom of the Year last spring.

Jackson worked relentlessly for 18 months to be placed on the waiting list for a child. “While many women would have given up, my mother persevered, … » More …