Missing Mila, finding family : an international adoption in the shadow of the Salvadoran Civil War / Margaret E. Ward.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ward, Margaret E.

Series:

Louann Atkins Temple women & culture series ; bk. 27.

Louann Atkins Temple women & culture series ; bk. 27

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Intercountry adoption--United States.

Intercountry adoption.

Birthparents.

United States.

Birthparents--El Salvador.

El Salvador--History--Civil War, 1979-1992.

El Salvador.

History.

Physical Description:

x, 276 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, 2011.

Summary:

In Missing Mila, Finding Family, Margaret Ward tells the poignant and compelling story of this international adoption and the astonishing revelations that emerged when Nelson's birth family finally relocated him in 1997. After recounting their early years together, during which she and Tom welcomed the birth of a second son, Derek, and created a family with both boys, Ward vividly recalls the upheaval that occurred when members of Nelson's birth family contacted them and sought a reunion with the boy they knew as Roberto. She describes how their sense of family expanded to include Nelson's Central American relatives, who helped her piece together the lives of her son's birth parents and their clandestine activities as guerrillas in El Salvador's civil war. In particular, Ward develops an internal dialogue with Nelson's deceased mother Mila, an elusive figure whose life and motivations she tries to understand.

Adding an engrossing new chapter to the story of the Salva-doran civil war and its long aftermath, Missing Mila, Finding Family also deepens our understanding of the issues involved in international adoptions. As Ward ultimately reveals, Nelson/ Roberto is only one of many disappeared sons and daughters who are still loved and sought for by survivors of the bloody conflicts in Central America. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part 1 Our Story

Chapter 1 Adoption: Tegucigalpa, Honduras, May-June 1983 9

Chapter 2 Rediscovery: Massachusetts, August-December 1997 48

Chapter 3 Reunion: Heredia, Costa Rica, December 1997 82

Part 2 Their Stories

Chapter 4 Putting the Pieces Together, 1952-1992 105

Interlude. Mi flor favorita/My Favorite Flower 152

Chapter 5 Imagining Mila: New Hampshire, Summer 2007 154

Interlude. La Guerra verdadera/The True War 197

Chapter 6 The Disappeared Children of El Salvador 198

Interlude. My Perfect World 232.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780292726680

0292726686

9780292729087

0292729081

OCLC:

702357873