She earned her M.A. and Ph.D. from University of Maryland at College Park in American Studies with a graduate certificate in Women’s Studies. She is a former postdoctoral fellow at the Institute on Race and Poverty at the University of Minnesota Law School. She earned a B.A. in Radio/TV/ Film and American Studies at California State University, Fullerton. She is the author of BirthMarks: Transracial Adoption in Contemporary America, New York University Press 2000, as well as numerous scholarly articles on adoption, race, gender, class, sexuality, and family. She is currently completing a cross-over academic book, Sophie Has Five Mothers: Lesbian Family-Making and the Rights of Citizenship, and collaborating on a documentary video, Red Light, Green Light: Family Values, Family Pride.