You Should Be Grateful (2023) by American adoptee Angela Tucker centres the experiences of adoptees and shares their stories. The book challenges lingering ideas that adoption is a “fairy tale” experience.

Angela Tucker was adopted from the foster care system and in 2022 founded the Adoptee Mentoring Society, a non-profit focused on mentoring “for adoptees, by adoptees”.

Tucker says “You Should Be Grateful is a common phrase that adoptees hear.

For Tucker, “You Should Be Grateful” is a shaming statement, a microaggression, making it difficult for adoptees to critique their situation or the adoption system