About
Lane Igoudin, Ph.D., is the author of A Family, Maybe, a rollercoaster journey through foster adoptions to fatherhood (Ooligan Press, Portland State University, 2024). He has written extensively on foster adoption, parenting, spirituality, and LGBTQ issues for Adoption.com, Forward, Jewish Journal, Lambda Literary Review, LGBTQ Nation, and Parabola, and spoken about his book on NBC’s “Daytime” show, as well as a variety of syndicated radio shows and literary and parenting podcasts. Following the launch of his book in 2024, Lane has been on a book tour, speaking at 12 venues (so far) from Portland to LA to Mexico City. Lane is professor of English and linguistics at Los Angeles City College and a past Andrew W. Mellon Fellow with the Humanities Division of UCLA.
Featured Work
A Family, Maybe
In his candid and emotional memoir, Lane Igoudin shows the human side of public adoption as he and his partner Jonathan seek to adopt their foster daughters from the Los Angeles County child welfare system.
Desperately wanting to be fathers, they enter into a complicated legal process that soon becomes a tangle of drama-filled birth parent visits and children’s court hearings. Lane and Jon spend years not knowing if the county will reunite the sisters with their birth mother, a teenager in the state’s custody herself, or allow to adopt them. Heartwarming moments with the kids and relatable first-time-parent woes become bittersweet as Lane realizes how much he and Jon have built—and how much they could lose.
A Family, Maybe received rave reviews from Janet Fitch (author of the foster care bestseller White Oleander, an Oprah Winfrey’s Book Club Selection), Farron Hipp (NBC-WFLA "Daytime" Show), Rita L. Soronen (President & CEO of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption), US Congressman Alan Lowenthal, California State Senator Shelia Kuehl (who represented Los Angeles in the state Senate for 8 years), and fellow family-building memoirists Vanessa McGrady (the critically acclaimed Rock Needs River) and Trystan Reece (the 2021 Foreword INDIES winner, How We Do Family).
