Adoption Goes to School by Hilborn, Robin

This two-part guide will help you prepare your adopted child (and yourself) for school ... and teach the teacher all about adoption. In the Parent's Guide, Robin Hilborn covers school issues, dealing with racism, telling the teacher, giving an adoption talk in school, language development and learning disabilities (diagnosis, strategies, services). The Teacher's Guide aims to educate the educator, with lessons on the many non-traditional forms of families, creative approaches to the family tree assignment, proper adoption language, teaching adoption, pregnancy options for high schoolers, and many resources.

Understanding Adoption:  Clinical Work with Adults, Children, and Parents  by Hushion, Kathleen and Sherman, Susan and Siskind, Diana

“This is a wonderful and desperately needed book addressing the multiple levels of complexity faced by clinicians working with adopted children and their families”.  Reviewed by Arietta Slade, Ph.D., professor, clinical and developmental psychology, the City College and Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

Families Change:  A Book for Children Experiencing Termination of Parental Rights by Nelson, Julie 

Over time, all families change. Sometimes, when families have big problems, they need to change so kids are safe. A child’s family might change from a birth family to a foster family or an adoptive family.  That kind of change can be hard on kids. This book can help children and families through this difficult change.  With the support of caring adults, children who experience termination of parental rights can move from the pain of the past to the promise of the future.

China in My Heart  by Davy, Emma Ling Zhu

This book was written by six-year-old Emma Ling Zhu Davy that chronicles the story of her adoption. She writes about the sadness of not knowing her birth parents as well as the joy of meeting her forever family for the first time.  It’s a sweet, simple story told by a child, but it’s also very powerful because it comes from the heart of a child.

Chasing Away the Shadows:  An Adoptee's Journey to Motherhood by Phillips, Zara

“An enlightening read for anyone affected by adoption.   This personal testimony is definitely worth a read for anyone whose life has been touched by adoption in any way. In simple language and with an engaging writing style, the author, Zara, tells her own story, with frankness and simplicity. In doing so, she educates us about the some of the complex feelings of adoption - feelings that, for many people and for many years, have never been acknowledged”. Reviewed by L. Lawrence, UK.

Will You Be Here When I Get Home? by Cashin, Claire

This is a true and very honest account of adoption, search and reunion. It examines in depth how adoption can affect the individual and their loved ones. It does not shy away from the reality of what a reunion can mean and how hard it can be at times, or indeed what joy it can add to peoples lives.

Butterbox Babies:  Baby Sales, Baby Deaths, New Revelations, 15 Years Later by Cahill, Bette

A terrific book about the Ideal Maternity Home located in East Chester, Nova Scotia Canada.  This book tells the story of the birth mothers and their babies who were born there.

Adopted Teens Only:  A Survival Guide to Adolescence by Gorbett, Danea

This book tackles the tough issues that parents are oftentimes reluctant to discuss with their teenager. Adopted teenagers will discover: What feelings and thoughts are common to the adoptive experience: What adoptive parents feel, what birth parents feel, what emotional issues are connected with search and reunion and how to talk to parents about adoption questions

Rebecca's Journey Home by Sugarman, Brynn Olenberg

Two boys, ages eight and four, prepare for their mother's trip to Vietnam to bring home their new baby sister. The author is successful in explaining both the intricacies of adoption procedures as well as details of life in an observant Jewish home. A smattering of Vietnamese culture is also included. The appealing and bright watercolor illustrations show touches of whimsy and lightheartedness that add to the story.

The Adoption Reunion Handbook by Trinder, Liz and Feast and Howe

Many adopted people today try to find information about their origins and search for birth family members. Based on a large-scale research study, the authors have drawn on the real-life experience of adopted people who have searched for, and had a reunion with, birth relatives. This book combines comprehensive and practical step-by-step guidance. This 'how to' guide is essential for everyone involved, particularly those considering searching for information on their birth relatives. It will also be of use to birth parents, adoptive parents, adoption charities, social workers, psychologists and counselors.

Handbook of Adoption: Implications for Researchers, Practitioners, and Families

While most mental health and behavioral health professionals have encountered adoption triad members—birth parents, adoptive parents, and adopted persons—in their clinical practice, the vast majority have had no formalor informal training on adoption issues. The Handbook of Adoption: Implications for Researchers, Practitioners, and Families is the first book to specifically address the many dimensions of adoption-related issues which can and do affect adoption triad members, specifically in the United States.

From Publishers Weekly: An episode in American adoption history little remembered by the public at large, the crimes of nationally-lauded Memphis orphanage director Georgia Tann are skillfully and passionately recounted by freelance writer Raymond, herself an adoptive mom. The portrait of Tann that emerges is a domineering, indefatigable figure with an insane commitment to ends-justify-the-means logic, who oversaw three decades of baby-stealing, baby-selling and unprecedented neglect. Meanwhile, she did more to popularize, commercialize and influence adoption in America than anyone before her. Tann operated carte blanche under corrupt Mayor Edward Hull Crump from the 1920s to the '50s, employing a nefarious network of judges, attorneys, social workers and politicos, whom she sometimes bribed with "free" babies; her clients included the rich, the famous and the entirely unfit (who more than occasionally returned their disappointing children for a refund). "Spotters" located babies and young children ripe for abduction-from women too uneducated or exhausted to fight back-and Tann made standard practice of altering birth certificates and secreting away adoption records to attract buyers and cover her tracks-self-serving moves that have become standard practice in modern adoption. A riveting array of interviews with Tann's former charges reveals adults still struggling with their adoption ordeal, childhood memories stacked with sexual abuse, torture and confusion. Raymond's dogged investigation makes a strong case for "ridding adoptions of lies and secrets," warning that "until we do, Tann and her imitators will continue to corrupt adoption." A rigorous, fascinating, page-turning tale, this important book is not for the timorous.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
 

From Publishers Weekly: As more Americans adopt Chinese children, the bookshelves fill with firsthand accounts of their experiences. Perhaps because many adoptions are preceded by infertility issues, most of these memoirs are written by women. So this, a father's account of going to China with his wife to adopt their first and second daughters, is particularly useful. Gammage, a staff writer for the Philadelphia Inquirer, had been happily married without children for many years, although he knew his wife really wanted children. By the time they discovered they couldn't have biological children, the best option was adopting from China. While there were tensions over their first daughter's medical problems (an infected scalp injury), both adoptions went reasonably smoothly. Back home, Gammage wrestled with his mixed feelings about the birth parents and his burden of good fortune, that guilty knowledge that his own happiness came from someone else's misfortune. Realizing that his own relationship to China was being shaped by the process of raising two Chinese girls, he ends this upbeat memoir by wondering about the impact of this new wave of immigrants on the future of Sino-American relations.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
 

From Publishers Weekly: With the spread of nontraditional families and the rise of infertility, "assisted conception" (donor insemination, egg donation, surrogate mothering or any combination of the above) is a big new fact of life. After two decades of counseling "biosocial" families, Ehrensaft, a clinical and developmental psychologist (Parenting Together; Spoiling Childhood), wrote this honest, down-to-earth manual to help parents work through the problems. Just because people are brave enough to create nontraditional families doesn't mean they've anticipated the difficult questions those arrangements raise. Do shared genes give the biological parent more rights than the "social" parent? Is it wrong to have fantasies about sperm donors? How do you decide how much to involve the "birth other" in the "family matrix"? At what age do you tell your child his or her birth story? What do you tell them? Ehrensaft groups the issues thematically with plenty of firsthand anecdotes. An experienced therapist, she acknowledges up front many things we do that we shouldn't: social moms feeling jealous of surrogates, parents hiding the truth from their children, etc. She understands—and then nudges parents in a better direction. This is a terrifically useful book for nontraditional families and everyone (teachers, ministers, therapists) who works with them.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
 

From Adam Pertman, Executive Director Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute:

From School Library Journal
Pres-Grade 1–Meant to reassure children in foster care, this accumulation of short, declarative sentences stresses the importance of being safe. The illustrations show a multiethnic cast of kids and adults, some in positive situations and others in more stressful settings. The first half of the book discusses, in the briefest possible terms, why kids end up in foster care, and the second half talks about foster parents and other adults in supporting roles. There is virtually no transition from one thought to the next, giving a random feel to the text. With only 10 spreads, the extreme brevity alone imposes some limits. Still, the information presented seems arbitrary, at best. One entire spread is devoted to the statement, Usually moms and dads take good care of kids and keep kids safe. If the audience for the book is truly the one stated in the subtitle, why emphasize what these children's parents have failed to do? The rather ordinary paintings are weakest at reflecting facial expressions. A brief but helpful informational message for adults is appended, giving tips on helping foster children work through their difficult emotions, and a list of adult resources is also included. The book does offer validation of a living situation that affects thousands of children in the U.S. each year and explains it in a straightforward style, albeit with mediocre results.–Faith Brautigam, Gail Borden Public Library, Elgin, IL
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
 

As an adoptive parent who has experienced many of the challenges prospective adoptive parents face, Caldwell knows the sorrow of infertility and the joys of parenthood through adoption. She also understands and wants to communicate to all, the important steps that must be taken to complete a safe and secure adoption. Caldwell’s life work has been dedicated to educating and helping adoptive parents and birth parents find each other.

Caldwell has been the guest on numerous television and radio talk shows and is regularly interviewed by family and parenting magazines. She frequently contributes articles to magazines and websites about the challenges and joys of adoption. She and her husband Greg reside with their four children in Nevada City, California.