Resource Library

For Pre-Adoptive Domestic Parents

Seventeen couples share their experiences with open adoption.

The authors examine the effects of open adoption on the adopted child at each stage of development.

This book provides insight into the relationships of birth- and adoptive families over time through personal accounts and sample letters.

Pro-active and provocative guidance for parents who are considering transracial adoption. Whether through domestic or international adoption, the authors offer direction for building close, loving and very real families comprised of individuals who are proud and culturally competent members of differing races.

An up-to-date, informative and enlightening book about why child-centered open adoption makes so much sense. Told through the stories of those who are living in open adoptions, this book gives readers an insiders view of the open adoption experience, its rewards, challenges and complexity.

Often considered the seminal research study of openness in domestic adoption, this book presents the results of a nationwide study conducted over the course of five years, involving 720 individuals (birth parents, adoptive parents and adoptees) connected through open adoptions.

Considered a manual for adoptive parents, this book covers many aspects of the adoption experience for parents and those affected by adoption. Useful tips on how to approach several developmental stages are offered, including specific attention to special needs children.

A personal and honest account of a woman’s journey through open and transracial adoption.

Joanne Finnegan shares her personal experience and that of several families she interviewed who, like herself, explored options other than raising their child with a disability.

An adoptive father chronicles his experiences in parenting his son affected by prenatal alcohol exposure.

This book tells you what to expect both emotionally and procedurally, during the course of an open adoption. It guides you through the entire open adoption process, from the initial match between birth and adoptive families through finalization of the adoption.

A thorough book that covers everything you ever wanted to know about openness in adoption: from making the decision to carrying it through years later. The book describes several families in open adoption and provides insight into the experiences of birth parents.

For Adoptive Parents

A reference manual with practical advice for parents and educators around the topic of school assignments and how they may impact adopted children.

A collection of articles by adoptive parents and professionals on a wide range of issues - www.adoptivefamilies.com Go

This groundbreaking book presents the voices of adoptees and adoptive parents as they explore their experience of adoption and its lifelong effects.

A collection of articles by specialists covering all areas of pre and post adoption issues. Go

Excellent coverage of the basic issues in adoption/practical advice.

Great book if you have a child that seems to have SI issues.

If you are wondering how to tell you child their story this book presents excellent guidelines

For Children

The adoption process told from an older infant's perspective.  The familiarity and comfort of the known routine in the orphanage is disrupted by the arrival of strangers causing Borya to feel "confused and a little scared" when introduced to his mama and papa.  His story continues as they go before the judge and then fly home where he settles into his new life and routine with his parents.  This book should work well to start the conversation about life before adoption for any internationally adopted child who lived in an orphanage.  Ages 3-8.
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A simply written book from the perspective of a young African-American adoptee being raised in a Caucasian family.  They actively support and celebrate her interest - and need - in identifying the color brown in everything about her.  For example, she and her older brother Matt ride on his brown motorcycle to find things that are brown in the wider world and she ends with, "I am strong brown."  Visually interesting illustrations that are a blend of photographs and drawings that should appeal to young children.  Ages 3-7.

Expectations and reality initially collide in this early chapter book about a family who adopts an older child from foster care.  As 4-year-old Max makes the transition to his adoptive home, older sister Emma experiences mixed emotions when he doesn't accept her as an instant sibling and they both go through a period of adjustment.  Parents could use this book to stimulate conversation with children already in the family as part of the preparation process for an older child adoption, either domestic or international.  Ages 5-10.

Six-year-old Nico is the younger of two girls adopted as babies from Korea.  She happily tells the reader about herself, her family and friends before focusing on her experiences and feelings about looking different from her parents who both have "blue eyes and wavy hair."  After talking to her mother, who tells her there are different kinds of families "who are glued together with a special kind of glue called love," Nico identifies 9 different family patterns and concludes that she is "just like everyone else...I'm different!"  Ages 4-8.

Although this classic was originally published when most adoptions were still closed, the feelings, experiences and opinions about growing up adopted are timeless.  Nineteen adoptees, ranging in age from 8-16, were interviewed - and beautifully photographed - and their stories are presented here in their own words.  While preteens and teens can, and may prefer to, read this on their own, reading it together may generate questions and open up family discussions.  Ages 10 and up.

Ying Ying, and 8-year-old adoptee, gives us a unique view of orphanage life when she visits the orphanage where she spent her first months of life.  She reunites with her caregiver and spends time with the babies, toddlers and school age children including some with special needs.  The straightforward positive text is based on interviews, audio and videotapes, and Ying Ying's own journal.  A wonderful resource for families to talk about adoption, birth parents, orphanage life and those children left behind.  Ages 8-12.

Mr. Rodgers, whose own family included a sister who was adopted when he was 11, uses simple language and photographs of three different adoptive families involved in activities at home and in the community to explore themes of belonging in a family.  He presents different feelings that come up in all families, whether formed through birth or adoption, as well as the importance of talking, playing and asking questions about adoption.  Ages 3-8.

Faced with a family tree assignment, Lucy, adopted in Mexico as a baby, initially rejects the project, thinking her family is "too different."  The story follows Lucy's process as she realizes there are few "traditional" families and comes up with a tree that honors her family story and cultural heritage.  Themes of identity, privacy and family diversity make this a great book for families and teachers with its emphasis on open communication and problem solving.  An endnote has alternative assignments inclusive of family diversity.  Ages 8-12.

A positive story of open adoption, capturing the emotions of the birth family and the adoptive family.  An expectant mother explains her adoption plan to her 5-year-old daughter and responds to her concerns over the course of the pregnancy.  From meeting the prospective parents, to each family going home after the baby's birth and their subsequent contacts, it speaks realistically to the continuity of the relationship between the two families.  Wonderful for siblings of children placed for adoption and for adoptive families.  Ages 5-10.
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Each page of this engaging family story is filled with humorous real-life details and a specific prompt from a little girl to her parents to tell about each step that clearly memorable night that she was born.  From being awakened by the phone call through their flight and first view of their new baby through the nursery window, to first bottles, diaper changes, an introduction to baseball and lullabies, this real-life story about one family's "first night as a family" may just help launch the story of your own family's beginnings.  Ages 2-8.

Illustrated in soft pastel drawings, this is a good introduction to adoption for the very youngest children.  Using simple language it tells about the excitement of two parents as they prepare to bring home their new baby, gathering the things that are needed to keep the baby safe, fed, dry and warm.  An Afterward by Lois Melina provides information about additional details to be added to a family's story as a child's ability to understand adoption grows.  Ages 2-5.

Using bright colors and simple, playful illustrations, Todd Parr celebrates the differences among families as well as how all families are alike.  Adopted, step, single parent, two moms and two dads, as well as traditional families large and small are all represented.  It positively conveys the message that "there are lots of different ways to be a family.  Your family is special no matter what kind it is."  This should be a welcome addition in all family and school libraries.  Ages 2-7.

Told from the perspective of a young internationally adopted girl and incorporating aspects of her current day-to-day life and relationship with her parents, Ada expresses thoughts and considers questions about her adoption through where and how she was given each of her three names: by her adoptive parents, by the orphanage nannies and her original name, "whispered to me by my first mother, when I was born.  It's someplace in my heart."  Thoughtful and beautifully illustrated.  Ages 8-11.

This workbook for adopted children and their families provides a guide to responding to real world questions and comments about their adoption, from the benignly curious to the insensitive and intrusive.  Based on the principles that children can be the expert about their own adoption and can learn to think about who is asking the question and why, as well as how it makes them feel, they can make a choice in how they respond: W=Walk Away, I="It's Private," S=Share Something, E=Education Others.  Empowering.  Ages 6-teens.

For Adult Adoptees and Birthparents

Strauss uses her own journey to offer a guide to search and reunion.

Strauss is a guide to searching, using her own journey to find her birth mother as the tool.

Brochure on birth parent grief.

Saffian’s book is a roadmap to the birth parent relationship

Reunion as experienced by a birth mother, her son and his adoptive parents.

Fessler’s research offers a glimpse into the prohibitive lives of birth mothers in a certain era.

Lifton allows for the expression of anger and righteousness that goes along with searching with difficulty.

For Professionals

A reference manual with practical advice for parents and educators around the topic of school assignments and how they may impact adopted children.

A collection of articles that cover theory, current research, practice and social policies as related to adoption.