Better understand the complexities and uniqueness of adoption. This book opens the door for anyone to start a conversation about adoption, told through the eyes of a kid who has been adopted as well as a grownup who's adopted a kid. It breaks down some of the complexities of adoption and dives into what makes each story so unique and special.

The go-to guide for everything you want to know about international adoption From the initial decision—Is adoption right for you?—through returning home with your child—How can you ease the transition?—The Complete Book of International Adoption takes parents step by step through the entire process of adopting a child from another country. You will find: • An easy-to-understand analysis of the differences between domestic and international adoption • Advice on choosing a country, including 25 important factors to consider, such as the waiting times involved and the estimated costs for each of the top placing countries, with charts for easy comparison • A detailed discussion of the potential health issues based on the latest research and interviews with doctors who specialize in international adoption • Worksheets and a suggested system for preparing and organizing the extensive paperwork involved • Parenting tips to enhance attachment and suggestions for addressing the issues that come up in raising an internationally adopted child • Real parents’ stories and advice at every stage of the process • Plus all of the information you need to select your agency, plan financially, prepare for the home study, travel sensibly, evaluate your child’s health and integrate your new family More than just provide the facts, The Complete Book of International Adoption also helps parents manage the emotional rollercoaster that comes with the territory. Sensitive, wise, and often witty, this book is a must-have for any parent considering building their family through adoption.

This scrapbook is especially designed for adopted children to help them to remember their unique and sometimes complicated journeys through life. Scrapbooking provides an outlet of expression that may not be available in any other form. Families get involved and show their adopted children how much they love them by helping them fill in the pages of this book. Author Karen Jean Matsko Hood has written My Special Care Scrapbook for Adopted Children to keep those special memories, reflections, and thoughts in a safe place for your adopted child. Help them fill it with photographs, memoirs, stickers, and awards to complete the book of memories that will be treasured for life. You can even add any information to this scrapbook that you may obtain prior to your child’s adoption so that they know more of the special people who cared for them until their adoption took place. As they grow and add more to their scrapbook, you, along with the rest of the family, will spend hours browsing through the scrapbook and remembering all of those special times together.

Your dream of being a parent can come true. The Complete Adoption Book is your indispensable resource along the way. Whether you choose to pursue independent, agency, or international adoption, The Complete Adoption Book is the most comprehensive and authoritative adoption book you can use to guide you through the process—from deciding if adoption is right for you to budgeting your expenses and interviewing birth mothers. As adoption professionals and adoptive parents, authors Laura Beauvais-Godwin and Raymond Godwin bring an unparalleled level of expertise and compassion to every situation an adopting parent is likely to encounter. The information provided in The Complete Adoption Book includes: *Information about every kind of adoption—from family adoption to independent and from agency to international *All contact information required for agencies, attorneys, and support groups *State-by-state requirements for completing legal adoptions *A step-by-step guide to the home study The Complete Adoption Book puts control back in your hands and places you on the right track for securing the family you’ve always wanted quickly, legally, and with few complications.

This decorative journal is the perfect companion to My Special Care Scrapbook for Adopted Children – Children’s Scrapbook Series – Book 7. It’s a great tool for writing down your thoughts, favorite recipes, or simply keeping track of important reminders, personal notes, and special occasions. This journal is great for jotting down your own poetry and short stories, or use it to store addresses and phone numbers. Convenient to carry and beautiful to look at, My Special Care Journal: A Daily Journal makes a thoughtful and unique gift!

The question “Are those kids yours?” has a familiar ring to parents who have adopted children from South Korea, India, Colombia, the Philippines, and other countries. As natural and normal as it feels to them to be together, such families are often asked to explain their obvious difference. In rich personal stories drawn from her own experience as the mother of two Korean-born daughters and from interviews with other parents and with adopted children from six to thirty, Cheri Register both affirms the normality of internationally adoptive families and highlights the special challenges they do indeed face. The book addresses many central questions about international adoption: why children are in need of adoption outside the country of their birth, why parents choose to adopt from other countries, and how parents and children of very different origins become a “real” family. International adoption is a controversial matter in countries from which children are coming to the United States, but adoptive families have had little voice as yet in the debate. With honest, thoughtful analysis honed by personal experience, Register addresses the ethical issues inevitably raised by adoption across lines of culture, race, and social class: Are parents in the wealthier nations entitled to raise children left homeless in other parts of the world by poverty or social stigma? Is placement in another country an appropriate solution for children whose parents cannot raise them? Insightful, comprehensive, and eloquent, Are Those Kids Yours? is a unique resource for parents raising internationally adopted children and for those who are contemplating intercountry adoption as well as for the children as they grow up, their extended families and friends, and adoption and mental health professionals.

Many adoptees join their new families after having endured multiple traumatic experiences, which interrupts their development. Bringing together the latest research in brain science with the field of attachment, this book considers how the two can be linked to help children in healing both the brain and the heart. Laying out the many factors that can affect a child's mental health, it shows how parents can help to improve the development of a delayed child. Accessibly explaining cutting-edge neuroscience for parents, it gives the information needed to help with a traumatised child's social, emotional and moral development.

Get your family talking about adoption with the ultimate collection of films to help the whole family to explore their feelings in a fun and safe way. With a film for each week of the year, Addison Cooper has compiled the best movies, new and old, for family-friendly viewing. Among those featured are Finding Dory, Frozen, Paddington, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Kung Fu Panda, Star Wars, Divergent, The Blind Side and I am Sam. Carefully selected, the movies included will help families to comfortably talk about important adoption-related topics. They are accompanied by descriptions of the themes and ideas to get the conversations started. Helping all members of the family to explore both the pain and joy of adoption, they cover a range of issues which can arise such as culture, identity, control, and reunification. With something for everyone - from kids, to teens, to grown-ups - this is a must-have for all adoptive families.

Children of intercountry adoption have complex histories that place them at high risk for difficulty or failure in school. Teachers and other school professionals rarely know how to test them, teach them, or meet their needs. This volume explains those needs and offers guidelines and suggestions for maximizing the educational performance of these children and helping them to meet their potential. The volume includes research on children adopted from several countries, including Russia and former Soviet states, Romania, and China. Content includes information from adoption literature on English as a Second Language classes, as well as special education law and research. The volume also presents the stories of real children adopted from Romania, Russia, and China, along with their parents and their interactions with schools in the United States.

What about the kids already there? How do they do when a child with a challenging past joins a family by adoption? When experienced parents decide to adopt an older child or a sibling group, they jump through all kinds of bureaucratic hoops â?? background checks, interviews, group meetings, reading assignments, classes, etc. But most often the typically developing children these adults are already parenting (whether through birth or adoption) are left out of the process, informed that a new kid is coming, and simply expected to â??adjustâ?? to the addition of another sibling. The addition of a child with a history of neglect or trauma cannot be a seamless transition. The expectations of everyone involved â?? parents, new siblings, and, yes, professionals facilitating the adoption â?? must be realistic, taking into account that the new child will need special attention that may take away time and attention from the already resident kids, that family life is likely to be turned topsy turvy until appropriate counseling and support are in place, that relationships will change. Therapist Arleta James is certainly not the first person to recognize this, but she is the first to do something about it. Brothers and Sisters in Adoption offers insights and examples and sturdy, practical, proven tools for helping newly configured families prepare, accept, react, and mobilize to become a new and different family meeting the practical, physical and emotional needs of all its members. These well prepared and supported families are the ones who thrive!