Call to Adoption, The: Making Your Child Your Own. Jaymie Stuart Wolfe. 2005. Pauline Books & Media.

Canadian Adoption Guide, The: A Family at Last. Judith Wine. 1995. 215p. McGraw-Hill Ryerson Ltd. (Canada). The Canadian Adoption Guide is a thorough and practical handbook for those considering adoption as a way to create their family. It is the first book to focus on the Canadian adoption process. Adopting a newborn through the government requires an average wait of more than six years. By actively pursuing a private adoption, the author was holding her son within nine months. This book shares the knowledge gathered during her journey.

Carried Safely Home: The Spiritual Legacy of an Adoptive Family. Kristin Swick Wong. 2005. 224p. Faithwalk Publishing. Nearly six in ten Americans have a significant personal connection with adoption, yet little has been written about the subject from a biblical perspective. Adoption usually includes a tumultuous mix of sorrow and joy, loss and redemption, fear and fulfillment. Though often heart-wrenching, it offers a rich opportunity to draw nearer to God. Adoption can also be a precious part of a pilgrimage toward God. This book is a companion to come alongside those involved with adoption and the blessings found throughout the twists and turns of the journey. About the Author: Kristin Swick Wong is the mother of two daughters by birth and two sons by adoption. A graduate of the University of Michigan she and her family live in Ann Arbor, MI, where she is homeschooling their children.

Celebration Family, The. Diane Nason, with Birdie Etchison. 1983. 196p. Thomas Nelson. From the rice paddies of Viernam to the slums of Calcutta, from the majestic Oregon coast to the depths of Harlem, from sunny Florida to the guerilla war of El Salvador, they have come to be our children and to form The Celebration Family. [Compiler’s Note: In the mid-1990s, Diane and Dennis Nason were indicted on numerous charges, including three count of manslaughter and several of child abuse, in connection with their adoptions of over 80 children. It was alleged that the so-called “Celebration Family” constituted a criminal enterprise. Ultimately, the Nasons were acquitted of the more serious charges of manslaughter and child abuse in a months-long trial; but they were convicted of lesser counts of forging documents, which led to a guilty verdict on a charge of racketeering. At the time, the trial was the longest amnd most expensive in Oregon state’s history. You can read commentary on-line in articles published in The Nugget Newspaper in 1995 (9/27/95, 10/25/95 and 11/15/95, e.g.); see also, Protecting the Rights of Hard to Place Children in Adoptions.]

Charles Cameron Kingston, Federation Father. Margaret Glass. 1997. 274p. The Miegunyah Press (Australia). Charles Cameron Kingston was a leading player in Australia’s Federation. Highly intelligent, hard working and politically honest, he was also a formidable bully with a short fuse. He was dearly loved by some and vehemently hated by others. He became Premier of South Australia in 1893, yet Kingston cared little for the norms of the polite, colonial society of late 19th century Adelaide and, together with his wife Lucy, was ostracised accordingly. His alcoholic elder brother was goaled for shooting a cabman; Charles was accused of adultery and subsequently adopted an illegitimate child; he challenged a political opponent to a duel; he brawled in the street. The notorious Adelaide Hospital dispute haunted the later years of his political career. Yet he introduced much radical and progressive legislation on industrial conciliation and arbitration, on the creation of the State Bank of South Australia, and on trade and tariff reforms. Thanks to him, South Australia led the world on the enfranchisement of women. And Kingston’s commitment and contribution to the cause and creation of Australian federalism was beyond question. What was the source of these contradictory traits? And why—until now—had his contribution to Australian Federation never been adequately acknowledged? In this lively and meticulously researched biography, Margaret Glass seeks answers to these questions, revealing in the process a complex, brilliant and controversial man.

Chicken Soup for the Adopted Soul: Stories Celebrating Forever Families. Jack Canfield, Mark Victor Hansen & LeAnn Thieman L.P.N. 2008. 320p. HCI. Chicken Soup for the Adopted Soul will touch your heart with stories of finding and creating families. From tales about international orphaned babies and children who spent years in the foster-care system to those who were adopted at birth, this very special compilation conveys the true meaning of unconditional love. Read a moving letter from a birth mother to her son explaining how difficult it was to give him up when she didn’t have the means to care for him, how she still thinks about him often, and how she will always love him. Read stories from now-grown children and even those from the Vietnam Operation Babylift in 1975. Through their stories, you will delight in meeting happy, well-adjusted, grateful members of families and society. Find hope in stories of infertile couples who are given the gift of parenthood, adopted children who thrive and find joy in life, and older couples given a second chance at family. Chicken Soup for the Adopted Soul provides insight into what adoption is all about and what it’s really like to be adopted. Share in our celebration of the lives of adopted children who found forever families and parents who found forever love. About the Authors: Jack Canfield is a sought-after national speaker and author and the cocreator of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul series. Mark Victor Hansen is a sought-after national speaker and author and the cocreator of the New York Times and USA Today bestselling Chicken Soup for the Soul series. LeAnn Thieman, L.P.N., has been a nurse for 31 years. Her story of helping to rescue three hundred babies as Vietnam fell was featured in Chicken Soup for the Mother’s Soul, and she has written stories for seven other Chicken Soup books.

Child of My Heart: A Celebration of Adoption. Barbara Alpert. 1999. 192p. Berkeley Publishing Group. With contributions from Michelle Pfeiffer, Rosie O’Donnell, Dave Thomas, Pearl S. Buck, and many others, both well-known and little-known, this lovely book reveals the excitements, the frustrations, and the ultimate fulfillments of the adoption experience. This is a book to read, to give...and to treasure.

Child Within, The. Catherine Munroe. 1993. The Children’s Society (London). A true account of the trials and tribulations of Paul’s adoption by the author and her husband. His early years had been a catalogue of physical, sexual and emotional abuse. As a result, Paul’s behaviour was highly disturbed and difficult. An inspiring insight into coping with hurt and fear.

Children of the Manse. Lewis Richard Luchs. 2009. 306p. Lulu.com. A popular college town minister and his wife want to adopt a four-year-old girl but learn she has three older brothers and decide to welcome all four children into their home. They arrive from a bleak county children’s home, bringing with them invisible histories of neglect and abuse. This true story, based on case files and family interviews, opens with the children’s background and the oldest boy’s determined struggle to keep his family together. The four children barely survive ever worse threats as they lose the adults in their world to imprisonment, abandonment, and death. When all seems hopeless, a talented social worker intervenes, trying to change their fate. This is a lively and sometimes humorous story. Children of the Manse entertains as it describes how four wounded children respond to intelligent and loving foster care.

Chosen Families: Is Adoption For You?. Kay M Strom. 1985. 240p. Zondervan.

Chronicle of an Adoption. Warren Panem. 2000. 136p. Xlibris Corporation. The achievement of adoption came despite a system that is set up to anger and frustrate. This story chronicles every meeting, every lie and the ultimate success. It was frustrating at times, but every night that I see my son sleeping peacefully in his bed I have no doubt that every moment was well worth it. About the Author: Warren has been many things; a student, an EMT, a paramedic, an RN, a teacher and now a father and an author. Of all of these, the most important thing is being a father. The rest can come and go, but being a father is a lifetime achievement, and commitment.

Comfort Me With Apples. Ruth Reichl. 2001. 320p. Random House. From Publishers Weekly: In this follow-up to the excellent memoir Tender at the Bone (1998), Reichl (editor-in-chief at Gourmet) displays a sure hand, an open heart and a highly developed palate. As one might expect of a celebrated food writer, Reichl maps her past with delicacies: her introduction to a Dacquoise by a lover on a trip to Paris; the Dry-Fried Shrimp she learned to make on a trip to China, every moment of which was shared with her adventurous father, ill back home, in letters; the Apricot Pie she made for her first husband as their bittersweet marriage slowly crumbled; the Big Chocolate Cake she made for the man who would become her second, on his birthday. Recipes are included, but the text is far from fluffy food writing. Never shying from difficult subjects, Reichl grapples masterfully with the difficulty of ending her first marriage to a man she still loved, but from whom she had grown distant. Perhaps the most beautifully written passages here are those describing Reichl and her second husband’s adoption and then loss of a baby whose biological mother handed over her daughter, then recanted before the adoption was final. This is no rueful read, however. Reichl is funny when describing how the members of her Berkeley commune reacted to the news that she was going to become a restaurant reviewer (“You’re going to spend your life telling spoiled, rich people where to eat too much obscene food?”), and funnier still when pointing out the pompousness of fellow food insiders. Like a good meal, this has a bit of everything, and all its parts work together to satisfy. © 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Coming Out of the Adoptive Closet. Kyle N Weir. 2003. 274p. University Press of America. Coming Out of the Adoptive Closet explores the social disclosure patterns of adoptive parents, giving voice to the everyday life of adoptive families. Focus is given to issues of social perception, individual development, family development, and family presentation strategies.

Complete Adoption Book, The. Laura Beauvais-Godwin & Raymond Godwin. 1997. 496p. Adams Media Corporation. A thorough resource for couples who want to adopt a child takes readers through each step in the adoption process, from choosing an agency to bringing a child home, and discusses international adoptions, state requirements, medical issues, and other topics.

Complete Adoption Guide. Karla Simon. 2009. 168p. Lulu.com. This practical book Answers the basic adoption questions: How much does it cost? Who’s involved? How long does it take? What do I need to know that I don’t know to ask? And more. This guide book will help prospective parents consider key emotional and spiritual issues adoptive families face. This books contains: both domestic and foreign adoption procedures for agency and independent adoptions concerns about intercountry and transracial adoption special-needs children longer term questions about the impact of adoption on your family over the years. Dealing with birthmothers and birthfathers State-by-State requirements.

Complete Idiot’s Guide to Adoption, The. Christine A Adamec. 1998. 336p. Macmillan; 2005. 432p. (Second Edition). Alpha. For the thousands of Americans who consider adoption each year, being evaluated as potential parents is an intimidating and confusing process. This comprehensive, compassionate guide teaches readers what to expect every step of the way, from deciding whether or not they are ready to adopt a child, to choosing an adoption agency, to meeting with birthparents. The book also discusses how to arrange international adoptions and adoptions for non-traditional families (such as single parents and older parents). Finally, readers learn what to do after they take an adopted child homehow to raise a happy, healthy, thriving adopted child. Christine Adamec publishes a monthly adoption newsletter and wrote the Encyclopedia of Adoption. She has contributed articles and other materials to Adoptive Families of America and the Dave Thomas Foundation. She lives in Palm Bay, FL, with her adopted child.

Conceiving in the Heart: Stories of Love & Adoption. Deana Coreen Kastello. 2009. 206p. Cedar Fort, Inc. Nobody ever said creating a family was easy. For many adoptive and foster families, the journey begins with the pain of infertility and learning to cope with the unexpected. Whether you conceive your children the old-fashioned way or open your heart and home for the miracle of adoption, building a family takes faith, hard work, and a lot of love, but the joys of being together make it all worth it. In Conceiving in the Heart you will meet families of all shapes and sizes. Their stories are different, but the feelings that bind them to each other are universal. Join them in their miraculous journeys to becoming forever families and be inspired by these accounts of ordinary people with an extraordinary ability to love. Deana Coreen Kastello shares her own experience of adopting, as well as many others’ in this heartwarming and sincere tribute to adoption and foster care. This beautiful collection of scriptures, poems, and true stories reminds us all that there is more than one way to create a family. About the Author: Deana Coreen Kastello and her husband, Andrew, are the parents of 6 children and have been licensed foster parents for nearly 12 years. Deana is especially astonished and heartbroken by the growing number of children who have no one to tuck them in at night. She hopes this book will draw awareness to the great need for adoptive and foster parents.

Congratulations on Your Adoption. Marianne R Richmond. 2006. 40p. Marianne Richmond Studios, Inc. Adopting a precious child is a journey full of many gifts and blessings. Share your warm congratulations with this precious book that recounts the wonderful joys of adoption. A meaningful gift to commemorate a life changing experience.

Considering Adoption. Sarah Biggs. 2000. 134p. (Overcoming Common Problems). Sheldon Press (UK). Whether you already have your own children and want to complete your family through adoption, or whether you are considering adoption as the only way you can have the children you dream of, this book is for you. Comprehensive and concise, with infomration for those thinking about adoption, and those whose child has already arrived, this book considers: Is adoption right for me? How do I go about adopting a child? Will I be accepted for adoption? What are the pros and cons of older or disabled children? What about interracial or overseas adoptions? How to provide the best care for your adopted child. Children and birth parents. About the Author: Sarah Biggs is the mother of two adopted children. She is the author of The Subfertility Handbook.

Conversations With Mary: Modern Miracles in an Everyday Life. Barbara Harris. Illustrated by Ruth Hook Colby. 1999. 151p. Heron House Publishers. During the adoption of her youngest child, this non-Catholic author was miraculously assisted by The Blessed Mother Mary. Eleven years later, she would again experience serendipitous events and the presence of Mother Mary in the painful surrender for adoption of her first grandchild, who was conceived in rape. This book reads like a spiritual mystery as you live through the eyes of this nurse who has been unexpectedly graced by Mother Mary’s presence. The author opens the possibility that each soul is placed by the grace of God. A near-death experience, a past-life regression and a look at the abortion issue are included in this refreshingly honest and easy reading book that is beautifully illustrated by Ruth Hook Colby, an award-winning artist.

Crackhead. Angela Harrison. 1997. 396p. Debut Publishing. The true story of Jamie, the adopted daughter of the author. By the Same Author: Crackhead: New Millennium (2003) and Crackhead: Suffer Little Children (2003), both of which continue to tell the story begun in Crackhead.

Creating Ceremonies: Innovative Ways to Meet Adoption Challenges. Cheryl A Lieberman & Rhea K Bufferd. 1998. Zeig Tucker & Co, Inc. Ceremonies and rituals help us to cope with the day-to-day changes and challenges of life. Creating Ceremonies covers the complete spectrum of adoption life-cycle phases, from pre-adoption to moving in, from adjustment to reinforcement and beyond. The ceremonies within provide an appropriate way to say goodbye and welcome home, to celebrate transitions and grieve losses, to acknowledge fears and encourage learning.

Cruelest Con, The: The Guide for a S.a.F.E. Adoption Journey. Kelly Kiser-Mostrom. 2005. 162p. iUniverse, Inc. For nearly three years, author Kelly Kiser-Mostrom endured the nightmare of an adoption scam. Through her heart-wrenching personal journey in The Cruelest Con, Kiser-Mostrom focuses on the changing and often frightening world of adoption. She exposes the treachery behind adoption facilitator Sonya Furlow who exploited and defrauded forty-four adoptive parents of over $215,000, shattering their most basic dream in life—to have a family. Kiser-Mostrom points out the chilling truth about adoption laws in the United States. Facilitators are unregulated, and laws vary from state to state, leaving the adoption world wide open for many kinds of criminal activities and baby buying. Through Kiser-Mostrom’s personal testament, you’ll be able to form a foundation for a positive adoption journey. About the Author: Kelly Kiser-Mostrom is from the heartland of Nebraska and the adoptive mother of four children. She has pursued adoptions for twenty years with agencies, attorneys, facilitators, and the Department of Family Services. The impact of these events in her life has compelled her to share those experiences. Adoption holds a special place in her heart as her husband and other family members are also adoptees.

Cup of Comfort for Adoptive Families, A: Stories That Celebrate a Special Gift of Love. Colleen Sell. 2009. 336p. Adams Media. It takes a loving and caring couple to bring an adopted child into their home. And every year, thousands of couples make room in their homes—and their hearts—for these special children. This story collection celebrates the individuals and families who experience these feelings firsthand. From first-time parents, anxiously awaiting the phone call that their little one has arrived to a single woman who crosses the Atlantic to find her heart’s child, this inspiring collection will touch every person who picks it up. The newest volume from the beloved and bestselling Cup of Comfort® series is sure to resonate with the thousands of happy couples who adopt children every year—and those looking to become mothers and fathers. About the Author: Colleen Sell (Eugene, OR) has compiled and edited more than 25 volumes of the Cup of Comfort® book series. A veteran writer and editor, she has authored, ghostwritten, or edited more than a hundred books and served as editor-in-chief of two award-winning magazines.

Cut: The True Story of an Abandoned, Abused Little Girl Who Was Desperate to be Part of a Family. Cathy Glass. 2008. 320p. Harper Element. Dawn was the first girl Cathy Glass ever fostered. Sweet and seemingly well-balanced, her outward appearance masked a childhood of suffering at the hands of the very people who should have cared for her so traumatic and awful that even she could not remember it. During the first night, Cathy awoke to see Dawn looming above Cathy’s baby’s cot, her eyes staring and blank. She sleepwalks—which Cathy learns is often a manifestation in disturbed children. It becomes a regular and frightening occurrence, and Cathy is horrified to find Dawn lighting a match whilst mumbling “It’s not my fault” in her sleep one night. Cathy discovers Dawn is playing truant from school, and struggling to make friends. More worryingly she finds her room empty one night, and her pillow covered in blood. Dawn has been cutting herself in order to release the pain of her past. When Dawn attempts suicide, Cathy realises that she needs more help than she can give. Dawn’s mother eventually confides in her that Dawn was sent away to live with relatives in Ireland between the ages of 5 and 9, and Cathy soon realises that the horrors Dawn was exposed to during this time have left her a very disturbed little girl. About the Author: Cathy Glass has been a foster carer for over 20 years, during which time she has looked after more than 50 children, of all ages and backgrounds. Cathy runs training courses on fostering for her local Social Services, and helps draft new fostering procedures and guidelines. Cathy has three teenage children of her own; one of whom was adopted after a long-term foster placement.

Dandelion No More, A: Help for Those Involved in Adoption. Kay Moore. 1944. Broadman.

Kathleen Silber

Phylis Speedlin

Dear Birthmother: Thank You For Our Baby. Kathleen Silber & Phylis Speedlin. 1982. 178p. Adoption Awareness Press; 1983. 192p. Corona Publications. The authors have written this book “hoping you are someone who is or will be touched by adoption. ... for someone like Laura, and nineteen-year-old mother who recently gave birth to a baby girl and then placed the child for adoption, [who] has not forgotten the experience or her daughter. ... for parents like Mark, a thirty-five-year-old father who proudly brought home his first son from an adoption agency [who] ... cannot help wondering, ‘How could anyone give up such a beautiful child?’ and yet fearing‘Will his birth mother want him back?’ ... for adoptees like Sarah, who at twenty searches for the birth mother who placed [her] for adoption at age one week.”

Dear Linda: An Adoptive Father’s Open Letter to the Birthmother of His Child. Anonymous. 2001. 88p. Trafford Publishing. From the Author: Ten years ago I became the adoptive father of a beautiful baby girl. The joy of nurturing my daughter to the brink of her teenage years has been the most fulfilling time of my life. She also has given me the noblest title of all. I am a father. Often during the past decade my thoughts have returned to the memory of a meeting with a young pregnant girl. A young girl whose ultimate, loving decision changed the course of my life. I wonder if her thoughts reach across the distance to reflect about her birth child and me. Is she emotionally troubled? Is she at ease with her decision? Does she need to be comforted by the knowledge that her birth child is being raised in a loving and stimulated environment? Dear Linda is an open letter to the birthmother of my child. But it is more. It is an open letter to all birthmothers from the perspective of an adoptive father. Not only does it express profound thanks for a mature and heart wrenching decision, it expresses love. Dear Linda details the events of the past eleven years. Many times emotional and oftentimes humorous, the reader is taken from the tribulations of a couple’s infertility to the rigors of the adoption process. Later, the life of a special girl is chronicled. This revealing glimpse of my daughter’s life will erase any lingering doubts that the birthmother may harbor about her decision. One learns that a selfless, loving act has positively impacted not only a child and a couple but also an extended family. The birthmother will learn that she touched the lives of several people in ways that she initially couldn’t have imagined.

Dearest Debbie: In Ai Lee. Dale Evans Rogers. Illustrated by P. Bertolami. 1965. 62p. Fleming H Revell Co. “A blowout—and a bus loaded with children careened into oncoming traffic. Dead: Debbie In Ai Lee Rogers—twelve years old; an orphan of the Korean W ar; adopted daughter of Dale and Roy Rogers—charming, Vivacious, promising.” Dale Evans writes of the death of her adopted Korean daughter, bringing to the task a quality of spirit that the world will not soon forget.

Mary Mason

Designing Rituals of Adoption for the Religious & Secular Community. Mary Mason & Daryl Parks. 1995. 91p. Resources for Adoptive Parents. At long last there is a guide for designing Welcoming Ceremonies, Baptisms, Naming Ceremonies, Entrustment Ceremonies, Adoption Anniversaries and even Adoption Finalizations. Designing Rituals of Adoption includes Jewish, Christian (in English and Spanish) and secular traditions and ceremonies, including suggested readings, prayers, music, and symbolic actions. These rituals are appropriate for both infants and older children and all types of adoption including transracial, international and open. This book focuses on techniques that adoptive families can use to validate their families. About the Authors: Mary Martin Mason grew up in an open adoption as is her 17-year-old son. She often addresses national audiences on issues of adoption including the open adoption. The author of Designing Rituals of Adoption and Out of the Shadows, Birth Fathers Stories, she is the Adoption Clearinghouse Coordinator for MARN (Minnesota Adoption Support and Preservation - MN ASAP) and editor of the N ASAP Family Voices newsletter.

Dialogues About Adoption: Conversations Between Parents & Their Children. Linda Bothun. 1994. 216p. Swan Publications. As the years go by, adoptive parents often find themselves in discussions with their children about adoption. Using hundreds of true-life vignettes, Ms. Bothun provides sample conversations covering every aspect of adoption. In most discussions about adoption, there is neither a right nor a wrong answer, but this book will help you to make the appropriate response for your family.

Do Your Own California Adoption: Nolo’s Guide for Stepparents & Domestic Partners. Frank Zagone & Emily Doskow. 2003. 192p. (6th ed. of volume previously titled How to Adopt Your Stepchild in California). Nolo. Stepparents and domestic partners can adopt a child in California without a lawyer, and Do Your Own California Adoption shows you how. Packed with plain-English information and instructions, it’s the only book available that takes adopting parents through the entire process, one step at a time. The 6th edition includes the latest forms and is updated to reflect legal changes that now allow same-sex couples to use these streamlined procedures. All the forms you need are included as tear-outs and on CD-ROM.

Eight Was Not Enough: The Unlikely Adventures of an Only Child. Jeannie Satre. 1998. 198p. ACW Press. Jeannie and her husband Neal have dedicated their lives to raising special children from around the world. Twin boys born to them were followed by girls from Korea, children from Mother Teresa’s orphanage in India and then a girl from their home town! — Various traumas ranging from a snake in the laundry room, to the children’s hospitalizations, and then to facing her own adoption issues and serious breast cancer risk have kept Jeannie’s life challenging and eventful. Through it all she and her whole family have learned life lessons of love, perseverance and joy.

Embraced by Love. Dolores Mize. Photographs by Angela Talentino. 2008. 48p. Life Cycle Books. Through inspiring photography and warming eloquence, this book speaks to the heart of family. From the eyes of the adopted child we see the excitement and expectancy that builds as the day of adoption grows closer and the unique and powerful bond between child and parents. A lovely keepsake gift book celebrating adoption! Beautiful black-and-white photography of children from all over the world and their adoptive families accompany tender prose. Pages in the back of the book for families to personalize, add photos, and capture precious memories make this a wonderful, cherished memento!

Emerging Son. Tom Bengtson. 2004. 227p. NFR Communications, Inc. Emerging Son is an autobiographical memoir about a man’s journey to a purposeful midlife from youthful uncertainty. The author’s quest to recreate the happiness of his youth takes him from the newsroom to the courtroom as he launches a career, from the Midwest to Rome as he grows in faith, and to South America as he builds a family. Looking to his father as an example, the writer ultimately discovers he has to look within himself for answers to life’s questions about faith, family and work. In addition to appealing to memoir enthusiasts, Emerging Son speaks to many groups of people. First, the book will appeal to anyone preparing for marriage, especially marriage in the Catholic Church. Second, it will be of interest to people who have suffered through infertility and are contemplating adoption. And third, Emerging Son will be of interest to small business owners who want to read how one entrepreneur grows his company by taking on a business partner and adapting to changing markets. Emerging Son is for anyone entering midlife, particularly married men struggling to find home in their role as husband and father. About the Author: Tom Bengtson is a husband, father, journalist and business owner. He grew up in Minneapolis, graduating from the University of Minnesota, and went to work as a writer. Tom and his wife, Susan, traveled to South America four times to adopt their children. A student of religion and politics, Tom believes it is important for ordinary people to record their stories.

Empty Lap, An: One Couple’s Journey to Parenthood. Jill Smolowe. 1997. 288p. Pocket Books. In her late thirties, journalist Jill Smolowe was realizing the life she had always envisioned for herself. Her career at a national magazine was on track. Her husband, Joe, was still her most trusted confidante and best friend. And now that she and Joe had decided finally to have a child, Jill assumed the pregnancy that had come so easily to all the women in her family would be her own next chapter. But nature had a different script in mind. Instead of decorating the nursery, Jill was soon racing to appointments with a vial of Joe’s sperm in hand: instead of losing her waistline, she was losing her sense of direction, her humor and everything she liked best about herself. As the quest for a child swerved from the roller coaster of infertility procedures toward the baffling maze of adoption options, Jill’s desperation deepened—while Joe’s resistance to children only hardened. In the fog of depression, disappointments and dead ends, their marriage began to founder. As they set off to travel halfway around the world for a baby, Jill was certain she knew what was coming next. Instead, in Yangzhou, China, she encountered a future she’d never imagined might be hers.

Encyclopedia of Adoption, The. Christine A Adamec & William Pierce. 1991. 400p. (2nd revised edition, 2000; 3rd edition, with Laurie C Miller, 2006 [right]). Facts on File. As the only reference work of its kind, The Encyclopedia of Adoption examines the social, legal, economic, psychological and political issues that surround the adoption experience. It contains nearly 400 encyclopedic entries that are thoroughly indexed and cross-referenced. In addition, the many appendices provide extensive statistical data. This material in this volume is appropriate for all people interested in adoption, both professionals and parents.

Essential Adoption Handbook, The. Colleen Alexander-Roberts. 1993. 240p. Taylor Pub. The process of adoption can seem very confusing and difficult when you’re just starting out. What is a homestudy? How do you apply to an agency? What would a birth mother like to see on your resume or letter? This book is a guide to effectively and aggressively organizing your search for a child. The Essential Adoption Handbook includes sample agency applications and homestudy forms so that you can better anticipate what will happen when you start working with an agency. It is the book you need if you are planning to pursue an agency adoption.

Essential Link, The: Attachment Information For Adoptive Parents. Colleen Alexander-Roberts. 2008. 50p. CreateSpace. Where do adoptive parents and prospective adoptive parents find a comprehensive, yet short and easy-to-read summary of attachment and bonding? The Essential Link: Attachment Information for Adoptive Parents is the answer. The book provides information and explanations about attachment and bonding between adoptive parents and their new child; answers questions about what attachment is and how it might be compromised in children who were adopted; and provides practical tips for ways to improve the attachment and connection between parents and adopted children. Short, easy-to-read summary of RAD (reactive attachment disorder), attachment, and bonding within adoptive families. Adoption agencies should make this required reading for all adoptive families. (Some agencies already do this, but ALL adoption and social service organizations should give it to their clients.) Read this and be more informed about a critical adoption topic. About the Author: Susan Ward, M.A., from Asheville, NC, is a therapeutic family consultant. She’s been a foster parent, therapeutic tutor, and is the adoptive parent of a child who is healed from RAD. She has worked with children from across the country who were diagnosed with reactive attachment disorder (RAD). Many of these children had other diagnoses including autism, bipolar, anxiety, post traumatic stress, learning disabilities, and more.

Every 10th Starfish. Sandy Knauer. 2009. 560p. Eloquent Books. The real story behind a foster family’s struggle to raise an abused teenager is revealed in Sandy Knauer’s heart-wrenching tale, based on her own experiences as a foster mother. Fifteen-year-old Annie experienced more abuse and trauma than any teenager could have imagined. From foster placements to group homes to psychiatric hospitals, Annie lacked love and support all of her life...until she met Sandy Knauer. Every 10th Starfish will open your eyes to the immense love and generosity it takes to raise a foster child, particularly one who has a history of sexual abuse, drugs and emotional trauma. This isn’t a Cinderella story, but a story of real people who had the power to make a difference in at least one of the many children who fall through the safety net of our foster care system. About the Author: Sandra Knauer, LCSW, is a psychotherapist who has helped countless victims of child abuse throughout her career. She is the owner of Middletown Counseling in Middletown, Delaware, and currently lives with her family in nearby Townsend.

Everything Parent’s Guide to Raising the Adopted Child, The: A Complete Handbook to Welcoming Your Adopted Child Into Your Heart & Home. Corrie Lynn Player, MEd, with Brette McWhorter Sember & Mary C Owen, LCSW. 2008. 330p. (Everything Series). Adams Media. For the estimated 2 million families in the United States waiting to adopt a child, the decision of which avenue to pursue can be overwhelming: domestic or international, older child versus younger, children with special needs—and the list goes on. This title offers all the information any potential or newly adoptive parent might need. This essential guidebook is packed with reassuring advice on how to handle the most common issues: questions to ask before adopting; bonding techniques—from newborn to teenager; adopting children with special needs; navigating international adoptions; helping the adopted child understand and cope with feelings of loss and abandonment; and navigating blended families, single parenting, or same-sex partnerships. With this book by their side, adoptive parents will bond with their child for a lifetime!

Everything Rosie: The Ultimate Guide for Rosie O’Donnell Fans. Patrick Spreng. 1998. 241p. Birch Lane Press. From the tragic loss of her mother at age ten to discovering the joys of motherhood with her adopted son, Patrick, Everything Rosie offers an information-packed guide that covers everything fans want to know about this popular talk show host, actress, and stand-up comedienne. Includes: Guest lists and banter from “The Rosie O’Donnell Show”; reprints of feature stories about Rosie; excerpts from Rosie appearances in online chat rooms; Rosies’ T.V. and movie appearances, and much more.

Exact Same Moon, The: Fifty Acres & a Family. Jeanne Marie Laskas. 2004. Bantam. In Fifty Acres and a Poodle, Jeanne Marie Laskas described how she survived her first hilariously tumultuous year at Sweetwater Farm. Now she returns with a funny, touching, and personal new memoir of what happens after your dream comes true. With a picture-postcard farm, a wonderful marriage, two mules, and a new refrigerator that spits crushed ice, what more can a girl ask for? That’s precisely the question Jeanne Marie asks herself as she and Alex settle into their new life at Sweetwater Farm. Two years ago they left the city behind for a life filled with the practical, often comical, lessons of living close to the land—and they never looked back. Yet when her strong-willed mom is hospitalized with a sudden and mysterious paralysis, Jeanne Marie rushes home to Philadelphia and her extended, sometimes chaotic, but always loving family. It’s there that she realizes what is still missing from her life: a family of her own. Now it’s a matter of bringing up the subject to her husband, Alex, fifteen years older and with adult children of his own, who seems terrified that she’s thinking of adopting a Chihuahua. With warmth, wisdom, and unfailing humor, Laskas tells the poignant story of her search for motherhood—and what happens when a woman risks happily-ever-after for something even more precious. As she tends to her own ailing mother, Jeanne Marie discovers that the challenges and rewards of living with Mother Nature pale in comparison to those awakened by the nature of mothering. The Exact Same Moon is filled with hilarious and heartwarming vignettes of people and a way of life you’ll be glad you met. From “borrowing” sheep to help mow the lawn and sitting in on the racy hay jokes at the Agway Equine Clinic, to befriending the notorious old lady who holds the water rights to their future pond, corrupting the neighbors with satellite TV, and learning the fine art of going a-calling, Laskas proves once again that laughter, love, and wisdom are truly homegrown.

Expanding Circle, The: An Adoption Odyssey. Marion Freyer Wolff. 2000. 157p. Fithian Press. In 1958, faced with the inability to bear children, Marion and John Wolff return to Germany in search of a child to adopt. Only nineteen years earlier they had fled the country to escape the Final Solution of the Jewish problem, and memories of their youth under the Nazi regime were still very vivid. As the Wolffs traveled from town to town, visiting welfare agencies and inspecting orphanages, they encountered bureaucratic hurdles, childrens homes that varied greatly in their philosophies of child rearing, and Germans who labeled them foreigners. Everywhere they saw reminders of the Holocaust: railroad stations, cattle cars, the absence of Jewish names in telephone books. They detected no trace of Jewish life in many places where Jewish culture had flourished for centuries. They found, however, four officials who saw in the Jewish couples quest an opportunity to make amends for the past. Through dramatic coincidences they found Rebecca, the little girl they took home to the United States as their own. The Expanding Circle is based on diaries and careful historical research. A list of sources, several photographs, and an epilogue are included. A clear, understated style masks the emotional, suspenseful story. The Expanding Circle is suitable for teenage readers and anyone interested in adoption and Judaica. About the Author: Marion Freyer Wolff was born in Berlin, Germany, and came to the United States in December 1939. She is a retired mathematics teacher. Her first book, The Shrinking Circle: Memories of Nazi Berlin 1933-1939, was published in 1989 by UAHC Press. Her essay, “You Always Come Too Late and Leave Too Early,” is included in the collection Dutiful Daughters, published in 1999 by Seal Press. She lives with her husband in Bethesda, Maryland.

Exploring the Spirit of Adoption: Healing the Heart of the Fatherless. Dennis Nice. 2006. 96p. House to House Publications. The selfless act of adoption comes replete with the widest possible variety of human experience. There is joy and reward along with trial and challenge. Dennis weaves the lessons of adoptions into a tapestry that parallels the Christian walk. The Apostle Paul alludes to these lessons in his writing to the Romans. This book explores what Paul meant by the “Spirit of adoption” as well as some insight into the healing and potential wholeness that awaits all who have experienced insecurity, uncertainty and brokenness. In these pages you will find a ray of hope for healing the hurts you have received, not only for yourself, but for those you know who have not walked in the victory won for them through Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross. About the Author: Dennis Nice lives in McMinnville, Oregon with his wife, Margaret, and their two adopted sons. His three married daughters have made him the proud grandfather of nine, two of whom are also adopted. He has pastored at True Vine Christian Fellowship for the past twelve years and Margaret serves as Executive Director of a local adoption agency. Visit the Author’s Website.

Family Called Field, A. George Bruce. 1960. 221p. Evans Brothers (London).

Family Nobody Wanted, The. Helen Grigsby Doss. 1954. 267p. Little Brown. Helen Doss’s beloved memoir is the remarkable and inspiring true story of a couple who adopted twelve children, ten of them considered “unadoptable” because of mixed racial parentage. Doss’s charming, touching, and at times hilarious chronicle tells how each of the children, representing white, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Mexican, and Native American backgrounds, came to her and husband Carl, a Methodist minister. She writes of the way the “unwanted” feeling was erased with devoted love and understanding and how the children united into one happy family. Her account reads like a novel, with scenes of hard times and triumphs described in vivid prose. The Family Nobody Wanted, which inspired two films, opened doors for other adoptive families and was a popular favorite among parents, young adults, and children for more than thirty years. A recently republished edition by Northeastern University Press (2001), with an epilogue by Helen Doss that updates the family’s progress since 1954, will delight the book’s loyal legion of fans around the world. About the Author: Helen Doss has been a writer and an internationally known advocate for adoptive families for more than fifty years. She has published numerous articles in such national periodicals as American Girl and Reader’s Digest, and is the author of thirteen books, including All the Children of the World and Really Real Family and the coauthor (with Carl Doss) of If You Adopt a Child. She lives with her husband Roger Reed in Yuba City, California. Mary Battenfeld, who wrote an Introduction to the new editon, is Associate Professor of Humanities at Wheelock College. She is the author of several articles on teaching and multicultural literature, and the mother of two children adopted from India. She lives in the Boston area.

Family Takes a Child, The. Nancy B Barcus. 1983. 94p. Judson Press.

Family Talk: Picture Sheets for Children Whose Family is Adopting or Fostering. Celia Mcliver & Maureen Thom. 1990. 78p. British Association for Adoption & Fostering.

Fast Track Adoption: The Faster, Safer Way to Privately Adopt a Baby. Susan Burns. 2003. 288p. St Martin’s Press. Most couples in the United States have to wait up to seven years to adopt an infant domestically—and all the expense and waiting doesn’t always result in a successful adoption. Now, rather than relying on slow-paced and expensive adoption agencies, many couples are choosing to privately adopt a child. By eliminating the adoption agency, couples can customize and control their own adoption plans. Inside this book, couples will learn how becoming proactive in the adoption process may significantly speed up the adoption. With this book as their guide, potential parents can actively pick their own birth mother. By doing so, couples will save time and money, reduce stress, and, most important, find a baby to adopt.

Father & Son: Finding Freedom. Walter Wangerin, Jr & Matthew Wangerin. 2008. 352p. Zondervan. From the Back Cover: Given our history, this father and this son might well have gone completely separate ways … And only in becoming a father did I even begin to understand what it meant, what it was, what would be required of me, and who I was/am within that identity, father. Pastor, author, and father Walter Wangerin Jr., along with his adopted son, Matthew, tell the story of their own lifelong relationship and how they survived times when brokenness and bitterness seemed inevitable. It is the story of Matthew’s desperate search for independence and his father’s own search for authentic fatherhood. This is a book of deep emotion and serious meditation about broken lives and redemption. Father and Son weaves together each writer’s personal story and shows: how earthly fathers and sons are shaped by a Creator’s relationship with his creation how within the human experience of parenting we discover insights into the spiritual nature of home, family, and eternity itself As in As for Me and My House, Mourning into Dancing, and Little Lamb, Who Made Thee? Walter Wangerin Jr. develops a series of insights about family, which readers can apply to their own lives. And these insights gain added resonance from the words of Matthew Aaron Wangerin. Together, father and son have written a book that must be experienced as well as read. It’s a book parents will want to bring their lives to, not just their attention. Father and Son is the story of all of us, for we are all wayward children in need of a loving, patient father. About the Authors: Walter Wangerin, Jr. is widely recognized as one of the most gifted writers writing today on the issues of faith and spirituality. Starting with the renowned Book of the Dun Cow, Wangerin’s writing career has encompassed most every genre: fiction, essay, short story, children’s story, meditation, and biblical exposition. His writing voice is immediately recognizable, and his fans number in the hundreds of thousands. The author of over forty books, Wangerin has won the National Book Award, New York Times Best Children’s Book of the Year Award, and several Gold Medallions, including best-fiction awards for both The Book of God and Paul: A Novel. He lives in Valparaiso, IN, where he is writer-in-residence at Valparaiso University and holds the Jochum Chair. Matthew Wangerin played both high school and college basketball, serving as team captain at both levels. He enjoys public speaking and has dedicated himself to encouraging others to avoid life’s pitfalls. He lives in Atlanta, GA, where he manages a restaurant. Father and Son is his first book.

Fields of the Fatherless: Discover the Joy of Compassionate Living. Tom Davis. 2008. 192p. David C Cook. In Biblical times, God maintained a special provision for the less fortunate. As His people harvested their fields, they were instructed to always leave a portion of the crops for those in need. Today, God’s heart continues to beat for the poor, the widows, and the fatherless. And as His children, our divine commission remains the same, a directive that’s nothing less than the heart of the Christian message. Author Tom Davis encourages us to move beyond words and become Christ to those in need. Join Tom as he shares a journey from around the world and our own backyard as people’s lives are changed through the power of compassion. Filled with remarkable stories of hope and mercy, Fields of the Fatherless will inspire you to love “the least of these,” and discover the joy found in becoming the hands and feet of Christ. About the Author: Tom Davis is an accomplished author, speaker, trainer and coach. He holds a Business and Pastoral Ministry degree from Dallas Baptist University and a Master’s Degree in Theology from The Criswell College. Tom is also the author of Red Letters and Scared.

Fifteen Most-Asked Questions About Adoption, The. Laura L Valenti. 1985. 219p. Herald Press. The guidelines for adoption are so ill-defined, parents are often required to write the book as they go along. Valenti’s book deals with the realities of adoption in a sensitive, probing way. It is a veritable arsenal of adoption information. — Marjorie Margolies, NBC-TV News Reporter

Final Say: Adoptive Love. Karrol M Karlin (pseudonym of Gail M Galvan). 2001. Indypublish.Com. About the Author: Gail Galvan was born in LaPorte, Indiana and grew up in Gary, a section called, Glen Park. Writing became a part of her life in her twenties. Her other work consists of nursing and field interview research. Other books by Galvan include: Autobiography of an Allergic/Asthmatic Survivor; Sneezing Seasons, the “inside” story about allergies and immunology, narrated by Henry, a friendly antibody; In Parents We Trust, Paycheck To Paycheck: Pre And Post Millennium Style; and a book of poems entitled, Affinity for Rainbows. She kept her dreams of becoming a published author alive in the midst of a closed world attitude toward unknown writers with the help of Write-On Hoosiers, a local literary club, and the inspiring poets and story-telling writers within the group.

Find Me. Rosie O’Donnell. 2002. 224p. Warner Books, Inc. The whole world changed with just one phone call...I met Stacie for the first time in May. Her voice was meek and flat on the phone. She wasn’t crying but I heard it, the unmistakable sound of desperation. That was the first call, the single call that would change my life, and hers too, probably forever. I work for a non-profit adoption agency in New Jersey. I fund their operation, provide outreach services, and they do the work. Finding families for kids who need them is beyond fulfilling, it is addictive. I like to help. I need to help. I help a lot, sometimes too much. This is a true story about a girl named Stacie who called the adoption agency with a terrible problem. A lot of it won’t make sense, at least logically. But sometimes sense runs deeper than logic. Nothing happens by chance. The events that follow, some dark and painful, changed me absolutely. As she closes the door on her stunningly successful television show, Rosie O’ Donnell opens her heart to the share the amazing experience that changed her life forever. Comedian. Actress. Talk-show host. Producer. Benefactor. Editorial Director. Mother. Friend. Rosie O’ Donnell has worn many hats. Now she takes a new role—as a gifted writer and the author of a surprising and powerful memoir, Find Me.

First Step to Adopting a Child, The: Finding the Adoption Professional You Need. Mardie Caldwell. 2008. Audio CD. American Carriage House. Hiring a qualified and experienced adoption professional to assist you in your adoption journey is one of the first steps to a successful adoption. Learn from others what to look for and what you ask when you first start out. This program will help you with:
•   How to save money and frustration in the process.
•   Where do you find a qualified adoption professional?
•   What are they key questions you must ask any adoption professional before you hire them?
•   What can you expect from your adoption professional?
•   How much does adoption cost?
•   Where do you go to find out more about adopting a baby or child today?

For the Love of a Child: The Journey of Adoption. Monica L Blume, Gideon O Burton, & Bonnie D Parkin. 2005. 241p. Deseret Book Co. The journey of adoption is never easy, but it is one of love and growth that can be powerfully redemptive. Adoption transforms the pain felt by all involved as they experience the ways God works in the lives of so many people through one tiny child. For those struggling with the decision to adopt, support an adoption, or give up a child for adoption, this book is a must-read. With examples of real experiences from a professional perspective as well as personal stories from people whose lives have been changed by adoption, it is filled with useful information and, more important, great hope. About the Authors: Monica Blume is a licensed clinical social worker with LDS Family Services, and has counseled birth parents and adoptive couples for over ten years. She has spoken to LDS audiences across the country and led various support, education, and training groups on the topic of adoption. Gideon Burton is an assistant professor of English at Brigham Young University and is currently assistant editor of BYU Studies. Bonnie D. Parkin was called as general president of the Relief Society of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2002.

For Love of a Child: Stories of Adoption. Lisa Meadows Garfield. 2004. 178p. Agate Lake Publishing. For Love of a Child explores the adoption experience from the inside out. Within these pages, you’ll share the journey of adoption with birth parents, adoptive parents, adoptees, and a birth grandmother. Learn what it’s like to be torn from your birth family at age eight, reunite with your birth daughter after 25 years, suffer the heartache of infertility and then finally find your child, discover you’re pregnant with twins at age 14, or build your international family through adoption. You’ll learn how open adoption really works, why many adoptees are perfectly happy with being adopted, and the complications of adopting if you’re single or gay. No matter what your perspective or experience, this collection of honest, compelling stories will help you understand adoption as a total experience—a circle of love with a child at the center.

For Love of Martha. Marjorie Winter [pseudonym]. 1956. 191p. Julian Messner, Inc. A bewildered little girl is the hostage in this true story of one family’s struggle to adopt a child. A couple on an adoption agency merry-go-round. The names of the child, and of the author, have been changed to protect their identities. The author is a well-known female novelist and playwright.

For This Child We Prayed: A Compilation of Adoption Stories. Thomas & Rhoda Bontrager, eds. 2004. 236p. Christian Light Publications. Adoption is about needs met and longings satisfied. As the moral darkness around us intesifies, more and more innocent children are deprived the security of belonging to a two-parent family. They are born, but not “raised,” not loved and nurtured nor pointed toward God. Their futures are often bleak. Adoptive parents have a burden for such children. For This Child We Prayed shares the experiences of those who traveled from the disappointment of childlessness to the joy of parenthood by adoption. They accepted the adoption, not as a second-best solution, but as God’s plan for forming their family. The stories show God working out details of seemingly impossible situations. Adoption is pictured as a venture of faith—faith in God who designs families and forms them by different means. For This Child We Prayed was written to bless adoptive families, to provide useful resources for those considering adoption, and to help readers better understand what adoption is about—meeting the needs and longings of lonely children and lonely parents.

Foster-Adoption Story, A: Angela & Michael’s Journey: A Therapeutic Workbook for Traumatized Children. Regina M Kupecky LSW. Illustrated by Christine Mitchell. 2009. 30p. CreateSpace. A Foster-Adoption Story tells the story of a brother and sister experiencing abuse, neglect, multiple foster care moves, sibling separation, and eventually adoption. The goal of this workbook is to open the door to discuss difficult topics; issues like abuse, neglect, birth parents, and loyalty conflicts. It can be used as an aid in helping children heal; one that allows them to read about “kids like me.” Youngsters can color the pictures as they wish and share their feelings as they go along. This workbook will be a useful therapeutic tool to help children process their experiences and grief along the path to healing. About the Authors: Regina Kupecky has Masters Degree from John Carroll University. She has worked in the field of adoption for over thirty years. She currently works with children with attachment disorder and their families at The Attachment and Bonding Center of Ohio (www.abcofohio.net) and conducts training nationally and internationally on many adoption and attachment -related topics. Her services to children were recognized by the Ohio Dept. of Human Services in 1990 when she received the “Adoption Worker of the Year Award.” Ms. Kupecky is the co-author with Dr. Gregory C. Keck of Adopting the Hurt Child and Parenting the Hurt Child. Her other publications include: My Brother My Sister Sibling Relations in Adoption and Foster Care curriculum “Siblings Are Family Too,” published by the Three Rivers Adoption Council; a chapter on infertility issues, co-authored with Karen Anderson, in Clinical and Practice Issues in Adoption (Groza and Rosenberg editors); Abroad and Back: Parenting and International Adoption, a curriculum co-authored with Arleta James and Gregory C. Keck, Ph.D. Christine Mitchell lives in California with her husband and two children: one through the miracle of birth, one through the miracle of adoption. Visit the illustrator’s website.

Foster Parenting: A Road Less Traveled. Howard & Geneva Coleman. 2008. 108p. Coleman Enterprises. Foster Parenting: A Road Less Traveled is an actual account of Howard and Geneva Coleman and their experience in fostering over 24 children in their home from 2000 to 2007. This is also a book with strong religious overview that uses scripture to explain the unique role of a care giver. Everyone has a gift. Some have the gift of giving and sharing their home with children who are in desperate need of love and attention. Foster Parenting: A Road Less Traveled is also a training book for perspective and adoptive parents who are interented in becoming foster parents or adopting a child.

Fresh Paint: A Memoir of Adoption. Lori Adams. 2007. 64p. Xulon Press. In 1997, life was full for Lori, her husband Jeff, and their two young sons. As they moved through the process of adding to their family through adoption, Lori experienced a flood of different emotions, contemplations, and anxieties. Accepting “someone else’s child” as her own was one of the most personal and triumphant experiences of her adult life. She never shared her most intimate, private thoughts with anyone—until now. This book chronicles each stage of her incredible journey in becoming a mother in this special way. It is her true story. Lori is a professional vocalist, inspirational speaker, certified personal trainer, songwriter and author. She has been a favorite National Anthem soloist for the Detroit Tigers Baseball Club for over 20 years. She’s appeared in over 30 local and national radio and television commercials and thousands of telephone ads. Most importantly, she is the mother of eleven children: 2 biological and 9 adopted from 4 different Russian orphanages. Lori speaks to various groups and organizations about her adoption experiences and the needs of Russian orphans, sharing her personal testimony about deeply enriching experiences with her children. Through her stories and music, she can touch others on an intensely emotional level. For more information about Lori and her many projects, go to www.loriadams.net or contact her at lori@loriadams.net.

From Cradle to Grave: The Short Lives & Strange Deaths of Marybeth Tinning’s Nine Children. Joyce Egginton. 1989. 363p. William Morrow & Co. From Publishers Weekly: Marybeth Tinning of Schenectady, NY, bore eight children and adopted a ninth; all of the infants died, even though all but one seemed healthy. Autopsies were performed on some, with inconclusive results, and the causes of death were generally described as undetermined or ascribed to crib death. Except for the first baby, who had died of a congenital illness, Tinning had probably killed them all, according to Egginton’s sensitive, thought-provoking study. An insecure, unstable woman married to an emotionless, passive husband, Tinning suffered, the author concludes, from postpartum psychosis, induced by her belief that she was an unfit mother and by her inability to cope with the everyday problems of raising children. Convicted of murdering her ninth baby, Tami Lynne, Tinning is serving a 20-year-to-life sentence. Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Prison to Parliament: An Autobiography. Robert Howard. 2003. 276p. Trafford Publishing. Frank Howard’s mother was a prostitute; his father, purportedly her pimp. When he was six months old they placed him in the care of foster parents who never let him forget that he was the child of those “no-good sons of bitches” At twelve he was committed by a judge to the care of the Childrens’ Aid Society and taken to an orphanage in Vancouver. En route he was sexually molested by the policeman accompanying him. Dumped into the foster care circuit, he twice attempted suicide. He never finished grade ten. At eighteen he was sentenced to two years in the B.C. Penitentiary for armed robbery. In From Prison to Parliament Howard describes those early years, his life in prison, and how, on finishing his sentence, he vowed never to return to crime. He never did. He became a logger, then President of the Loggers’ Local of the I.W.A. At twenty-eight he entered politics as a C.C.F. M.L.A. and went on to become the M.P. for the Northern B.C. riding of Skeena. He held that seat for seventeen years, longer than anyone else since its formation in 1914. During his twenty-seven years as a politician, he won ten elections. Frank Howard was decidedly instrumental in getting Aboriginal people who lived on reserves the right to vote in federal elections. His three-year filibuster in the House of Commons produced reforms to Canada’s divorce laws. His passion for prison reform led to the closure of Canada’s barbaric Saint Vincent de Paul Penitentiary. Blunt, tough, Frank Howard pulls no punches in describing some of his C.C.F./ N.D.P. fellow politicians. Reading From Prison to Parliament, it’s easy to understand how his street smarts served his constituents, while at the same time infuriating other politicians.

From the Bench: A Heartwarming Collection of Adoption Stories. Randy T. Rogers. 2007. 62p. ProWriters Plus, Ltd. Good things happen every day! From the Bench is a heartwarming collection of stories about adoptions by people who have done some of those good things. These people and their unconditional love for children first changed the somewhat hardened heart of the judge who presided over their cases. Now, as that same judge shares in this book those uplifting and encouraging stories, the hearts of many others will be similarly touched as the pages of From the Bench are read from coast to coast. From the Bench instills hope in whoever reads it. Within its pages that good things still happen every day. About the Author: Judge Randy T. Rogers has served as the Probate Judge of Butler County, Ohio since February 1, 1995.

From the Ground Up. Jane W Chartrand. 2007. 184p. Lulu.com. From The Ground Up is about our family’s experience in building our home completely on our own; and about the adoption of 7 of our 8 children, unofficial foster children, with all the trials and tribulations involved. Lots of real life humor and some discouraging times.

“Gentle House”, The. Anna Perrott Rose. 1954. 177p. Houghton Mifflin. “Into the classroom of the author was thrust one day a Latvian boy of eleven, who had been bombed out of an orphanage in Latvia by the Russians and who barely kept alive in one D.P. camp after another until he was brought to America after the war.” The boy ended up joining her family, and this book recounts the process of his return to health, a learning process and a challenge for all concerned. Parts of this book appeared in the Ladies’ Home Journal under the title “Frightened Boy.”

Global Adoption Guide: Adoption Regulations in Selected Countries. International Business Publications USA. 2007. 286p. Lulu.com.

Golden Cradle, The: How the Adoption Establishment Works & How to Make It Work For You. Arty Elgart & Claire Berman. 1991. 254p. Carol Pub Group. Faced with frustration and numerous barriers while trying to adopt a child, Elgart knew there had to be a better way. In 1979 he formed The Golden Cradle, an adoption agency committed to better management and fairer treatment of adopting couples, birth mothers, and, of course, babies. This is actually two books in one—first it is Elgart’s story of his trials and how he came to form The Golden Cradle; second it is a comprehensive step-by-step guide to adopting a child. The story Elgart relates is interesting and touching. His agency has grown from a one-man sideline business into a large nonprofit organization with 18 employees. Sections two and three address all questions and concerns faced by couples embarking on adoption. The appendixes include lists of suggested readings and resources. Elgart’s warm, open style makes this book both informative and reassuring. Highly recommended.— Debra Berlanstein, Towson State University, Baltimore, Library Journal

Grandparents as Parents: A Survival Guide for Raising a Second Family. Sylvie de Toledo & Deborah Edler Brown. 1995. 322p. Guilford Press. Just when you thought it was time to enjoy the empty nest, reality intrudes. Suddenly, for any number of reasons, you are now the primary caregiver to another child—your grandchild. How do you cope with this new role and the changing family dynamics between you, your child, and your grandchild? What legal and social services are available to your new family? Is there anyone else who understands? Other books on the same subject: Raising Our Children’s Children.

Guide to Colorado Adoptions, A. Leslie Zetterstrom. 2002. 32p. Bradford Publishing Co.

Guide to Foster Parenting, A: Everything But the Kids! Mary Ann Goodearle, MS. 2005. 193p. Trafford Publishing Co (Canada). Most people entering the profession of foster parenting become quickly disillusioned when they realize that parenting children is only half of their job descriptions. The other half is survival in the foster care system itself! There is plenty of training available for parenting difficult children, but no one prepares foster parents for what comes along with their foster children, namely, a whole entourage known as the foster care treatment team! Foster Parents require much more than parenting skills to achieve success and longevity in today’s foster care world. The goal of this book is to help foster parents improve the climates where they live and work, which in turn enables them to be available for needy children for the long run. Foster care agencies experience huge turnovers in foster parents. That is because the majority of people entering this field have altruistic motives to help children succeed without possessing the knowledge they need to survive on the foster care treatment team. Foster parents most begin to see themselves as equal professional member of their children’s treatment teams. Living with foster children 24 hours a day, seven days a week makes the foster parents the highest level of experts about those children. The problem is that they are not recognized as experts by the other members of the team! This book will help foster parents take a more aggressive approach to educate themselves about the inner workings of the foster care system and be able to make better sense of why the other players on the team do what they do. The author’s insight as an adoptive and foster parent, and also as a foster care social worker provides information to the reader from both prospective. It is a must read for all foster and adoptive parents and social workers! About the Author: Mary Goodearle and her husband of 37 years, Allen, live in Mena Arkansas on a mini-ranch with their three adopted boys, the youngest of their 9 children. Mary earned her Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology from CA State University-Sacramento, and her Master’s degree in Human Services and Public Administration from the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay. She is a former child-protection social worker and foster care program coordinator for Outagamie County DHHS in Appleton Wisconsin. She also worked for the State of Wisconsin as an adoption facilitator. Mary and Allen have been foster parents to over 40 children with special needs. Today they work together presenting training seminars to foster parents all over the country. Mary also works with Foster Care Resources and has articles about foster parenting appearing at www.fosterparents.com. To learn more about her topics and availability for training, go to www.fostercaretrainer.com.

Guidebook for Raising Foster Children, A. Susan McNair Blatt, MD. 2000. 240p. Bergin & Garvey. Foster parents need wisdom to guide foster children to enable them to have a meaningful experience. This book, written by a pediatrician, with the help of foster parents, provides guidance and suggestions to maximize the experience for foster families and assist them in the process. About the Author: Susan McNair Blatt, M.D. is the Medical Director of the House of Good Shepherd in Utica, New York, a child welfare agency, and is an Adjunct Professor at Utica College.

Handbook on Thriving as an Adoptive Family: Real-Life Solutions to Common Challenges. David Sanford. 2008. 288p. Focus on the Family Publications. Adoption is a high calling from God, and the Christian home primary soil for planting seeds of faith. But how will post-adoption challenges affect this growth? Most agencies do a great job of connecting families with children who need a forever family. Not many prepare you for the unexpected issues—an adopted child fighting with his new siblings or not wanting to be touched or showing signs of reactive attachment disorder (RAD). The more you know, the more confident you will be to meet the unique needs of your adopted child and your entire family. This distinctly Christian book will equip readers to be successful adoptive parents. Packed from cover to cover with information, advice, ideas, and resources, Handbook on Thriving as an Adoptive Family will inspire and inform parents committed to making adoption work. Handbook on Thriving as an Adoptive Family is the one parenting resource that provides comprehensive, topical, Bible-based solutions for the inevitable challenges after adoption.

Handicap Race: The Inspiring Story of Roger Arnett. Dorothy Clarke Wilson. 1967. McGraw-Hill Book Co. In 1931, record-breaking track athlete Roger Arnett was on his way to a meet when a car accident left him a paraplegic in a time when paraplegia was not well understood, and meant endless battles with infections and other ailments. This is his story, from his marriage to a polio sufferer and their adoption of three children, to cultivating and cross-breeding prize-winning varieties of gladioli, to his ministry to bring hope and assistance to the physically disabled.

Happy Trails: The Story of Roy Rogers & Dale Evans. Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, with Carlton Stowers. 1979. 213p. Word Books.

Happy Trails: Our Life Story. Roy Rogers & Dale Evans, with Jane & Michael Stern. 1994. 252p. Simon & Schuster. Pop-culture enthusiasts Jane and Michael Stern (Way Out West, 1993, etc.) are the perfect coauthors for the popular cowboy/cowgirl couple, stars of movies, radio, and TV during the 1940s and ’50s. Alternating with Roy and Dale’s first-person reminiscences, the Sterns’ chapters provide a cultural/historical background and add an appreciative (but never icky) account of their impact on young Jane, Michael, and other Baby Boomers who bought cap guns, moccasins, and similar items emblazoned with Roy’s image. Rogers and Evans themselves, despite their firmly professed Christian faith, are not saints: Dale was married at 14, a mother at 15, divorced at 16; when she wed Roy in 1947, he was a widower with three young children inclined to resent her. Although they chronicle the untimely deaths of three other offspring (one a Down’s syndrome baby, another killed in a car crash, a third done in by a drinking bout with fellow enlisted men), the tone is generally upbeat and sweet—but not too sweet. — From Kirkus Reviews. Copyright © 1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Hard Candy Christmas. Linda Simran Harvey. 2001. 120p. Xlibris Corp. Christmas 1997 was the last straw. Linda Simran Harvey went home and wrote “Four Drunks and a Dog.” She felt better afterwards, so gradually she wrote about twenty-six more Christmases. The result is a modern Christmas memoir spanning fifty years, from a magical moment in a sad childhood to middle-aged angst, from a Christmas Eve wedding where the guests have misgivings to the gift of peace between two former spouses. In a class by itself is the memory of a perfect Christmas in February. Unfolding throughout the years is a spiritual journey and a saga of adoption loss and reunion, refusing to be neatly resolved. Nor do other relationships always sort themselves out in tidy packets. This is a real life. But along with the failures of Christmas expectations are love and connection with the human and the divine, just not in the perfect way of holiday specials and other people’s annual Christmas letters. About the Author: The author temporarily lives in Takoma Park, Maryland, looking forward to the Spring 2002 wedding of her only daughter to a wonderful guy. Alaska, the red rock of the Southwest, and Ann Arbor, Michigan continue to call her home from the appalling local congestion (both traffic and allergens). Meanwhile, she enjoys blues jam sessions, marble monuments, art galleries and the opera in Washington, D.C. and deeply appreciates the local spiritual community. Simran is an adoption reform activist, currently doing research for a book on how siblings are impacted by adoption. If you are an adoptee, birth or adoptive sibling, please contact her if you are interested in sharing your experiences (include email address for reply).

Heart of Adoption, The. Vickie Patterson Bryan. 2006. 264p. Xulon Press. Longing for a child of her own, Vickie Bryan went through twelve years of barrenness before adopting. The Heart of Adoption is designed to be a point of contact between God and those who do not want to remain barren. Allow this book to become a companion of hope in the reader’s walk to parenthood. In this book the reader will discover: Bryan’s Personal Story, God’s Heart for Adoption, God’s Promise to Give Children, Biblical Examples of Barrenness, A Relationship with God, Prayer to Become a Parent, Adopted Children in the Bible, Encouragement for Adoption, Sources for Adoption Research, Scriptures for Having Children, Encouragement and Building of Faith for a Child, Personal Journal, God’s Call to the Church, And much more. About the Author: Vickie Patterson Bryan, devoted wife and mother of five adopted children, has been a Christian for over twenty years. She continues to glean nuggets of truth from her deep relationship with the Lord. God uses her love of children to bring life changing power to the lives of those who will hear.

Helen’s Babies: with some account of their ways innocent, crafty, angelic, impish, witching, and repulsive; also, a partial record of their actions during ten days of their existence / by their latest victim. John Habberton (1842-1921). 1876. 206p. Loring, Publisher. Little story about a bachelor whose sister invites him to spend his vacation “relaxing” while he watches her two children. Two little monsters make his vacation one to remember. Basis for a film of the same name in 1924, directed by William A. Seiter, and starring Baby Pegy and Clara Bow. About the Author: Habberton was born in Brooklyn, but ‘brought up’ in the West. For some years he contributed Bret Harte-like fictional sketches and observations about Western scenes and characters to Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper. Habberton was extremely well known for his first book, Helen’s Babies (which “enjoyed a popularity out of all proportion to its literary merit”—O. F. Adams). Though he wrote many other books, and spent almost twenty years (1873-1892) as the literary and drama critic for the New York Herald—it is his tales of California that will probably preserve his reputation, rather than the numerous copies of Helen’s Babies that can still be found in the antiquarian marketplace.

Helping Your Adopted Child: Understanding Your Child’s Unique Identity. Paul David Tripp. 2008. 24p. New Growth Press. Long before you decided to adopt, long before your child was born, God planned to put your adopted child into your home. Your child is an amazing gift from God, but nurturing an adopted child also brings unique challenges. Understanding your adopted child from Gods perspective will allow you to address those challenges by faith and with hope. Learn from counselor and adoptive father Paul David Tripp how to help adopted children understand their identity and place in God’s world. About the Author: Paul David Tripp, M.Div., D.Min., is the president of Paul Tripp Ministries, on the pastoral staff of Tenth Presbyterian Church, adjunct faculty at CCEF, and has counseled for over 25 years. He is the author of many articles, booklets, and books, including Age of Opportunity: A Biblical Guide to Parenting Teens; Instruments in the Redeemers Hands; and A Quest for More, and the coauthor of How People Change and Relationships: A Mess Worth Making.

Hidden: Betrayed, Exploited & Forgotten: How One Boy Overcame the Odds. Cathy Glass. 2007. 352p. Harper Element. A poignant and shocking memoir of foster carer Cathy Glass’s relationship with Tayo, a young boy whose good behavior and polite manners hide a terrible past. Tayo arrives at Cathy’s with only the clothes he stands up in. He has been brought to her by the police, but he is calm, polite, and very well spoken, and not at all like the children she normally fosters. The social worker gives Cathy the forms which should contain Tayo’s history, but apart from his name and age, it is blank. Tayo has no past. Tayo is an “invisible” child, kidnapped from his loving father in Nigeria and brought illegally to the UK by his drink and drugs dependent prostitute mother, where he is put to work in a sweat shop in Central London. When he sustains an injury and is no longer earning, he is cast out. When Cathy takes Tayo to school he points out a dozen different addresses where he has stayed in the last six months, often being left alone. Tayo lies and manipulates situations to his own advantage, and Cathy has to be continually on guard. Tayo’s social worker searches all computer databases but there is no record of Tayo—he has only attended school for three terms and has never seen a doctor. He and his mother have been evading the authorities by living “underground.” With his mother recently released from prison, Tayo is desperate to live with his father in Nigeria, but no one can track him down or even prove that he exists. About the Author: Cathy Glass has been a foster carer for more than 20 years, during which time she has looked after more than 50 children, of all ages and backgrounds. Cathy runs training courses on fostering for her local Social Services, and helps draft new fostering procedures and guidelines. Her other titles include Cut, Damaged, and Saddest Girl in the World.

Highest Duty: My Search for What Really Matters. Capt Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, with Jeffrey Zaslow. 2009. 340p. William Morrow. In January 2009, the world witnessed one of the most remarkable emergency landings in history when Captain Sullenberger brought a crippled US Airways flight onto the Hudson River, saving the lives of all of the passengers and crew aboard. The successful outcome was the result of effective teamwork, Sully’s dedication to airline safety, his belief that a pilot’s judgment must go hand-in-hand with—and can never be replaced by—technology, and forty years of careful practice and training. From his earliest memories of learning to fly as a teenager in a crop duster’s single-engine plane in the skies above rural Texas to his years in the United States Air Force at the controls of a powerful F-4 Phantom, Sully describes the experiences that have helped make him a better leader, particularly the importance of taking responsibility for everyone in his care. And he talks about what he believes is at the heart of America’s “can do” spirit: the very human drive to prepare for the unexpected and to meet it with optimism and courage. His wife, Lorrie, has been a pillar of support through all the highs and lows that life has offered, from the challenges of commercial flying to the births of their two daughters [the Sullenbergers adopted two children and made every effort to be there when the birth mothers gave birth], from financial struggles to the event of January 15, 2009. Though the world may remember Sully as the hero of Flight 1549, the legacy he desires even more is that of a loving husband and father. Highest Duty is the intimate story of a man who has grown up to embrace what we think of as quintessential American values—leadership, responsibility, commitment to hard work, and service to others. And it is a narrative that reminds us that cultivating seemingly ordinary virtues can prepare us to perform extraordinary acts. About the Author: Captain Chesley B. Sullenberger III is an airline pilot and safety expert, and has served as an instructor and an Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) safety chairman and accident investigator. He was named the Outstanding Cadet in Airmanship in his graduating class at the United States Air Force Academy, and he holds two master’s degrees. A native of Denison, Texas, he lives in Danville, CA, with his wife and family.

Homeworks #1: Helping Children & Youths Manage Separation & Loss. Eileen Mayers Pasztor, Maureen Leighton & Wendy Whiting Blome. 1993. 72p. CWLA. This series of three, interactive, self-instructional workbooks can be used individually or in collaboration with a social worker. Ideas and information are presented, and then the foster parent or adoptive parent can respond by answering questions or completing worksheets relating the presented information to specific children in their care. HOMEWORKS #1: Helping Children and Youths Manage Separation and Loss provides basic information about separation, loss, and the grieving process to help the foster parent or adoptive parent understand the loss history of the child in their care, its effect on growth and development, and ways to help the child cope with angry or sad feelings and behaviors.

Homeworks #2: Helping Children & Youths Develop Positive Attachments. Eileen Mayers Pasztor, Maureen Leighton & Wendy Whiting Blome. 1993. 60p. CWLA. This series of three, interactive, self-instructional workbooks can be used individually or in collaboration with a social worker. Ideas and information are presented, and then the foster parent or adoptive parent can respond by answering questions or completing worksheets relating the presented information to specific children in their care. HOMEWORKS #2: Helping Children and Youths Develop Positive Attachments offers general background on how children form attachments and ways to help children develop and maintain positive attachments to their foster or adoptive parents.

Homeworks #3: Helping Children & Youths Manage the Impact of Placement. Eileen Mayers Pasztor, Maureen Leighton & Wendy Whiting Blome. 1993. 75p. CWLA. This series of three, interactive, self-instructional workbooks can be used individually or in collaboration with a social worker. Ideas and information are presented, and then the foster parent or adoptive parent can respond by answering questions or completing worksheets relating the presented information to specific children in their care. HOMEWORKS #3: Helping Children and Youths Manage the Impact of Placement shows how foster parents and adoptive parents can integrate a new child into their family and minimize the risk of placement disruption.

Hope & a Future, A: A True Story of an Orphan Girl. Marsha N Woods. 2007. 200p. Marton Publishing. In the aftermath of the Great Armenian Earthquake of 1988, little Maria was born into a world where hope was only a distant memory. But hope is what her mother had to give, as she left her precious baby in the hands of of orphanage doctor in the small Russian town of Armavir. Halfway around the world, Tony and Marsha Woods, still grieving from the loss of their first-born son but clinging to their long-held hope for another child whom they could love and cherish, were led by a series of miraculous events to Armavir and to the amazing Dr. Vegislav. Together and agianst all odds, they accomplished the impossible. This true story of an orphan girl’s journey from desolate beginnings to the life of an American “missionary kid,” finding her home in such places as Japan, Hong Kong, Ethiopia, and Australia. But most important of all was her discovery that the words of God through the prophet Jeremiah were hers to claim as well: “For I know the plans I have for you ... plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a futire.”

Hope Meadows. Wes Smith. 2001. Berkeley Publishing Group. At first, Hope Meadows, Illinois looks like any other quiet, suburban town. But this little village of big miracles is unique. The brainchild of a determined sociologist, it is built on an abandoned Air Force base for a single purpose: to create a solution to the problem of revolving-door foster care. Here are children given up by impoverished mothers; children of drug addicts, prisoners, and prostitutes; children who had never been taught the importance of responsibility, school, or the basics of human interaction. Here “unadoptable” children are given the chance to thrive in permanent homes. At Hope Meadows, seniors find a renewed sense of purpose as foster grandparents. Their spirits are lifted, renewed and enriched as they give unconditional love and commitment to the children they have come to care for so deeply. One of the most remarkable stories ever told, Hope Meadows will be an inspiration to everyone who reads it. A book to share with friends and loved ones, it is a tribute to the resilience of the human spirit, and a very special town built from the heart up.

Hope Shining Brightly: My Experience with Legal Risk Adoption. Jennette Dougan. 2002. 135p. Hope Shining Brightly, LLC. Hope Shining Brightly is a compelling and heartwarming story about one family’s determination to save two small children from the grips of the State programs which held them captive. This true story will help educate the reader about issues involved with legal risk adoption. By the Same Author: Holding the Hope: My Daughter’s Journey Through Reactive Attachment Disorder.

How to Adopt a Child. Ernest & Frances Cady. 1956. 189p. Whiteside & Morrow.

How to Adopt a Child. Don Molinelli. 1963. 126p. Paulist Press.

How to Adopt a Child: An In-depth Guide to Adopting Children Both Locally and Inter-country Within the English Legal System. Jeremy Rosenblatt. 2004. 144p. Vemillion.

How to Adopt a Child: A Complete Guide for the Layman. Robert A Farmer & Associates. 1967. 131p. Arco Publishing Co. It is the purpose of this book to acquaint the couple who is eager to adopt a child with the various procedures, understand the requirements which differ from state to state, tell them about the available methods and service organizations, and direct them to sources of specific and specialized information, including subjects such as selecting the child, who may and may not adopt, religion and race requirement, state laws, public and private agencies, independent and foreign adoptions, and the black market in babies.

How to Adopt a Child: A Comprehensive Guide for Prospective Parents. Connie Crain & Jan Duffy. 1994. 290p. Thomas Nelson. Through numerous conversations with prospective and successful adoptive parents across the United States, the authors gathered the most frequently asked questions about adoption and sought out the best possible answers from adoption attorneys, doctors, social workers and adoptive parents.

How to Adopt a Child in Louisiana. 1950. LA Dept of Public Welfare.

How to Adopt a Child Without a Lawyer for Less Than $50. Benji O Anosike. rev ed. 1984. 120p. Do-It-Yourself Legal Publications.

How to Adopt Your Stepchild in California. Frank Zagone. 1979. 142p. (3rd ed., 1987; 4th ed, 1995; 5th ed., 2000, 192p.; 6th ed, 2003, retitled How to Do Your Own California Adoption). Nolo Press. Don’t let the title of the important book fool you. Though it is based on California law and the forms are state specific, this book is a must have for anyone considering adopting a stepchild. How ro Adopt Your Stepchild in California shows you how to decide if adoption is right for your family, determine if adoption is legally possible, and choose the correct adoption procedure for your situation. It discusses what to do if the absent parent refuses to consent or can’t be found. It even covers how to effectively and economically use professional legal services.

How to Become an Adoptive Parent & Adopt a Baby. Dannie Elwins. 2009. 32p. Lulu.com. Discover tremendous and useful information inside of this book! Information such as:
- Requirements for becoming an adoptive parent
In the areas that we can’t give specific information, we’ll give you guidelines for where to look so that you aren’t being bounced around when trying to figure it all out.
- Preparation of YOUR adoption plan
This plan helps you visualize exactly where you are in the process. Instead of sitting by while the adoption agencies and courts decide your fate, you will be able to be proactive in the process.
- Types of adoption
There are numerous types of adoption...and some of these types have subtypes of their own. We’ll break them all down and allow you to analyze which is best for your specific situation.
- What costs can you expect to incur?
Adoptions can be quite expensive, but we’ll offer a few ideas for you to look into that may be able to offset some, or most of the cost involved.
- And more

How to Get Babies Through Private Adoption. Gayle D Rundberg. 1988. Maverick Publications.

How to Hold On. Donna Guinnip. 2005. 132p. Authorhouse. How to Hold On is a guidebook from an inside perspective on how to hold on to our biological, adoptive and foster children. It gives direct insight on what parents and adults need to consider, enforce and instill in the youth of today—the leaders of tomorrow. How to Hold On will not only give you a first-hand perspective on the journey foster parents are on, but it will also help you to understand the resources that are needed prior to entering this commitment. It is meant to equip parent with a new perspective on parenting, which will allow you to remain forever connected to your children. The book’s intent is to publicly and directly draw attention to the area of foster care that needs to be changed. It will give people everywhere a challenge to mirror the behavior that they want to see in the youth of today. About the Author: Donna Guinnip is from rural Pennsylvania where she resides with her husband, two children, and an ever-changing group of foster children. Donna is passionate about seeing change in the foster-care system. Being a cancer survivor has taught her that you weakest moment can be your strongest motivator. Donna and her husband continue in their journey as foster parents, allowing each child and each encounter to change and strengthen them. In writing How to Hold On, her second book, her desire is to promote a new way of thinking for handling, loving and holding on to our children, especially children in care. Donna continues to expand her knowledge, and is presently taking course in psychology to facilitate a stronger understanding of the children that grace her home.

How to Raise an Adopted Child: A Guide to Help Your Child Flourish from Infancy Through Adolescence. Judith Schaffer & Christina Lindstrom. 1989. 310p. Crown. Adoption is an act of love, but it is successful only when parents are prepared to deal with the special needs and circumstances of the adopted child. How to Raise an Adopted Child is a well-written and easy-to-follow book, containing compassionate, tested advice, about parenting an adopted child. Each chapter has a question-and-answer section covering common concerns. There are special-interest chapters on single parents, multiracial families and special-needs adoption. You’ll find yourself referring to this book time and time again as your child grows.

Human Beings: The World of Jean-Paul Sartre. Joseph McMahon & Jean-Paul Satre. 1971. 404p. University of Chicago Press. A consideration of Sartre’s work as a progressive quest for a coherent explanation of the world of men, arguing that Sartre desired to present a description of the earth as the common home of individual human beings who are not always at ease either in the physical universe or their social communities. [Sartre was the adoptive parent of a girl, Arlette el Kaim-Sartre.]