Adopting a child can be an exciting and anxious time in prospective parents' lives. There are rooms to decorate and clothes and toys to buy. There are many preparations to make before welcoming the new arrival. In "Before You Finalize the Adoption-The Pre-Adoption Workbook," author Joyce Vrooman provides advice and information for parents who are thinking about adopting a child.

Based on personal experience, Vrooman developed this workbook to guide parents through the adoption process to ensure they are knowledgeable and informed. In addition, Vrooman discusses information that parents need to know so the child will receive the proper counseling, therapy, medical treatments, or educational assistance.

Loaded with an array of helpful details, "Before You Finalize the Adoption-The Pre-Adoption Workbook" contains forms, checklists, worksheets, and questionnaires to help adoptive parents learn everything about their new child prior to the finalization of the adoption. All information pertaining to this child and their adoption is contained in one book.

A classic and the first to deal with how sealed and open records affect adoptees, birth parents and adoptive parents. Originally published in 1978," ... it is as true and open as the changes advocated ... comprehensive, factual, forward looking, totally honest, readable and thoughful ..." Los Angeles Times.

An insightful account of a woman's perseverance through adoption secrecy and red tape, Shadows in Paradise traces Carolann Dowding's search for her biological family. Despite a wholesome upbringing by her adoptive family in a beautiful Queensland, Australia, Carolann is compelled to reconcile the silences of her past. As an adult, she reconnects with her birth mother and describes the unpredictable, awkward struggles of their relationship until later in life, a truce is drawn between them. Through her own determination, and with a boost from a private investigator, Carolann courageously pursues a trail of clues leading to her mysterious birth father, changing her life forever. Illuminated by compassion, tragedy and gratitude which span the generations, Shadows in Paradise reveals the breadth of our need for truth and connection.

'A writer of genuine accomplishment' Good Book Guide A story of adoption and queer parenting from the award-winning author of The Spring of Kasper Meier, The Other Hoffmann Sister and An Honest Man A pause. 'Ah, Herr Fergusson. It's Frau Schwenk.' Our social worker, I now understood. 'Thank you for getting back to me. I'm calling because we have a little boy, four weeks old, who needs a family.' In 2018, after the introduction of marriage equality in Germany, Ben Fergusson and his German husband Tom became one of the first same-sex married couples to adopt in the country. In Tales from the Fatherland Fergusson reflects on his long journey to fatherhood and the social changes that enabled it. He uses his outsider status as both a gay father and a parent adopting in a foreign country to explore the history and sociology of fatherhood and motherhood around the world, queer parenting and adoption and, ultimately, the meaning of family and love. Tales from the Fatherland makes an impassioned case for the value of diversity in family life, arguing that diverse families are good for all families and that misogyny lies at the heart of many of the struggles of straight and queer families alike.

Tilly hates her stepfather, Dave. He abuses her mother, but she refuses to leave him. Frightened for her own safety, Tilly asks to go into foster care and is placed with Cathy. Tilly arrives with a graze on her cheek and Cathy becomes increasingly concerned by Dave's behaviour, especially when she learns he has been showering Tilly with gifts. While she's busy looking after Tilly and trying to keep her safe, Cathy is also worried about her own daughter, Lucy. She has a very difficult decision to make that will affect the rest of her life, and Cathy hopes she makes the right choice. Perfect for fans of Maggie Hartley, Lisa Stone and Ann Cusack!

Not Exactly As Planned is a captivating, deeply moving account of adoption and the unexpected challenges of raising a child with fetal alcohol syndrome. Linda Rosenbaum's life takes a major turn when her son, adopted at birth, is diagnosed with irreversible brain damage. With love, hope and all the medical knowledge she can accumulate, she sets out to change his prognosis and live with as much joy as she can while struggling to accept her new reality. Not Exactly As Planned is more than a story of motherlove. It's about birdwatching, bar mitzvahs, the collision of '60's ideals with the real world, family secrets and woodcarving.

With knowledge and compassion, Caring for Your Adopted Child offers the wisdom that adoptive parents need to provide the best possible care for their children. Whether a child joins a family through domestic adoption, international adoption, or foster care, he or she may have needs that require additional consideration. The coauthors, both adoptive parents, weave professional and personal experiences with essential information on: ; Partnering with a pediatrician before adoption ; Helping a child transition into a family ; Understanding health issues and conditions that are more prevalent in children who are adopted ; Supporting a child's emotional health and attachment ; And promoting positive adoption conversation as a child matures This comprehensive resource offers trusted parenting advice from a leading adoption medicine expert and the American Academy of Pediatrics, focusing on the physical and emotional well-being of adopted children.

Imagine this. You're 50 years old. An only child, from a Jewish family. The people youthought of as your mother and father are dead. Then, in the middle of the night you get a phone call from the other side of the planet telling you they've found your mother. Alive. Your real mother. Suddenly, you become the oldest of seven across two families. All your assumptions about yourself are swept away. From Ground Zero, you begin a journey of rediscovery to reclaim your identity. But the truths you gather are relative, subjective. Like speculating on the nature of the universe from the perspective of one planet and then again from another. Making each world view your own. My Planets is in fact a suite of works - a physical book; an enhanced eBook incorporating images, music, sound and video with spoken word and text, a film. Like most of David P Reiter's work, it challenges the boundaries, changing shape with the message, inviting the reader to time-travel on a Tardis of the mind. Making his planets your own.

'Exquisite... a deeply insightful memoir which charts our fundamental longings for place and identity, and ultimately our yearnings for love.' Helena Kennedy 'Extremely moving...an unusually thoughtful take on becoming a mother, enabled by removing babyhood and biology.' Guardian How to find an outlet for a love that demands expression? Single, in her mid-forties and having experienced a sudden early menopause, the realisation comes to Peggy quietly, and clearly, she decides to adopt a child. But the preparation is arduous and the scrutiny intense. There are questions about past lives, about capability and expectations. Asking big questions about identity and belonging, as well as about what makes a mother - and a home - this is a beautiful meditation on how the legacies of childhood might be overcome by a mother's determination to love. 'A remarkable book...wise and arresting' Sarah Winman

Each adoption is a unique event for the people who are personally involved, or for those who feel connected to the parents-to-be. The adoption period takes you to a new world and can wear you down emotionally if you are not prepared for what can be expected. It is not the regular pregnancy with which some people like to compare it. It is a pregnancy between cold bureaucracy on one side and the daily feelings of vulnerable tenderness on the other. Many books have been written about the ins and outs of pregnancies but there was never a book to prepare oneself for that very special time we call adoption. Geeri Bakker takes you there with her positive attitude and her sense of humor. She takes you along the unpredictable, uncomfortable and sometimes seemingly endless path that is the adoption procedure. THE ADOPTION HANDBOOK teaches adoptive parents-to-be how to face stress in its many appearances during the sometimes dark and winding road that leads to their adoptive child. To illustrate the book, Geeri Bakker shares her own story of the procedures that she and her husband endured when adopting their two children. It is not the (Dutch) procedure that makes this story so touching and at times breathtaking. It is the way that stress burrows into hearts that desperately wish to adopt a child; something that anyone going through an adoption procedure will recognize. THE ADOPTION HANDBOOK helps adoptive parents acknowledge their feelings of stress during their long-term 'pregnancy' and deal with them: facing the main goal, and feeling energetically able, both physically and mentally, to 'conceive' their child when the time is right. It is only normal that pregnant couples gather information to prepare themselves. So now it is time that adoptive parents prepare themselves, as well. For the well-being of this special child, given to you to have, hold, love, cherish, and to let it grow and grow up in your family.

The panda-tastic sequel to Sarah Horne's huggable debut, Panda at the Door! 'Adorable fun!' SARAH MCINTYRE Life is good for Callum's family and Pudding, their panda. Pudding and Dad's hit stage show, Panda-mime, has been wowing audiences - but then an ambitious journalist, Penni P, twigs that Pudding's a real-life talking panda. If she exposes the truth, her story will be everywhere. Penni woos the family with false promises of fame and fortune in Hollywood in order to find her proof. Soon, everyone's starry-eyed except Callum. Can he expose Penni and stop her from breaking the story that could tear his family apart? The follow-up to bestselling illustrator Sarah Horne's huggable debut Panda at the Door. A modern-day family adventure: Paddington Bear meets Mary Poppins! A funny, lively story which touches on themes of family, belonging and truth - perfect for readers aged 6+. Quirky integrated illustrations throughout.