The voice on the other end of the line was soft, yet forthright: "Sarah, my name is Hannah Morgan. I think I'm your birth mother."

The phone call, wholly unexpected, instantly turned Sarah Saffian's world upside-down, threatening her sense of family, identity, self. Adopted as an infant twenty-three years before, living happily in New York, Sarah had been "found" by her biological parents despite her reluctance to embrace them.

In this searing, lyrical memoir, Sarah chronicles her painful journey from confusion and anger to acceptance and, finally, reunion--but not until three soul-searching years had passed. In spare, luminous prose, Sarah Saffian crafts a powerful story of self-discovery and belonging--a deeply personal memoir told with grace, eloquence, and compassion. At once heartbreaking and profoundly uplifting, Ithaka is sure to touch anyone who has grappled with who they are.

There are more than 450,000 children living in foster care. The Heart Knows Something Different collects over three dozen personal narratives by young writers, ages 15 to 20, and provides an insider's account of growing up in "the system." It takes us into a world largely hidden from public view, and attests to the mix of pain and fear, and sometimes hope, and sometimes even happiness that the foster care experience involves.

In recent years, the number of adopted children from abroad has grown dramatically in United States. As open adoption laws and increased competition for adoptable children have made adoption more complicated in this country, international adoptions offer an easier, faster, and less expensive alternative. A comprehensive guide, Adopt International provides step-by-step advice on everything from selecting an adoption agency to traveling abroad to pick up your child to adjusting to a new life at home. The book walks you through the myriad government regulations and complicated forms (both American and foreign) as well as the financial issues involved. Finally, it includes the stories of people who have successfully adopted one or more children from across the world.

An absolutely heartbreaking and gripping historical novel based on a true story, for fans of Suzanne Goldring, Bridgerton and The Girl Behind the Gates. ***FROM THE 4-MILLION COPY BESTSELLING AUTHOR*** ***RATED 5 STARS BY REAL READERS*** "A wonderfully romantic novel that will capitvate you instantly" -Hart, 5* Amazon reviewer "A fantastic story - I can't wait to read the next volume!" -Michele, 5* Amazon reviewer October 1886. Catherine and Guillaume Duquesne set off to New York with their six-year-old daughter Elisabeth. But the young couple's dreams of freedom and independence soon turn into a nightmare when Catherine dies during the journey and Guillaume is assaulted and left for dead soon after their arrival on American soil. A wealthy family adopts Elisabeth, who grows up spoiled and happy. But when she turns 16, she learns the truth about her origins and decides to return to France to meet her real family. Upon her arrival she realises that her grandfather's house, too, is seething with secrets... What readers think "The author is hugely talented." -Julie, 5* Amazon reviewer "Very attaching characters ... I'm impatient to read the next installment!" -5* Babelio reviewer "I just have to read the rest of the series." -Jean-Pierre, 5* fnac.com reviewer "Reads very well - wait until you read the ending!" -Francoise, 5* Amazon reviewer "An extraordinary author. I strongly recommend!" -Nathalie, 5* Amazon reviewer "I didn't know the author - it's an excellent novel. -Mimi, 5* Amazon reviewer

From Torey Hayden, the number one Sunday Times bestselling author of One Child comes Lost Girl, a poignant and deeply moving account of a lost little girl and an extraordinary educational psychologist's courage and determination.

Jessie is nine years old and looks like the perfect little girl, with red hair, green eyes and a beguiling smile. She even has a talent for drawing gorgeous and intricate pictures. But Jessie also knows how to get her own way and will lie, scream, shout and hurt to get just exactly what she wants.

Her parents say they can't take her back, and her social workers struggle to deal with her destructive behaviour and wild mood swings. After her chaotic passage through numerous foster placements, Jessie has finally received a diagnosis of an attachment disorder. Attachment disorders arise when children are deprived of the all-important close bonds with trustworthy adults that allow them to develop emotionally and thrive. Finally educational psychologist Torey Hayden is called in to help. Torey agrees to weekly meetings with Jessie to try and uncover why she is acting out. Torey's gentle care and attention reveal shocking truths behind Jessie's lies. Can Torey and the other social workers help to provide the consistent loving care that has so far been missing in Jessie’s life, or will she push them away too?

Twelve year old Danielle has been excluded from a special school and her former foster family can no longer cope. She arrives as an emergency placement at the home of foster carer Angela, who soon suspects that there is more to the young girl's disruptive behaviour than meets the eye. Can Angela's specialist training unlock the horrors of Danielle's past and help her start a brave new life?

The Girl With Two Lives is the fourth book from well loved foster carer and Sunday Times bestselling author Angela Hart. Another true story from the experienced and bestselling foster carer – sharing the tale of one of the many children she has fostered over the years. A story of the difference that quiet care, a watchful eye and sympathetic ear can make to those children whose upbringing has been less fortunate than others.

An honest insight into the rollercoaster reality of therapeutically parenting teenagers. Raising any teenager is tough, but raising teens who have experienced trauma in their early years is a whole different - and more difficult - ball game. Adoptive parent Sally Donovan is here to answer every question you've ever wanted to ask about therapeutically parenting teenagers, and a whole lot more besides. Therapeutic parenting is equal parts love, commitment, determination, and realism, and Sally writes about it all with equal parts blazing wit, tear-jerking honesty, and wisdom. Read this book to hear a voice speaking from experience - and above all, the heart - about everything to expect from therapeutically parenting your teens.

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

NOMINATED FOR SIX OSCARS, INCLUDING BEST PICTURE, SUPPORTING ACTOR AND SUPPORTING ACTRESS . . . Aged just five, Saroo Brierley lost all contact with his family in India, after waiting at a train station for his brother who never returned. Discover the inspiring, true story behind the film, Lion. This is the heart breaking and original tale of the lost little boy who found his way home twenty-five years later. ----------------------------------- As a five-year old in India, I got lost on a train. Twenty-five years later, I crossed the world to find my way back home. Five-year-old Saroo lived in a poor village in India, in a one-room hut with his mother and three siblings... until the day he boarded a train alone and got lost. For twenty-five years. This is the story of what happened to Saroo in those twenty-five years. How he ended up on the streets of Calcutta. And survived. How he then ended up in Tasmania, living the life of an upper-middle-class Aussie. And how, at thirty years old, with some dogged determination, a heap of good luck and the power of Google Earth, he found his way back home. Lion is a triumphant true story of survival against all odds and a shining example of the extraordinary feats we can achieve when hope endures. ----------------------------------- 'Amazing stuff' The New York Post 'So incredible that sometimes it reads like a work of fiction' Winnipeg Free Press (Canada) 'A remarkable story' Sydney Morning Herald Review 'I literally could not put this book down. Saroo's return journey will leave you weeping with joy and the strength of the human spirit' Manly Daily (Australia) 'We urge you to step behind the headlines and have a read of this absorbing account...With clear recollections and good old-fashioned storytelling, Saroo...recalls the fear of being lost and the anguish of separation' Weekly Review (Australia)

Are you in the process of adopting and feeling out of your depth? Do you already have an adopted child and are feeling overwhelmed? Sharing the secrets that will enable you to face the challenges of adoptive parenting with confidence, Sophie Ashton offers tips and strategies which have worked for her family. She discusses preparing for the journey ahead, parenting with empathy, facilitating your child's attachment, helping your child feel listened to, and providing structure and consistency in order to successfully integrate your child into your family and go on to have a stable happy family life. An honest and reassuring account of what it can really be like to be an adoptive parent, this practical hands-on guide will help you prepare for the highs and lows of being a parent and give your child and your family the best chance to flourish.

For children who are adopted families can get complicated, and that's very true when it comes to brothers and sisters, or 'siblings'. Today The Adoption Club are exploring the confusing world of siblings. Some children have half-siblings, adopted siblings, step-siblings. Michael has a birth sibling, his sister Angela, who he lives with, but many other children who are adopted are separated from their brother or sisters. The Adoption Club talk about their feelings about their own siblings. Written for counsellors and therapists working with children aged 5-11, as well as adoptive parents, this workbook is designed to help explore sibling relationships. It is one of a set of five interactive therapeutic workbooks featuring The Adoption Club written to address the key emotional and psychological challenges adopted children often experience. Together, they provide an approachable, interactive and playful way to help children to learn about themselves and have fun at the same time.

This book is full of the techniques that we have used successfully over the years. Many we have adapted to suit their needs and many we have made up ourselves. What we have become particularly good at is not giving up A mother of two adopted children, Celia Foster has written Big Steps for Little People as a personal 'insider's guide' to parenting adopted children.Drawing on the hard-won wisdom gained in her own family life, Celia offers a thoughtful account of life with adopted children and examines the issues that many adoptive families encounter, including the development of children with attachment problems and how to tackle behavioural difficulties. She combines real-life anecdotes with suggestions and strategies that other parents can put to use.This book will be a great comfort and help to all adoptive families and offers insights for the professionals who work with them.

Child protection made simple: the plain-speaking guide for all those concerned with the protection of children. Providing a clear and uncomplicated route through the child protection process. Diagrams and charts are included to aid understanding; jargon and acronyms are only included in order to explain them and key court decisions are explained in their proper context. In addition to coverage of local authority safeguarding duties and investigations, parental responsibility, wardship and the inherent jurisdiction and secure accommodation, new content in this edition includes: A chapter on special guardianship, helpful for those who find themselves involved in legal proceedings without access to legal aid, such as grandparents Developments in cases involving: Radicalisation Adoption Children or parents who are nationals of a foreign country The introduction of the Child Arrangements Programme for private law

There are thousands of grandparents raising their grandchildren in the United Kingdom, the majority as a consequence of parental drug use or mental health issues. This book recounts the real-life stories of grandparent carers who chose to put their own lives on hold so that their loved ones can be properly cared for. Whilst most grandparent carers remain as unsupported informal carers, some seek to formalise their position by becoming Social Services Kinship Carers or achieve legal routes to independent care as Special Guardians or with a Child Arrangement Order. Whether formal or informal, full-time grandparent carers face life-changing futures. Immediate concerns are work, child care, the behaviour of the child, contact with the birth parents and financial support, and there is often no clear path to learning their rights and available support. There is also the challenge involved in balancing their bonds with their adult children while protecting their grandchildren. In this book, grandparents talk in detail about these issues and of how professionals and services have at times helped and not helped. These candid stories also explore how moving to live with grandparents can be experienced by both child and carer as simultaneously a gain and a loss. The stories offer support, and the book also includes professional advice to encourage grandparents to acknowledge their value, accept their limitations, develop realistic expectations about what they can and cannot achieve, and recognise that all successes should be celebrated.

When a devastating diagnosis tears author Donnie Kanter Winokur's family apart, a service dog may be their best hope to stay together. Donnie Kanter Winokur and her husband, Harvey, never could have imagined the heart-wrenching struggle that becomes their new reality after they decide to adopt two infants from Russia. As Iyal and Morasha grow, it becomes clear that Iyal's development is drastically lagging behind his sister's. By age four, he has a devastating diagnosis: fetal alcohol syndrome. But naming their battle provides little relief as Iyal and his family try to cope with the lifelong impact of his invisible disability. As the Winokurs' marriage is unraveling, Donnie and Harvey hang on to the last shreds of their own promise. Desperate to alleviate her son's constant rages and their crushing toll on the family, Donnie comes up with an innovative, untested, four-pawed solution: a golden retriever service dog named Chancer. Chancer is specially trained to give Iyal a unique love he desperately needs. But in this true-life tale infused with moments of despair, tenderness, and humor, Chancer turns out to be what the entire family has needed to stay-and grow-together.

The true story of runaway child with a secret. A devastating discovery that changes everything.

Melissa is a sweet-natured girl with a disturbing habit of running away and mixing with the wrong crowd. After she’s picked up by the police, and with nowhere else to go, she is locked in a secure unit with young offenders. Social Services beg specialist foster carer Angela to take her in, but can she keep the testing twelve-year-old safe? And will Angela ever learn what, or who, drove Melissa to run and hide, sometimes in the dead of night?

The Girl in the Dark is the sixth book from well-loved foster carer and Sunday Times bestselling author Angela Hart. This is a true story that shares the tale of one of the many children she has fostered over the years. Angela's stories show the difference that quiet care, a watchful eye and sympathetic ear can make to children who have had more difficult upbringings than most.

If You are Thinking of Becoming a Gay Dad, or if You are Already a Gay Dad This Book is for You!Are you ready to have kids? More and more gay men are turning to adoption and surrogacy to start their own families. An estimated two million American LBGTQ people would like to adopt and an estimated 65,000 adopted children are living with a gay parent. In 2016, The Chicago Tribune reported that 10 to 20 percent of donor eggs went to gay men expanding their families via surrogacy, and in many places the numbers were up 50 percent from the previous five years. Gay parenting. Having a kid is like coming out all over again, on a daily basis, especially if you have an infant. Was coming out stressful for you? It's about to get more intense and you will have a child watching your every move and listening to your every word. If you stutter or pause, they may pick up on your discomfort and could start to feel like something is wrong about their family unit. The Ultimate Guide For Gay Dads is jam packed with parenting tips and advice to help you build confidence and become the awesome gay dad you were meant to be! How Is This Parenting Guide Different From Others? Unlike other parenting books that have whole chapters focusing on things specifically related to mothers (such as how to get the perfect latch when breastfeeding), this parenting book replaces those sections with things relevant to gay dads. It covers topics like how to find LGBT friendly pediatricians, how to find LGBT friendly schools, how to childproof your home with style, how to answer awkward and prying questions about your family from strangers, examples for what two-dad families can do on Mother's Day, and much more. The book also includes parenting tips and advice from pediatricians, school educators, lawyers, and other same-sex parents. Top LGBT parenting expert. Bestselling author Eric Rosswood covers every aspect of fatherhood for gay men in this essential guide to growing your family in the post-DOMA era. He is a major influencer on social media with over 100,000 followers on Twitter alone, as well as thousands on other platforms. Exploring LGBTQ issues. Rosswood is an in-demand authority and commentator on LGBTQ issues, including civil rights, parenting, marriage and politics. The author has been featured in major media including The Washington Post, Cosmopolitan, CBS News, The Huffington Post, Elite Daily, Yahoo! News, AOL News, NY Daily News, IB Times, and regional LGBTQ press.

Innocent is the shocking true story of little Molly and Kit, siblings, aged 3 years and 18 months, who are brought into care as an emergency after suffering non-accidental injuries. Aneta and Filip, the children's parents, are distraught when their children are taken into care. Aneta maintains she is innocent of harming them, while Filip appears bewildered and out of his depth. It's true the family has never come to the attention of the social services before and little Kit and Molly appear to have been well looked after, but Kit has a broken arm and bruises on his face. Could it be they were a result of a genuine accident as Aneta is claiming? Both children become sick with a mysterious illness while, experienced foster carer, Cathy, is looking after them. Very worried, she asks for more hospital tests to be done. They've already had a lot. When Cathy's daughter, Lucy, becomes ill too she believes she has found the cause of Kit and Molly's illness and the parents aren't to blame. However, nothing could be further from the truth and what comes to light is far more sinister and shocking.