We’ve put together some suggestions of books about adoption – from how to navigate the process to practical tips on how to parent a child in care – that you might find useful.
Adopting a Child
by Jenifer Lord
This is a helpful guide to adoption in the UK and describes what adoption means and how to go about it. It describes the processes involved in adopting a child, with a wealth of practical information. You can also read the stories of adopters from how it feels to go through the adoption process to what life as an adoptive family is really like. Published by CoramBAAF, revised edition 2013.
The Adopter’s Handbook
by Amy Neil Slater
This practical guide helps adopters to help themselves through the adoption process and beyond. Find the resources that can help you to help yourself so you can feel more in control of the process. Easy-to-access information will help you handle the ups and downs of the adoption experience, and prepare you for what is likely to happen along the way. Published by CoramBAAF, revised edition 2013.
An Adoption Diary
by Maria James
This moving real life account of an adoption chronicles every aspect of the adoption process from the moment when the decision to adopt is made following years of infertility. Spanning almost four years the diary covers the assessment procedure, the workshops, the heartache of months of waiting, and the final match with a two-year-old boy who lives over 200 miles away. The author talks openly and honestly of the difficulties of a long distance adoption, explores what it feels like when an adoption finally happens and charts the first few months of family life. Published by CoramBAAF in 2006.
What to Expect when you’re Adopting – a practical guide to the decisions and emotions involved in adoption
by Dr Ian Palmer
A warm and sensitive guide offering parents the tools they need to decide if they’re ready to adopt, from leading psychiatrist Dr Ian Palmer. This book does not gloss over the realities of the adoption process, but rather leads parents through the many stages and emotional aspects involved and offers practical and sensitive advice. Dr Ian Palmer also deals with the issues of single-parent adoption, infertility and, unusually, the option of remaining childless. Published by Vermilion in 2009.
The Pink Guide to Adoption for Lesbians and Gay Men
by Nicola Hill
A helpful guide for gay and lesbian adopters illustrated throughout by quotations and real life experiences. Published by CoramBAAF in 2012.