Product Description

Current wisdom holds that adoptive parents should talk with their child about adoption as early as possible. But no guidelines exist to prepare parents for the various ways their children might respond when these conversations take place. In this wise and sympathetic book, a clinical psychologist and a psychiatrist, both adoptive mothers, discuss how young children make sense of the fact that they are adopted, how it might appear in their play, and what worries they and their parents may have. Accounts by twenty adoptive parents of conversations about adoption with their children, from ages two to ten, graphically convey what the process of sharing about adoption is like.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11771 in Books
• Published on: 1995-02-22
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 270 pages

From Publishers Weekly
This book, designed to help adoptive parents, as well as professional counselors and therapists, deal with questions youngsters ask about their adoption, contains revealing conversations between parents and their children, aged two to 10, from 20 families of all kinds--single, lesbian and interracial, among them. Psychologist Watkins ( Waking Dream ) and psychoanalyst Fisher (coauthor of To Do No Harm ) are themselves adoptive mothers. Stressing that "the adoptive family integrates diversity," and that "children come into families in different ways," the authors seek to prepare parents to acquaint children with their origins through frank talk, stories and play. The children's contribution in the book shows them ready to face reality, for the most part; their comments are probing, humorous and touching.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

I Always Recommend this Book to Parents!
I have spoken to many adoptive parents over the years and without fail, I always recommend this book. It is a true gem in adoption literature. I found the research appendix at the back fascinating--the authors give findings from adoptees perceptions of adoption from age three to teens. Written by adoptive moms who are also professionals in the mental health field, it is a book that should be on the bookshelf of every parent and professional.

just ok
This book could be great if it was edited better. It had some good points but you have to wade through all the words to figure out what they are trying to say. I did enjoy the personal stories on how real people have talked with their children about adoption.

It's good, but it could have been so much better.

One of the best I have seen
If you wish some help in how to open conversations on adoption, then this is a good book and it has many examples to see how things may vary with each child and helps to choose what is right for your child.