Adoption is intended to be, and should be, a fulfilling, beautiful, rewarding, and enriching aspect in anyone’s life. Many times, however, there are pitfalls and a lack of resources to turn to for help, advice, and answers on the subject. This book deals with these pitfalls which may not be obvious to the unenlightened adoptive parent who was basically handed a child and told to “Make him your own.” The goal of this book is to help adoptive parents understand some potentially challenging factors so they can deal with them positively and to help parents comprehend the thinking process of their child. It will also be an invaluable resource to social workers, teachers, and counselors so that they may approach their adopted clients in an enlightened way once they understand an adopted child has issues in his life unique to the adoptive process. Adoptive parents reading this book can gain a different insight into their child’s reasoning, and this information can be used to avert some potential problems they might otherwise face. It includes all the issues that adoptive families should be told about, and it is based primarily upon real life experiences relating equally to both sexes. In particular, it will apprise the non-adopted person, the adoptive parent, so he can look at the obstacles his adopted child may be facing. Then he, as a parent, can begin to understand his child’s behavior. Once the true source of the adopted child’s pain is discovered, parents can reach the “ah, ha” moment we have all experienced. With understanding comes a new attitude and the impetus to change the whole atmosphere from negative to positive. The child and his parents will still have issues to deal with, but the source has been uncovered and issues can be faced openly. Readers will appreciate that the book is designed to flow in the first person as if the author was talking directly with them.

Insight into Adoption: What Adoptive Parents Need to Know About the Fundamental Differences Between a Biological and an Adopted Child--And Its Effect on Parenting

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Blomquist, Barbara Taylor

Psychology & Counseling

Charles C. Thomas Pub Ltd

Searching for Abby

Searching for Abby is a tale of one woman’s quest for self-knowledge, for an identity. In Abby Lang’s case, this quest is complicated by the fact that she was adopted at four months of age and has no knowledge of her birth family. Abby leads a life that, by most accounts, would appear to be very fulfilling. She earns a college degree, marries her college sweetheart, and lives with Matt and their three children in the house of her dreams. Yet all along the way, uncertainties about her own identity and the nature of her birth family prevent her from feeling truly happy and satisfied. Abby’s discovery that their new neighbor, Kathryn, had worked for the adoption agency that placed Abby propels Abby on a search for the truth about her birth family. This search carries her on a whirlwind of emotions and in due course, the discovery of her birth family’s history. All, however, is not as it first appears. What new insights will be revealed? How will they change Abby? Will Searching for Abby finally lead to the peace and fulfillment that she seeks?

Parenting & Relationships

Adoption

Palmetto Publishing Group

Terry never felt like he fit in Nick identified himself as an outsider and at fifteen Meg ran away from home. Terry's Nick's and Meg's stories are part of the twenty-nine profiles in Embracing the Adoption Effect.

Embracing the Adoption Effect

Tate Publishing

Why is there misunderstanding surrounding the adoption world? This need not be. Knowledge and insight provide enlightenment to dilemmas often found in adoptive families. This updated third edition of Insight Into Adoption explains why people in the adoption world think and feel the way they do. Adoptees and adoptive parents should know their feelings and thoughts, although different, are normal. Once understood, misconceptions fall away. They’re in a unique situation—living and loving in a family where members are not biologically connected to one another. Thousands of readers have already benefitted from Insight Into Adoption. The author has heard, “I read your book. How could you know what I was feeling?” and “How could you get inside my head and write my story?” One adoptee who left home as a teenager returned twenty years later to tell his parents, “I read this book and finally understand that my feelings were normal. I know now that you loved me all along.” This book explains why adoptive parenting is different from biological parenting. Many enlightened adoptive parents appreciate their adoption experience as a gift from life. They are grateful and cherish how adoption has touched them. All adoptive parents, with knowledge and insight, should be able to say the same.

Insight Into Adoption: How the Adoption Effect Impacts Families

Randy's Ride

Randy never felt like he fit in. Adopted when he was young, he never found his place within his family. Because of this disconnected feeling, Randy decided to set out on his own. Author Barbara Blomquist invites readers to come along on Randy’s Ride, a touching story of one young man’s journey to self-discovery. During his travels, Randy meets interesting people who teach him many life lessons. There’s Ellie, a hard woman struggling with the death of her mother; Bill, the teacher who encourages Randy to make something of himself; and Mindy, a young girl who touches Randy’s heart. Through his encounters with these individuals and others, Randy learns a very important lesson: your life is what you make it. Barbara Taylor Blomquist’s first book, Insight Into Adoption, reflected her thirty plus years of experience with conflicted families. During those years, she served as an adoption consultant, coordinated adoption support groups, was a board member of several children’s organizations, and was employed by a Children’s Home, as well as a children’s counseling service. In her work she has come across many children like Randy. Randy’s Ride was written because she felt their story needed to be told.