Can I tell you about Adoption?: A guide for friends, family and professionals

by Anne Braff Braff Brodzinsky, Rosy Salaman (Illustrator)

Overview

Meet Chelsea - a young girl who was adopted. Chelsea invites you to learn about adoption from her perspective and introduces us to two friends of hers who were also transracially adopted. Chelsea and her friends help children understand what it means to be adopted, the experiences and challenges that follow the adoption process, and how they can help.

Accessible and informative, this illustrated book is an ideal introduction to adoption for children aged 7-11 and is a great tool for encouraging discussions for families, teachers and professionals working with adopted children.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781849059428
Publisher:	Kingsley, Jessica Publishers
Publication date:	08/28/2013
Series:	Can I tell you about...?
Pages:	56
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.80(h) x 0.20(d)
Age Range:	7 - 11 Years

About the Author

Anne Braff Brodzinsky is a parent to adoptive, step and biological children. She currently works as a clinical psychologist in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is the author of The Mulberry Bird: An Adoption Story, also published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Rosy Salaman is an artist and illustrator who studied History of Art at Bristol University and Illustration at the Chelsea College of Art and Design. She lives in London, UK.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction. 2. Introducing Chelsea. 3. My Adoption Story. 4. Meet my friends Adilu and Kira. 5. Difficult Questions and Feelings about being Adopted. 6. Good Things about Being Adopted. 7. Notes for Parents. 8. Notes for Teachers.

Editorial Reviews

Overall, this book is a worthwhile read and it would help to open up discussion within a family who have an adopted child...in summary, this book sets out to help others to understand what it feels like to be adopted and I think it achieves this objective very well.

Irish Association of Social Workers - Denise O'Neill

The slim publication is likely to prove a useful tool for young adopted children to enable them to raise and discuss issues they may have about their life-story with their adoptive parents and to gain confidence in discussing issues surrounding their adoptive status with their friends. It is also likely to be of value to professionals, including social workers and teachers, working with children who have been adopted, or are about to be adopted.
The illustrations included in the book will help engage young readers and help to get the message home about some rather complex issues.

NAPCE Journal: Pastoral Care in Education - Dr Darshan Sachdev

Can I tell you about Adoption?' is an illustrated book accessible to children aged seven+ that invites the reader to explore the thoughts and feelings that can surround adoption through the eyes of Chelsea, a young girl who was adopted... Throughout the book Chelsea acknowledges thoughts and feelings connected to birth parents, foster parents, adopted parents and the adoptee themselves that may never go away. Helpful suggestions of how to ask an adopted child questions are given as well as a valuable insight into ways of empathically understanding how an adopted child may feel... Straight talking on emotional issues and difficult questions runs throughout the book. This makes it a useful tool for opening up discussions for parents, families, teachers and professionals who work with adopted children as well as adopted children themselves. The end of the book provides advice sections for teachers and parents which is followed by a list of helpful reading resources and organisations.

Play Therapy

This useful, accessible book is written from the perspective of a young girl (,...) Chelsea's perspective, it invites the reader to understand adoption from the young person's point of view; what adoption is like, the questions, worries and fears adoptees may have and ways o open up communication about these issues... At the end of the book, there are sections specifically for parents and teachers offering advice about how they can help adopted children, and to inform parents and teachers.

Youth in Mind

I think many adopted children will appreciate the straight talking on some of the emotional issues they face.

Sally Bell

I love the honest and clear way this book tells how children come to be adopted. This explanation will be useful for adopted children trying to understand their own story, as well as informing those around them. I can definitely see the benefits of this book being used in schools as well as at home, and I will be recommending it to teachers I know and work with.

Sarah Hill

The overall tenor of this book is upbeat and I can envisage it being a great help both to adopted children and those with whom they have regular contact - teachers and children - at school.

Red Reading Hub by Jill Bennett