Adoption Books

There are lots of books about adoption out there, but it takes time to find what you’re looking for. Start with your specific area of interest.

The internet is the best search tool. Here are some sites to get you started.

• Parent Books
• FAS Bookshelf
• EMK Press
• Tapestry Books
• Perspectives Press

Suggested Reading List

The Adoption Council of Canada does not endorse any of these books, however, we provide this listing as a starting place for your own research reading on adoption.

NOTE: We suggest you ask your public/college/university library to order any books they do not already own on this subject and that you think would be valuable.

Planning and Preparation for Adoption

1. Jewett, Claudia.  Adopting the Older Child - Harvard, Mass.: Harvard Common Press, 1978.

2. Schooler, Jayne.  The Whole Life Adoption Book: Realistic Advice for Building a Healthy Adoptive Family - Colorado Springs: Pinon, 1993.

3. Webber, Marlene. As if Kids Mattered: What's Wrong in the World of Child Protection and Adoption: - Toronto: Key Porter, 1998.

4. Adoption: Choosing It, Living It, Loving It

5. Making Sense of Adoption: A Parents Guide

6. Preparing for Adoption: Everything Adopting Parents Need to Know About Preparations, Introductions and the First Few Weeks

 7. Adoption: Child Adoption: An Introductory Guide to Adoption for Adoptive Parents

8. ADOPTION: Things Your Adopted Child Will Want To Know About Adoption

9. Adoption: Information About the Adoption Process

10. The Complete Book of International Adoption: A Step by Step Guide to Finding Your Child

11. In on It: What Adoptive Parents Would Like You to Know about Adoption: A Guide for Relatives and Friends

12. Adoption Is a Family Affair!: What Relatives and Friends Must Know, Revised Edition

13. The Other Mother: A Woman's Love for the Child She Gave Up for Adoption

14. The Connected Child: Bring Hope and Healing to Your Adoptive Family

15. Attaching in Adoption: Practical Tools for Today's Parents

Parenting Adopted Children

1. The Open Adoption Experience: A Complete Guide for Adoptive and Birth Families--from Making the Decision Through the Child's Growing Years

2. Toddler Adoption: The Weaver's Craft Revised Edition

3. Nurturing Adoptions: Creating Resilience after Neglect and Trauma

4. Talking with Young Children about Adoption

5. Inside Transracial Adoption: Strength-based, Culture-sensitizing Parenting Strategies for Inter-country or Domestic Adoptive Families That Don't "Match",

6. Melina, Lois.  Raising Adoptive Children: a Manual for Parents - New York: Harper & Row, 1986.

7. Schaffer, Judith and Christina Lindstrom.  How to Raise an Adopted Child: a Guide to Help your Child to Flourish from infacny through Adolescence - New York: Copestone, 1989.

8. Van Gulden, Holly and Lisa Bartles-Rabb. Real Parents, Real Children: Parenting the Adopted Child - New York: Crossroad, 1995.

9. Wadia-Ells, Susan. The Adoption Reader: Birth Mothers, Adoptive Mothers and Adoptive Daughters Tell their Stories - Seattle: Seal Press, 1995.

10. Adoption Resource Book The (4/E)

11. The Whole Life Adoption Book: Realistic Advice for Building a Healthy Adoptive Family

12. 99 Adoption DOs and DON'Ts: Things You Wish You Knew Before Adopting a Child (Guide to a Healthy Adoptive Family, Adoption Parenting, and Open Relationship Book 4)

13. How Open Should My Adoption Be?: Levels of Openness In Adoption (Guide to a Healthy Adoptive Family, Adoption Parenting, and Open Relationships Book 3)

14. Adoption Reunions: A Book for Adoptees, Birth Parents and Adoptive Families

15. The Post-Adoption Blues: Overcoming the Unforseen Challenges of Adoption

16. Our Own: Adopting and Parenting the Older Child

17. ADOPTED TEENS ONLY:A Survival Guide to Adolescence

18. Journey Of The Adopted Self: A Quest For Wholeness

19. ADOPTION WISDOM: A Guide to the Issues and Feelings of Adoption

20. Adoption Reunion in the Social Media Age, An Anthology

"Special Needs" Adoption

1. Attaching in Adoption: Practical Tools for Today's Parents

2. Our Son a Stranger: Adoption Breakdown and Its Effects on Parents

3. Kids Beyond Limits: The Anat Baniel Method for Awakening the brain and Transforming the Life of Your Child with Special Needs

4. William Wobbly and the Very Bad Day: A Therapeutic Parenting Book

5. Inside Transracial Adoption: Strength-based, Culture-sensitizing Parenting Strategies for Inter-country or Domestic Adoptive Families That Don't "Match", Second Edition

6. Adoption Beyond Borders: How International Adoption Benefits Children

7. Adopting The Hurt Child: Hope for Families with Special-Needs Kids - A Guide for Parents and Professionals

8. Adoption & Prenatal Alcohol & Drug Exposure: Rearch, Policy, and Practice

9. Reactive Attachment Disorder-Facts You Simply Must Know Before You Decide To Adopt                            

10. Parenting Your Internationally Adopted Child: From Your First Hours Together Through the Teen Years

11. Parenting Adopted Adolescents: Understanding and Appreciating Their Journeys

12. ADHD: Parenting a Child or Teen With Attention Deficit Disorder: Signs, Symptoms, Causes & Treatments

13. Learning Disabilities: From Identification to Intervention

14. Babb. L. Anne and Rita Laws.  Adopting and Advocating for the Special needs Child: a Guide for Parents and Professionals - Westport, Conn.: Bergin & Gervey, 1997.

15. Edelstein, Susan.  Children with pre-natal Alcohol and/or Other Drug Exposure: Weighing the Risks of Adoption - Washington, D.C.:CWLA Press, 1995.  Child and Welfare League of America

16. McNamara, Joan and bernard McNamara.  Adoption and the Sexually Abused Child - Ossingto, N.Y.:Family Resources, 1990.

17. Register, Cheri. "Are Those Kids Yours?" American Families with Children Adopted from Other Countries - New York: Free Press, 1991.

Books for Adopted Children/Youth

1. Two Dads: A book about adoption

2. Families Change: A Book for Children Experiencing Termination of Parental Rights

3. Born from the Heart

4. We Belong Together: A Book About Adoption and Families

5. I Wished for You: An Adoption Story

6. My Family, My Journey: A Baby Book for Adoptive Families

7. Children's Book About Adoption: A Kids Picture Book About Adoption With Photos and Fun Facts                                   

8. Henrietta Hexagon and the Triangles                                                                                                

9. Nala's Magical Mitsiaq: A Story of Inuit Adoption

10. Fredlove, Ann. Advice for Adopted Kids (by Ann Fredkove [an adopted kid] age9) - Minneapolis: 1985.  Adoptive Families of America

11. Krementz, Jill. How it Feels to be Adopted - New York: Knopf, 1982.