Books on Toddler and Older Child Adoption for Adoptive Parents

Source: https://creatingafamily.org



Toddler Adoption: The Weaver’s Craft by Mary Hopkins-Best. Great information. The author was interviewed on the Creating a Family radio show.



Adopting Older Children: A Practical Guide to Adopting and Parenting Children Over Age Four by Stephanie Bosco-Ruggiero, MA; Gloria Russo Wassell, MS, LMHC; and Victor Groza, PhD. – This is a wonderful resource full of practical and hopeful tips for parents who have adopted a child over age four from foster care or through international adoption. The adoption therapist authors do not gloss over potential problems, but they don’t exaggerate them either. Listen to our interview with them on the Creating a Family Radio Show- Parenting Older Adopted Kids: A Practical Guide.



Siblings in Adoption and Foster Care: Traumatic Separations and Honored Connections by Deborah N. Silverstein and Susan Livingston Smith – This book is a comprehensive resource on issues facing siblings during foster care or adoption – both biological and adopted.



Our Own: Adopting and Parenting the Older Child by Trish Maskew



Adopting the Older Child by Claudia L. Jewett- Written in 1979 but still relevant.



Adopting a Toddler: What Size Shoes Does She Wear? by Denise Harris Hoppenhauer – Offers great insight and practical advice for those preparing to adopt a toddler.



Nurturing Adoptions – Creating Resilience after Neglect and Trauma by Deborah Gray – Anything by Deborah Gray is great. On our show she said this book was primarily written for adoption professionals, but I think adoptive parents will find a lot of useful information as well.



The Connected Child: Bring Hope and Healing to Your Adoptive Family by Karyn B. Purvis, David R. Cross, and Wendy Lyons Sunshine



Parenting Your Adopted Older Child By Brenda McCreight – Good overview!



Another Place at the Table by Kathy Harrison – I loved this book. It is the true life tale of one foster family and is very well written. I couldn’t put it down.

Children Are Waiting: Every Child Is Worthy of a Permanent Family

Orphans of Serbia

Click here to watch the video.

Children Are Waiting: Every Child Is Worthy of a Permanent Family

Family Meeting

This is the moment we were finally given Eman to be a part of our family. We were at the Southern Fried Chicken in Accra, Ghana.

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Children Are Waiting: Every Child Is Worthy of a Permanent Family

Eman ABC and 123 in Ghana

This is during our first meeting with Emmanuel.. We are posting this first because the girls wanted to hear his voice.
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Children Are Waiting: Every Child Is Worthy of a Permanent Family

Eman - I will rise by Chris Tomlin

This video was shot while visiting our son for the first son in Ghana. I simply can't explain what that moment was like. This moment happened on the 2nd or 3rd day. We were sitting in the orphanage and the children starting to sing.

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Children Are Waiting: Every Child Is Worthy of a Permanent Family

Welcome Home Godwin Derrick

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Children Are Waiting: Every Child Is Worthy of a Permanent Family

From Ghana to Home

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Adoption Talk: Keeping It Going

If you can't remember the last time adoption came up at home, it's time to bring it up. 

Source: https://www.adoptivefamilies.com/talking-about-adoption/adoption-talk-keeping-it-going/

by Gail Steinberg and Beth Hall

“How will I talk to my child about adoption?”

This is a question every parent asks himself or herself. Even as your new baby takes her first steps, you wonder if you’ll be ready when the questions come. Soon you realize that your child is simply your child, not your “adopted” child, and it becomes difficult even to imagine an adoption talk.

But you’ll have this conversation, not just once, but over time, offering more information as your child matures. Sometimes its coming will take you by surprise, launched by the query of a curious child. Sometimes you’ll see an opening and take it, offering the chance to talk if the feelings fit. The key here is comfort, to create an atmosphere of openness and warmth in which both parent and child feel free to approach a hard topic.

Read more.

News from Bulgaria: Registration Trip!

News from Armenia: Welcome Home Hopscotch Family!

News from Armenia: Welcome Home!

New Webinar, Tomorrow! Inside the Adoption Circle

January 22nd, 2014

7:00 PM Central

Q&A: 8:00 PM

Webinar panel - an adopted person, a birth mom and an adoptive mom - reflects back on their own experiences with adoption and pose questions to each other giving adoptive parents insight into the thoughts and feelings of members of the adoption circle.

Sharing their personal stories, and asking challenging questions of each other, offers an understanding of different experiences to parents who may not be able to ask such questions in their own adoption relationships.

Our panel will also answer YOUR questions. Pose your question here.  

We Love Crazy Adoption People @ Hopscotch Adoptions, Inc

Source: http://www.elizabethtown-blog.com/2014/01/how-to-love-crazy-adoption-people.html

My dear friend Lisa, along with her family, is in Lithuania. They have adopted the adorable Asher and Annalise, 4 year old twins. Asher and Annalise join sibling Adeline and Alden. These friends are precious to us. We met them only a year ago through a mutual friend but it was an instant love connection. Our husbands get along; our kids want to marry one another. And we all love Jesus and adoption and pizza from Costco. (You, know, the trinity of important things…)

Anywhoozie, Lisa is about to come home and I’m just reupping my blog and I thought I’d reflect on our first few weeks home in order to help her. Most friends, though well meaning, have zero idea what it is like to bring an older child into your family through adoption. It is foreign and so those well meaning friends often do harm when they mean to help, or worse yet, do nothing at all. So here is my version of how to love an adoptive family.

First of all, read Jen Hatmaker’s How to Be the Village. Jen does an excellent job of setting the stage of what adoptive family’s go through after the big hoopla of the airport moment.

Read more.

Helping Kids Transition from Foster Care to Adoption

Source: http://www.creatingafamily.org/radioshow/helping-kids-transition-from-foster-care-to-adoption.html?awt_l=IgdWw&awt_m=3kQbjTAr6r4QyZ0

Highlights from May 9, 2012 Creating a Family radio show

Foster care is tough on kids, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it is easy to transition to adoption. What can you do to make this move easier. Our guests will be Kim Phagan-Hansel, editor of Fostering Families Today magazine and The Foster Parenting Toolbox; and Madeleine Krebs, Clinical Coordinator at the Center for Adoption Support and Education with over 35 years of experience providing psychotherapy for families with foster and adopted children.

• Why are some children frightened or resistant to moving from foster care to an adoptive family?

• What type of behaviors are typical of this transition period?
• Is this transition easier if the child is being adopted by the foster family?
• Are children being bounced around from one foster home to another as much now as in the past?
• How can adoptive parents ease the transition with children adopted from the state or from orphanages abroad?
• How can foster families ease the transition when they are adopting their foster children?
• How can new adoptive parents reduce their expectations of themselves and of their children? Should they?
• Is concurrent planning confusing for foster parents/foster families?
• How to explain to a child why his foster parents do not want to adopt him?
• Why is it important to talk positively about our child’s birth parents?
• Should you talk positively about birth parents if they abused your child?
• When adopting from foster care, how can you maintain an open relationship with your child’s birth family, biological grandparents, siblings, and foster family?
• What questions should you ask the foster family when adopting a child they have fostered prior to the adoption?
• What are some things to do the first night and days home when adopting from foster care?

Secretary of State, John Kerry, Remarks on National Adoption Month

Source: http://video.state.gov/en/top-stories/video/2793150647001/secretary-kerry-on-national-adoption-month/s~creationDate/p~1

Secretary of State, John Kerry, Remarks on National Adoption Month

Washington, DC: November 1, 2013

I have a niece named Iris, who is one of the most extraordinary young women I’ve ever known.  From the day she came into our family, she has filled our lives with love and joy.  And every time I’m with her, I am grateful my sister Peggy was able to adopt her from China years ago.

Every child needs and deserves to grow up, safe and sound, in a loving home.  But sometimes that’s not the kind of environment a child’s biological parents can provide.

When parents or relatives aren’t able to care for children, adoption can help give kids the permanent families they deserve.  And, when adoptive families are not available in the places where these children live, inter-country adoptions can help find them a loving home abroad.

I firmly believe that ethical and transparent inter-country adoption is a critical part of the international children’s welfare system.  It helps ensure that kids receive the love and support they need to grow into healthy and productive adults.  I’ve seen it firsthand.  That’s why I worked hard in the Senate to help families navigate past roadblocks in the international adoption process.  It’s also why I was proud to be a member of Senator Landrieu’s caucus on adoption.

Today the United States is one of 90 countries that are party to the Hague Adoption Convention – a set of internationally supported principles aimed at protecting both birth and adoptive parents and, most importantly, adopted children. 

And thanks to a law President Obama signed this past January, one I co-sponsored when I was a U.S. Senator, today these adoptions are safer than ever.  Every U.S.-accredited inter-country adoption provider – in every country, around the world – must adhere to a set of strong, universal standards that make the well-being of kids the top priority.

The State Department’s adoption website – adoption.state.gov – is a great resource for anyone who is interested in learning more.  Our Bureau of Consular Affairs keeps this site updated with the latest country information sheets, adoption processes, and developments that may affect inter-country adoption.

Over the past decade, more than 200,000 children – from more than 100 countries – were adopted by American families.  And as we mark National Adoption Month this November, the Department of State commits to doing our part to find loving homes for thousands and thousands more. 

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Not every story begins with "When you were a baby..."

Your donation is the just the beginning of a waiting child's story.

They're counting on you!

 

Visit our waiting child page today!

Waiting Child Notification

Hopscotch Adoptions, Inc.

Not for profit, just for kids.

 

Not every story begins with "When you were a baby..."

Your donation is the beginning of a waiting child's story. They're counting on you!

 

Featured Waiting Child

"Slater"

Slater was born in January 2002 and is healthy.  He is described as a positive boy who can sometimes be emotional and impulsive, but he usually controls his behavior well.  Slater is very active, extroverted and communicative and enjoys the company of other children.  He is curious, well-intentioned and believes in himself.

Slater is purposeful and well organized.  He can easily concentrate for 20 minutes and up to an hour with encouragement.  He understands most of the academic material taught to him in school, but needs to be more consistently motivated for this work.  He sometimes requires additional time or assistance to master academic tasks.

Slater likes sports and attends a fitness club once a week as well as a folk dance school twice a week.  He also participates in an art studio at school.  Additional photos and reports available upon request.

Please Contact Us for further information. 

For access to Hopscotch Adoption's password protected waiting child page, please complete the attached Privacy Declaration and fax it to 888-837-3824.  You can also scan the completed form to Heather or Megan.  We'll get right back to you with your unique password. 

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Featured Waiting Child

Urgent Need for Viviane! 

Vivianne was born in July 1998. She is healthy and developmentally on target for her age. Vivianne has graduated from 8th grade. She has a rich vocabulary, good memory, organized thinking, and well-developed imagination. Vivianne is interested in music and dancing and is the leader of a dance group called Petlite. She also likes to draw and has a sense of aesthetics and beauty.

Read more.

Rex's Together Forever Day Anniversary #2

By: Viviane Martini

Two years ago today, we took Rex out of the orphanage forever.  I think he knew even then that he was beginning to rule a kingdom requiring a great overhaul which only he could bring about.  The kingdom needed more challenging work for its inhabitants, more patience, more chaos, more flexibility, more courage.  It could do with more laughter and more tears, more noise, more appreciation of the little things, and so much more love.  King Rex set about his work instantly with considerable dedication and in two years has managed to not only change us, but also himself.

Rex is more than a long list of complex diagnoses and bleak prognoses.  He is a little boy with thoughts and feelings, likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses.  What makes him so special to us is hard to put into words, but here are some of the things we love about our Armenian treasure:

When Rex wakes up in the morning, he climbs into our bed and makes sure he gets his snuggles in.

Rex will eat just about anything on a sandwich or a cracker/chip.

The roughest skin on Rex's body is on his palms.

Rex is a guys' guy.

When he's ready to fall asleep, Rex pulls the blanket over his head and is almost instantly out.

Rex loves music, climbing, jumping, and banging stuff.

Rex distinguishes between his parents and the rest of the world.

Rex is all boy, skinned knees, bruises, boogers, sticky hands, sweaty hair, and able to turn any object into a weapon.

Rex's smile stretches from ear to ear and his laughter peals through our life like a priceless reward.

Rex is curious about how things work.

Rex has toy magic.

Rex is confident and strong.

Happy Together Forever Day, my Armenian love.  You are a miracle

Read more about the Martini life with two here.