Books for Those Considering Adopting an Older Child

This week’s optional question is “What books would you recommend to someone considering adoption?” I had thought that this would be such an easy question to answer because I love books and have read many but when it came down to it, I realized that it completely depends on the situation. If they are thinking of adopting a newborn, my list would be very different. I have decided to focus on what books I would recommend to someone considering adoption of an older child.

For someone considering adopting an older child, the books I would recommend would be:

The Connected Child: Bringing Hope and Healing to Your Adoptive Family by Dr. Karyn Purvis. The name kind of says it all. This book offers concrete strategies and should be read before, during and after the adoption. I am a big fan of Dr. Purvis and her work and continued research on attachment particularly in adoption. I would also recommend her videos.

The Adoptive & Foster Parent Guide: How to Heal Your Child’s Trauma and Loss by Carol Lozier. This book has been extremely helpful for me as an adoptive parent of children who have experienced trauma and loss (what adoptive child hasn’t experienced loss?!) and I only wish I had read it prior to adopting. I especially appreciate the case studies included and the conversational way in which it is written.

Parenting the Hurt Child: Helping Adoptive Families Heal and Grow by Gregory C. Keck. I love when there are concrete examples of what to do not just vague generalities given and this book offers actual lists of suggestions that are specific and very doable. I continue to reference this book years later.

The Out-of-Sync Child: Recognizing and Coping with Sensory Processing Disorder by Carol Stock Kranowitz and Sensational Kids: Hope and Help for Children with Sensory Processing Disorder by Lucy J. Miller. It is almost a given in my mind that older adopted children will have some form of sensory processing disorder because they fall into so many of the risk factors for it so I think that those considering adoption should familiarize themselves with this condition and the simple, yet effective ways that they can help a child with SPD to successfully navigate their world.

Shield: A Framework of Self-Care for Foster and Adoptive Families by Sharla Kostelyk. I don’t often plug my own books, but this is actually one that I think should be recommended reading for families pre-adoption so I am going to add it to this list. Self-care is such a critical component to an adoption being successful, especially an adoption of an older child.

What books would you recommend to someone considering adoption?

If you have a post related to adoption, regardless of whether it answers that question, please link up below to our Adoption Blog Hop.

Please note that next week, there will be no topic for the blog hop as I will be preparing to go to Florida for a retreat for moms who are parenting children with trauma or attachment issues (yeah!) so for next week, I will still host the blog hop, but there won’t be a set topic.

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