The Black Adoption Project – creating better futures for Black adopted children in London

Being Adopted – A Child’s Perspective

2nd December 2020 Blog

We’ve been reading a fantastic book called Being Adopted – A Child’s Perspective. The book is for adopted children aged six years old and upwards, and written by London born Abi Dowinton, who is now 10 years old.

Abi talks about her own special story, which will resonate with other adopted children. Your child may be wondering if there are other children like them, or the book may answer questions they hadn’t thought to ask. They may feel that their early life is not like their friends at school, or their cousins or like most children they know, and this could be a good way to reassure and restart conversations.

Through a young person’s perspective, Abi’s short story starts with being held by her tummy mummy at birth, then onto her new family through to her life now – a young confident author promoting her debut book.

We’ve been lucky enough to speak with Abi and her mum, to find out more:

Abi, what inspired you to write this book?

I knew I wanted to write a book, and I didn’t quite know what to write about. Then I was telling my friends about being adopted. It is complicated to hear that I have ‘another’ family. So, I thought it would be great to write about that. Adoption is confusing, and this book, I hope will help explain adoption to adopted children, but maybe their friends too.

How did you find writing the book?

My mum helped me, so writing was good. We had to self-publish – with a company called YesBear Publishing … in Nashville! And it all took 18 months. The book is available on Amazon and local shops were we live.

How have you been able to promote the book?

It’s been really good fun. We’ve been on local radio – I was a bit nervous, I wasn’t sure what I would say, but I was OK as soon as we started. Local BBC and ITV TV stations also interviewed my mum and me. That was fun.

And to Abi’s mum, tell us a little bit about the background to Abi’s book being written.

Abi has such determination and confidence, ever since she was a toddler. Once she starts something, she keeps going, and it is a privilege to guide her and watch her.

Abi is passionate about her adoption story. She is working on a competition to further help raise awareness of adoption. She absolutely wants to encourage children to write about their understanding of adoption. I wrote to all local primary schools explaining about the book and the competition and a couple of schools invited Abi to their school assembly. At one school, we did a Year 6 questions and answers session. For promotion of the competition, I spoke to some local media, and they will come in to another school with us to follow our progress. They are looking to cover the story when we present the awards to the winners.

If you would like to find out more about Abi’s book, just follow this link to Amazon.

About the author

Abi is 10 years old and a joy to meet. She is keen to share her adoption story with other children, and encourage them to write their own stories. Abi loves writing and dancing, and every year takes part in her local pantomime.

 

Next: Journey Through Adoption Conference

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