Resources
How can we help you? Each and every member of London’s adoption community has a different story to tell. The resources here we hope will help answer your questions and guide you on your path to finding a new family. There are books, reading materials, videos, contacts and other organisation that can help broaden your knowledge around adopting and the process to match you with a child.
Recommended Reading for Prospective Adopters
- Building the Bonds of Attachment (2017) by Daniel A Hughes
- The Primal Wound: Understanding the adopted child (2009) by Nancy Verrier
- Loving and Living with Traumatised Children. Reflections by Adoptive Parents by Megan Hirst, (2005)
- The Simple Guide to Child Trauma: What It Is and How to Help by Betsy de Thierry (2016)
- Attachment, Trauma and Resilience – Therapeutic caring for children by Kate Cairns, (2002)
- A Child’s Journey through Placement by Vera Fahlberg UK Edition, (2012)
- Could you be my parent? Adoption and Fostering stories by Leonie Sturge-Moore, (2005)
- Why love matters. How affection shapes a baby’s brain by Sue Gerhardt, second edition, (2014)
- Adoption the essential guide by Diana Cambridge, (2012)
- The Adopter’s Handbook by Amy Neil Slater, (2012)
- Adopting a Child by Jennifer Lord, (2011)
- Parenting a child affected by Parental Substance Misuse, by Donald Forrester (2012)
- An Adoption Diary, A couple’s journey from infertility to parenthood (2006), M James
- Approaching Fatherhood – A guide for adoptive dads and others (2005) by Paul May
- Managing Contact by Henrietta Bond, (2007)
- Related by adoption: a handbook for grandparents and other relatives by Heidi Argent, (2014)
- No Matter What: An Adoptive Family’s Story of Hope, Love and Healing by Sally Donovan (2013)
- Raising Boys: Why Boys are Different – and How to Help Them Become Happy and Well-Balanced Men (1997) by Steve Biddulph
- Nurturing natures: Attachment and Children’s Emotional, Sociocultural and Brain Development by Graham Music, (2010)
- First steps in parenting the child who hurts: Tiddlers and Toddlers by Caroline Archer (1999)
- Helping Children Cope with Separation and Loss (1994), C Jewett Adopting a Brother or Sister (2010), Heidi Argent
- Dad David, Baba Chris and Me (2010), Ed Merchant
- Oh Brother! Tom gets a New Brother, Clare Friday (2005)
For LGBT+ adopters
- Two Dads: A book about adoption by Carolyn Robertson and Sophie Humphreys, (2014)
- And Tango Makes Three, by Justin Richardson, (2007)
- The Pink Guide to Adoption for Lesbians and Gay men by Nicola Hill, (2012)
- Becoming Dads, Pablo Fernandez (2011)
- New Family Social launched thier LGBT+ adoption and fostering postcast in May 2020. “Adoption, Fostering & Tea” is by and for the LGBT+ adopters and foster carers and is now available by streaming services and via the New Family Social website.
About Transracial, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic Adoption
- Caring for a child of a different ethnicity – Bristol City Council
- Race, ethnicity and culture: managing difference in transracial placements
- Transracially adopted adults and adoption support by Perlita Harris / Goldsmiths, University of London, UK (2014) Adoption and Fostering – Vol. 38(4) 346–360
- In Search of Belonging: Reflections by Transracially Adopted People: Reflections of Transracially Adopted People Paperback – Edited by Perlita Harris (2006)
- Why I’m no longer talking to white people about race by Reni Eddo-Lodge (2017).
- Looking after our own – Stories of Black and Asian Adopters Edited by Hope Massiah, (2005)
- Working with children of mixed parentage, Toyin Okitikpi, (2005)
- https://www.adoptivefamilies.com/transracial-adoption
For Single Adopters
- Flying Solo by Julia Wise – Inspiring and accessible, this book describes the realities of life on your own with an adopted child.
- My Adoption Journey , New Pyjamas, Suddenly Mummy
- My Single Adoption, 3 Girls Together, Pedalling Solo, MeandMiniMees
- Befuddled Mum, Starfish and Me, Sarah Fisher, Adoptive Black Mom
Useful Websites, documentaries & podcasts
- We Are Family
- New Family Social
- adoptionuk.org.uk
- theraplay.co.uk
- First4Adoption is the dedicated information service for people interested in adopting a child in England. Consider also their First Steps online resource. It is a great tool to see how prepared and ready you are for an adoption assessment, that will help you understand the rewards and challenges of adoptive parenting.
- adoptionandfostering.podbean.com – podcast with true experiences of adoption.
- www.uea.ac.uk/contact-after-adoption – recent research on contact and videos of teenagers discussing their experiences of post-adoption contact.
- http://www.uea.ac.uk/providingasecurebase – Secure base: website includes videos.
- http://www.annafreud.org – “A Child in Mind” series of podcasts about child and adolescent mental health – including clinical experts being interviewed.
- https://www.ted.com/talks/nadine_burke_harris_how_childhood_trauma_affects_health_across_a_lifetime – TED Talk about: how childhood trauma affects health across a lifetime.
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p05k3wsq/episodes/downloads – BBC Radio 4 website podcast called “The Adoption” – 17 episodes (10 mins each) following real story of adopters taking on siblings from everyone’s perspective.
- https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p06nxjd8 – The Long Road to Baby (BBC radio 4).
- https://wemadeawish.co.uk/ We Made a Wish adoption magazine (online magazine written by adopters).
Films about Adoption
- Secrets & Lies, is a 1996 British drama film written and directed by Mike Leigh – also about an adult who was adopted seeking more understanding about her birth parents and life story.
- Mercy Mercy: A true story of adoption, Danish film on an intercountry transracial adoption from Ethiopia, 2012.
- Philomena is a 2013 British drama film directed by Stephen Frears – on adult who was adopted as a child seeking more understanding about his birth mother and life story.
- Lion is a 2016 biographical film directed by Garth Davis – on international adoption from India but also relevant to transracial adoption.
- Instant Family, 2018 – A comedy about parents who adopt a sibling group of three children
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