Adoption After a Biological Child: A biological and adoptive mother’s story of attachment and unconditional love | adopting from foster care after … Kinship Care and Special…
£11.40
When Holly and Jon Marlow decided to adopt a child from foster care, they wondered how much having a birth child already would affect the adoption process, and how the process would affect their daughter. With warmth and vulnerability, Holly shares her personal experiences, delving into the approval and matching process, introductions, attachment issues, therapeutic life story work and navigating contact with her son’s birth family.
This book appeals to fans of Sally Donovan’s “No Matter What,” Lisa Faulkner’s “Meant to Be” and Sarah Naish’s series on therapeutic parenting. It makes an ideal gift for anyone adopting who already has a child in their family.
Please click on the author’s name to see more titles by Holly Marlow, about adoption, foster care, kinship care and special guardianship.
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Additional information
| Publisher | Holly Marlow (17 Jun. 2023) |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 149 pages |
| ISBN-10 | 1739916867 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1739916862 |
| Dimensions | 15.24 x 0.97 x 22.86 cm |
by Reader
I am an adoption social worker, and have got all of Holly Marlow’s children’s books so obviously ordered her new book straight away. It’s a different style to the kids books, sharing Holly’s own experience of adopting her second child after having a biological child first. And it’s brilliant.
There’s loads of good stuff in here, the little differences that people might not have thought about, the feelings involved, how to prepare a child for a new sibling arriving via adoption. And, importantly, the need to not overshare and tell a child too much too soon.
Adoption SWs are often asked to recommend books to new prospective adopters who are starting to think about adoption, and those coming forward for initial interviews with adoption agencies. And I now have something decent to recommend to applicants who are coming to adoption after having a birth child as a great book to start off with.
I really enjoyed reading this – it’s not too long, not full of jargon or showing off, it’s heartfelt, realistic and honest. And will offer hope and encouragement to newbies starting out on their adoption journey, as well as giving them a lot to reflect on.
by Emma
As a follow adopter after a biological child I found this an interesting and enjoyable read. I found it particularly helpful around the connection with a birth parent and it gave me some good inspiration. Thoroughly recommend it.
by Josie G.
I’ve really struggled find to find books about adoption that includes biological children. Hollys account of her families journey is honestly told whilst being encouraging and informative. It’s a well worth read for anyone considering adoption, particularly it you already have children in your home.
by LDRunner
A warm, honest and thoughtful account that really captures the emotional highs and lows of adoption: the rollercoaster of the family-finding stage, saying ‘no’ to children’s profiles, what it’s like to meet your child for the first time, how delicate those first few months with your adopted child can feel, how the effects of separation from birth family and then foster family can endure, even in young babies, what it’s like meeting birth parents…
I adopted my daughter a few years ago but reading this I felt all the excitement, disappointment, fear, rejection, worry, frustration and overwhelming joy come flooding back.
I know it’s aimed at people adoption after a birth child, but I’d say it’s a very valuable resource for all prospective adopters. As well as being human, it is also practical with lots of tips (although the author does not present them as tips, they just come out in the story) and is written chronologically, so any prospective adopter would have a really good idea of what to expect from the process.
by Ebron
I really enjoyed reading this book, easy to read and to follow and a great insight into the adoption process and the early days.
by Martin
This book takes you on an honest and amazing journey of adoption after a biological child. It is also so valuable for many first time parents as prospective adopters as it demystifes a lot of the adoption process. Overall it is a brilliant, honest book reflecting the ups and downs of adoption and parenting. I highly recommend it to anyone going through the adoption process or thinking about it.
by Ian Muxlow
I was lucky enough to have met Holly when she attended our 1st adoption training session, Holly shared her story and for the first time felt that what we were being told was relatable and not from an expert or text book as I find it hard to take information / advice from people who have not been through something themselves.
This prompted me to look at her books in more detail and I purchased this one.
I am so glad I did, it is an honest and emotive view of the whole process, as an over thinker myself I found it so refreshing to see that someone else has had all the same questions / panicked thoughts / highs and lows and I am not going crazy.
Holly thank you for taking the time to write this book as it will definitely help myself and no doubt others going through this process make sense of the roller coaster of emotions and stresses that we are going through and that the light at the end of the tunnel is worth all the effort.
As we progress and hopefully get to the final stages we will be coming back to purchase your Delly Duck books to help us with our life story work and your cousins book to help explain to the wider family about adoption.
Thank you for sharing your story.