Whole Life Adoption Book: Realistic Advice for Building a Healthy Adoptive Family Updated Edition (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Review

Schooler's strength lies in her relating the emotional issues of adoption: identity, grief and barriers to attachment...As a mother of four adopted sons, I found this book to be beneficial. -- Katrina Schmitz, Christian Retailing, April 15, 1993

Product Description

ADOPTIVE FAMILES DEAL WITH A SPECIAL DYNAMIC THAT AFFECTS PARENTS, ADOPTED CHILDREN, AND BIRTH CHILDREN. And they face unique issues of attachment, adjustment, and identity. Creating a nurturing family environment and being prepared for typical crisis points are critical in forging a healthy, lasting family relationship. This book will give hope and direction to those considering adoption and to those desiring to improve and develop the adoptive family relationship at any stage.

"Jayne Schooler's thoughtful, caring book is practical and highly informative. Every adoptive parent should read it."-Foster W. Cline, M.D., psychiatrist, consultant, and coauthor of Parenting with Love and Logic and Parenting Teens with Love and Logic

"As a staff member of a county child welfare agency, Jayne Schooler understands adoption from the outside in; as an adoptive mother, she understands it from the inside out. Her book will make a difference in the lives of many people."-Edward G. Kuhlmann, D.S.W., ACSW; LSW

"With personal and professional insight, Jayne Schooler shares guidelines for adoptive parents-guidelines to help them walk that straight and narrow path between obsession with adoption issues and denial of those issues."-Betsy Keefer, Parenthesis Post Adoption Program, Columbus, Ohio

"A practical, understandable, down-to-earth resource book. 'Must' reading for adoptive parents and those who plan to adopt."-Barbara Tremitiere, Ph.D., ACSW, Tremitiere, Ward, and Associates

"For years Jayne Schooler has helped create nurturing family environments for adopted children to thrive in. Now she brings her wisdom and encouragement to every adoptive parent. I highly recommend this book."-John Trent, Ph.D., Vice President of Today's Family and coauthor of The Blessing and The Language of Love

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Product Details

• Paperback: 228 pages
• Publisher: NavPress (March 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0891097228
• ISBN-13: 978-0891097228
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #693,558 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great revised edition, July 16, 2008

By	Alyssa A. Lappen (Earth) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

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This review is from: The Whole Life Adoption Book: Realistic Advice for Building a Healthy Adoptive Family (Paperback)

Do not make the mistake of buying earlier editions of this terrific volume. The new, June 2008 edition is considerably longer and more detailed than the original book, good though that is.

First off, this edition deals in much greater detail with questions and issues surrounding the inter-country adoption process, which today is governed by the Hague Convention for International Adoptions. (Would that the convention had been in effect when we adopted abroad.)

From our perspective, a decade-plus into the adoption experience, some of the material here is of little interest. But for families considering adoption or in the early stages of building and adoptive family, there is much good advice, beginning with discussions of the healthiest motivations for wanting to adopt, and acceptance of the "foundational realities."

It's appalling to learn here how many families have adopted children and never told them they were adopted. It should be understood that children have a right to know where they come from, even if the available details are very sparse. Along with accepting that foundation is the reality that adoption generally involves healing for the adoptive parents as well as the child. The parents must accept their inability to conceive, and understand that their child does and will continue to suffer from a Primal Wound that requires nursing and extra care to heal.

The book also has excellent chapters on attachment trauma and the difficulties of dealing with adopted kids during their teens. Children may say being adopted has been easy for them. And children adopted as infants, especially, do fare pretty well. But the fact is that at least 5% of children adopted as infants have extraordinarily difficult teen years---much more so than the average child raised in his or her biological family.

And another fact is that raising an adopted child is a much different deal than raising one's biological child. There are a vast range of questions and issues that just don't come up with the latter. And while adopted kids generally emerge from the teenage years in good shape, helping them through this rough period requires super-parents. Don't go into it if you're not prepared.

Kids and families want control of their lives. This book can help give them control where otherwise, thanks to all the unknowns and separations, they might feel helpless. (I also recommend Beneath the Mask.)

Finally, the book reassures adoptive parents fearful of their child's search for his or her birth parents. Personally, I can't imagine feeling that way, but apparently it's very common.

This book, though, explains that searching and learning a child's origin and "story" can most often help them resolve questions and issues, without which, the child will probably lead a much less productive and meaningful life.

This is a book that adoptive parents certainly need, for their child's whole life. As in holistic, and whole.

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great resource, April 19, 2000

By	Randy Buchanan (Oakton, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This title is clearly one of the better adoption resource books on the market. It contains a large amount of practical yet thoughtful advice and brings to the attention of adoptive (or potential adoptive) parent considerations that clearly are appropriate but that may not have been obvious before reading the book. The first section of the book clearly would benefit prospective adoptive parents as they work through a myriad of issues before and during the adoption process.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Helping Adoptive Parents See a Bigger Picture, June 19, 2001

By	aafc (Mesa, AZ) - See all my reviews

I work with adoptive parents who are just getting their children (from the child welfare system). This book helps parents figure out what questions they need to be asking. It also is very instrumental in showing us what kinds of issues might come up 2, 5, 10 years from now for an adopted child. Just last night, i had another adoptive parent who is about to finalize their adoption rave about this book. Sometimes it is hard to see beyond a child's need today, but we must be prepared for tomorrow, and this book helps us to do that.