Adopted children who have experienced loss, abuse or neglect need additional support for their emotional development, and are more likely to have special educational needs. This useful resource provides a complete plan for creating adoption-friendly environments in primary, secondary and specialist schools. The book is grounded on new research which gathered together testimonies from over 400 school staff members, adoptive parents and adoption specialists. With realistic consideration of pressures and limitations currently faced by schools, it gives advice on eight key areas for school development, including communicating with parents, training staff, using resources wisely and recognising children's individual needs. Completing the toolkit is a broad selection of photocopiable and downloadable plans for establishing adoption-friendly frameworks, and for demonstrating good practice to staff, pupils, families and school inspectors.

This concise book shows a new family-friendly way to compile a Life Story Book that promotes a sense of permanency for the child, and encourages attachments within the adoptive family. Joy Rees' improved model works chronologically backwards rather than forwards, aiming to reinforce the child's sense of security within the adoptive family.

Winner, 2018 Gwen P. Reichert Gold Medal for Children's Literature, Florida Book Award Meili, who is six years old and adopted from China, learns that her parents are going to adopt a baby from Haiti. She's not happy. Why do they need a new baby? Their family is just right as it is. As Meili learns more about her new sibling and the importance of being a big sister, will she realize that a new addition can be just right for their family too?

Like Passages, this groundbreaking book uses the poignant, powerful voices of adoptees and adoptive parents to explore the experience of adoption and its lifelong effects. A major work, filled with astute analysis and moving truths.

Being Adopted is a book for younger adoptees of any background. It simply outlines universal adoption experiences that are relatable to adoptees as they process and reflect on their unique circumstances and emotions. This book offers an opportunity for adoptees to feel validated and normalize their thoughts and feelings. Not only does Being Adopted serve as a support for younger adoptees but it also comes with a guide for caregivers to adopted children. Being Adopted serves as a tool for the adoptive family. Share your experiences and pictures by tagging #beingadoptedbook.

When Lucy comes home from school with a family tree assignment, she asks her parents to write her a note to excuse her from the task. Lucy's adoption from Mexico makes her feel as though her family is too "different," but her parents gently and wisely challenge Lucy to think some more about it and to find three families that are the "same." As Lucy ponders her list of school and family friends who are "normal," she comes to realize that there are many different kinds of families. Her best friend Lucinda has a stay-at-home dad and a working mom. The brother and sister next door look alike and their family matches perfectly, but she discovers that they feel different in their neighborhood because they are Jewish. Her friend Robert has two "moms" who both cheer him on at soccer games, and the parent who attends all of Dora's and Seth's school events is their stepfather. Although her friends the Malones certainly look like an "all-American family," Lucy knows they've suffered a loss that doesn't always show on the outside. Lucy wins her bet with her parents in a surprising way and ends up creating a family tree that celebrates both her past and present. This is a wonderful book for exploring family diversity and what constitutes a family. Two pages at the back of the book offer further suggestions for parents and teachers, with new approaches for the traditional family tree project.

In this practical book, Michelle McColm takes the adoptee and birth parent carefully through the process of adoption reunion; drawing on extensive interviews and the experience of her own reunion.