Adoption Lifebooks from Adoption World Specialties

Adoption World Specialties is exactly what its name describes – we are specialists on the subject of adoption and foster-to-adopt situations. Discover our world at www.AdoptionWorld.net and you’ll see the variety of bibliotherapy products we have which encompass the child, the parent, the social worker. Our adoption life books and foster life books as well as our teen adoption life books are distinctly different from all other literature on the subject. Each family’s situation is unique and special – our life books help to document the story of the child as he or she enters the world of foster care or adoption.

I am President of Adoption World Specialties, and proud to invite you to our adoption life books and foster care books website. I am excited to be a part of such a wonderful cause, and join the dedicated staff at www.AdoptionWorld.net!

My background is in business development for a printing and publishing company. I jumped at the chance to lead this special adoption life book company because it’s a cause that is close to my heart. Both my daughter and son are adopted. I know, first hand, how adoption life books can open up conversations that help heal.

I am so excited to represent our adoption life book authors Donna Barnes and Terri McCoy. They are a mother/daughter team that started writing adoption books for foster and adopted children in 1992. Donna’s expertise comes from raising 4 foster / adopted children. Her daughter Terri has many years of professional experience as a social worker in the adoption field.

This new adoption lifebook and foster book web site is part of our effort to be more accessible. I would like your feedback. Write to me at kmobley@adoptionworld.net and tell me what you like and what you would like to see changed about this website and our adoption books.

I look forward to learning more about you and helping you meet your adoption book needs!

Positive Adoption Language – Adoption Lifebook Pamphlet

At www.AdoptionWorld.net you can download a free “POSITIVE ADOPTION LANGUAGE” pamphlet, an essential language tool for professionals and clients. In addition to Adoption World Specialties’ wide array of adoption life books, adoption memory books, foster life books, teen life books, and foster-to-adopt literature for parents and children, we offer this language guide free on our website.

Words can build or destroy relationships, self-esteem and opportunity. Those of us connected to adoption and foster care have a special responsibility to use positive language in regards to this circumstance. It’s important to use positive adoption language to correct media’s negative adoption images and terminology, and to sensitize educators and other professionals. Using positive language is a choice… we hope you will join us in promoting the positive language outlined in this pamphlet.

As an example, “adoptive” parent can be seen as negative or offensive language. The positive or preferred language for this example would be “Mother” or “Father”. It isn’t wrong to say that you’re an “adoptive” parent, but extended use by you or others (especially in front of our children), continues to qualify your parental status.

Another example would be “Hard to Place”. This implies that the child is less than desirable, less than normal. The positive or preferred language suggestions include “child with special needs” – NOT “special needs child” and/or “waiting child”.

For sixteen years we have been a trusted resource for adoption life publications dealing with the memory books, adoption life books and foster books process. Our Adoption Life Book and Memory Book products are used nationwide and beyond. Social workers, therapists, adoptive/foster families and their children enjoy our delightful adoption life books. Regardless of where you fit into the scene, we are likely to have something affordable to help make your job a little easier.

Our website has an entire section named “Information Articles”. The “POSITIVE ADOPTION LANGUAGE” pamphlet is printed literature for your use. The articles posted on our site are there for you to use as a resource for the many facets of the adoption and foster care processes. Please visit www.AdoptionWorld.net and discover our world.

Memory Book for Children in Foster Care from Adoption Lifebook company Adoption World Specialties.

Professionals agree that all children need to have their story documented and accessible. This is especially true for “system kids” who shuffle from home to home, losing their stories along the way.

Until now, “documenting” has been easier said than done. When given a blank scrapbook, foster parents often feel overwhelmed or “creatively challenged”, and, consequently, put this task aside…or forget altogether.

Here at Adoption World, we want to provide you with all of the materials you need to make connections with a child. Whether the child is in foster care or adopted, preserving the details of their life is so important. There are many ways to keep their precious memories safe. One way is to scrapbook. It is a fun and interactive way to document all of the child’s milestones.

Our book called “Your Foster Care Memory Book” is an easy to use scrapbook for the foster parent. It allows concise, practical documentation of a single placement. The book starts with a place for the child’s name so they can keep it with them always. Then onto an intro letter that explains to the child what the book is for. The pages of the scrapbook guide you seamlessly through the process. The information and photos that you collect will be treasured by the child for years to come.

The “Your Foster Care Memory Book” comes with a large “Stuff to Save” envelope that allows the child to keep their treasures together in one place.

Bibliotherapy.  Adoption World Specialties specializes in Adoption Life Books.

Bibliotherapy is the use of books to help people solve problems. Literature can help a child increase their self understanding and become better at expressing their feelings. When a child reads about a story character that they are able to identify with, they are better able to examine their own thoughts as well.

Life Books should be a part of the bibliotherapy tool chest. They help foster and adoptive children connect to their current situation as well as their beginnings. They create a living history for children dealing with a chaotic past. They help answer questions about birth families, helping them make sense of loss, trauma and change. The base Life Book actually assists the child in writing their own story. A Life Book is not a scrapbook of memories. It is a specific therapeutic tool. Examples or stories given along the way can open up a child, giving them an opportunity to process their own information which can involve issues such as anger and abandonment.

Have you seen the new cover for The One and Only Me?

Susan did a fantastic job bringing these books to life with color! She stayed with the familiar theme of the book using Ricky the Raccoon. The new cover is so creative using a “ME” riding on a swing hanging from a tree. The simple leaves create a great canopy over the swing. The slight glow of a sunset or sunrise is in the background. Besides bringing a lot of creativity to the book, it now offers some real flexibility. On the previous cover there was a box marked out for a child’s 5 x 7 photo. If a child doesn’t have a photo or even one the right size, the book can look like it is missing something. This new design looks great even if the photo isn’t there.

When my son was about 4 he was amazed at the fact that one of his friends Moms could grow a baby in her tummy! He was even more amazed when he found out she “grew” two at once. I loved that conversation with him. He thought MaryAnn was superhuman or something! Ironically, one of those twins ended up being his assigned buddy in elementary school. He was to show the new Kindergartner around the school. He always acted somewhat protective of the little guy.

He didn’t explain it or express it but I believe at that time he thought people got babies by adopting them. He hadn’t really thought about where they got started before that.

When my husband and I first looked into adoption, we knew so little. We both actually thought for a short while that adoptive kids were not told they were adopted! We learned of course that you tell an adoptive child their story just like a child born biologically to them. A family would tell a child the story of coming home from the hospital or a story of Mom and Dad racing to the hospital before they were born.

We were telling our daughter her story long before she could understand what we meant. We would tell her about the snow storm that was going on the morning we were to bring her home. We were so nervous waiting for the phone call that we should come over to the agency. When we finally met her, she had such an expressive face. We always tease her about the “you two don’t know what you are doing, do you?” look she gave us. She was so right!

As she was growing up, she thought adoption was a very common thing. When she was about 3 years old, she would ask friends and relatives that were expecting, “Are you planning on keeping or placing the baby?” She always seemed surprised when she found out friends that were not adopted. Not sad, just puzzled.

The other day I read an article written by a Foster Mom. In fact I only got as far as the introduction. She started off explaining how it was so easy for her husband to answer the question, “What do you do?” at any social function. She is always lost for words because she is a Foster Mom. Why in the world would this woman be embarrassed by being a Foster Mom! I am always amazed by the amount of selflessness and kindness Foster parents have. They have an amazing amount of energy and drive. I have never been a foster mom myself. I don’t think I have the courage. Why would this woman ever be embarrassed to tell what she does?? I suppose I should go back and read her entire article. She just lost me after that comment.