Adoption Today magazine

Adoption UK’s bimonthly magazine Adoption Today includes features on all aspects of adoption, including information about adoption agencies, new developments in practice and research, and reports from Adoption UK support groups.

Adoption Today free to all members and current and past issues are available in the Online Shop. You can also download some back issues of the magazine from the Members' Area.

The following features are included in the fFebruary 2010 issue of Adoption Today, available now...

“Just like having your own baby”

Jane describes how she was not prepared for the developmental damage done to her tiny baby son Adam after he was placed with them more than 18 years ago. She advises other adopters to find out as much as they can and access the best help possible. Jane says she was very naive when Adam arrived, had not heard of attachment difficulties and was given little preparation as Adam moved from a demanding baby who was expelled from his first nursery to a teenager on a course of self destruction.

I wish I had been born from you

This is the title of a book of poems and reflections written by Karen Lomas with contributions from her adopted daughter Emily. Severely neglect and split from her siblings Emily was seven when she arrived in her new home. Karen takes us through her experiences of the preparation process, the heartbreak of finding the right match to the love she now has for her daughter.

Yoghurt, milk and a seven-seater car

Karra and Paul adopted four siblings just over two years ago and share their experiences of becoming a family of six over night. Karra advises anyone thinking of adopting a sibling group to be realistic about what they can cope with and not to seek to adopt a group who all have significant difficulties. She says she would highly recommend it but advises you have friends and family around to keep you sane!

The A-Z principle

Bryan Post is an internationally recognised expert in helping children with early trauma based in the US. In this article he describes his A-Z principle where he says instead of concentrating all our efforts and energies on the outcomes or behaviours – the XYZ – we should take a lesson from kindergarten and go back to A to try and work out a solution to a problem. He said rather than working on what we perceive to be the problem we must push that to one side and find out what the child perceives to be the problem and validate that so your child feels understood.

Could you be a book reviewer?

Adoption Today regularly receives copies of new books and other resources which may be of interest to our readers.

We need volunteers with knowledge of adoption issues to write short reviews (400 words) of these resources that we can publish in Adoption Today to help our members make informed decisions about which are most beneficial to them.