Adopted Teens Only: A Survival Guide to Adolescence

Danea Gorbett, 2007

All adopted teens have questions – questions about their adoptive family, about their birth parents, and about how adoption has affected and will continue to affect their lives. But not every adopted teen knows how to approach these questions or how to handle the intense emotions and high stress associated with them. Based on true stories, extensive research, and Danea Gorbett’s own experience as an adopted teen, in addition to her background in psychology and education, Adopted Teens Only provides suggestions for bringing up sensitive topics with all types of adoptive parents, insight on what adoptive parents might be going through, true stories about birth mothers, practical information on whether and how to search for birth parents, and seasoned advice on what to expect and how to prepare for reuniting with a birth parent.

Adopted: The Ultimate Teen Guide

Suzanne Slade, 2007

The search for one’s self during the challenging teen years can be even more difficult for adopted teens that might have many unanswered questions related to their adoption – questions that provoke fear, anger, low self-esteem, and many other emotions. These feelings are compounded by the isolation that adopted teens feel because most of their friends and family members cannot fully relate to their insecurities, fears, and frustration.Adopted: The Ultimate Teen Guide enables young adults to explore their feelings as they read about personal experiences of others.

How It Feels to Be Adopted

Jill Krementz, 1982

In this book, nineteen youngsters describe How it Feels to be Adopted. These young people explain, from an adolescent’s point of view, both the good and the bad sides about being adopted.

Journey of the Adopted Self: A Quest for Wholeness

Betty Jean Lifton, 1994

Betty Jean Lifton, whose Lost and Found has become a bible to adoptees and to those who would understand the adoption experience, explores further the inner world of the adopted person. She breaks new ground as she traces the adopted child’s lifelong struggle to form and authentic sense of self. And she shows how both the symbolic and the literal search for roots becomes a crucial part of the journey toward wholeness.

May the Circle be Unbroken: An Intimate Journey Into the Heart of Adoption

Lynn Franklin with Elizabeth Ferber, 1998

A poignant memoir of a woman who reunited with a child she placed for adoption. The changing face of adoption and virtually every possible form of adoption are covered. The author speaks to adoptees wondering if they should search for their mothers and to women who have relinquished a child and are wondering and are wondering if they are emotionally able to reconnect.

Questions Adoptees Are Asking

Sherrie Eldridge, 2009

Sherrie Eldridge interviews more than seventy adoptees to bring your questions to light, find the answers, and create connection among adult adoptees.

Twenty Life Transforming Choices Adoptees Need to Make

Sherrie Eldridge, 2003

The author presents a collaboration of more than seventy adoptees who share their stories of life’s challenges as an adoptee. Twenty Life Transforming Choices Adoptees Need to Make presents unique challenges- most which adoptees never make public. After reading the stories, and adoptee will realize that he or she is not alone but instead in the company of many people who will provide inspiration to make life choices to become everything you were born to become.

Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew

Sherrie Eldridge, 1999

This remarkable book offers an unparalleled window into the heart of the adopted child, giving voice to feelings that are often too difficult to express. In powerful, poignant essays, it highlights the Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew. It also speaks to the unspoken concerns at the heart of every adoptive family, offering practical advice for addressing past issues, handling current crises, and ensuring a long, loving future for you and your children.

Why Didn’t She Keep Me? Answers to the Question Every Adopted Child Asks

Barbara Burlingham-Brown, M.S., 1994

This book is a collection of moving stories by fifteen women who made an adoption plan for their children. Why Didn’t She Keep Me? is an important book for mothers-to-be who are considering adoption and for those hoping to adopt. Most of all, however, it is for any adoptee who wants to understand how and why a birthmother made her decision.