Search results for ‘Publisher:"british association for adoption and fostering"’ Sort:
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Chosen: living with adoption
- Author:
- HARRIS Perlita
- Publisher:
- British Association for Adoption and Fostering
- Publication year:
- 2012
- Pagination:
- 248p.
- Place of publication:
- London
The editor brings together writing and poetry by more than fifty adopted adults living in the UK who were born between 1934 and 1984. Their personal accounts describe different experiences and offer varying perspectives on adoption; adoption within the extended family, late discovery adopted adults, transracial and transnational adoption, those who have searched for their birth family, and those who did not search but were found by a birth relative. The stories capture the life-changing power of adoption and the different meanings it can take on at different stages in one’s life. The themes of identity and belonging, loss and grief, roots and searching, family and “post-reunion” relationship run through their accounts, as do the power of acceptance and healing, encouragement and hope, and taking responsibility for the direction of one’s life whatever its beginnings. Taken together these experiences emphasise the lifelong impact of adoption, offering the reader a wealth of insights and wisdom, together with advice for adopted people and contemporary parents. The book is expected to be of value not only to adopted people and their families, but also to social workers, psychologists, counsellors and anyone else seeking to understand what it is like to be adopted.
The colours in me: writing and poetry by adopted children and young people
- Editors:
- HARRIS Perlita, (ed.)
- Publisher:
- British Association for Adoption and Fostering
- Publication year:
- 2008
- Pagination:
- 203p.
- Place of publication:
- London
Perlita Harris has managed to bring to the fore the thoughts, feelings and voices of children, adolescents and young people. Within the pages of this book the reader hears children's and young people's thoughts and feelings about their birth parents, birth siblings, adoptive families, post adoption contact (and lack of contact) and so much more. The book is divided into sub-sections, each relating to an aspect of adoption such as what it's like being adopted, separation from significant people and re-visiting birth place, etc. At the end of the book are messages from some contributors to other adopted children, adoptive parents, social workers and therapists. Read and take action! Finally, a bio paragraph about each contributor (along with a photo in some cases) is included at the back making each piece of writing and artwork all the more `real’. The statements, narratives, poems and artwork reflecting each child's and young person's experience of adoption are touching, thought provoking, enlightening and encouraging.
In search of belonging: reflections by transracially adopted people
- Author:
- HARRIS Perlita
- Editor:
- (ed.)
- Publisher:
- British Association for Adoption and Fostering
- Publication year:
- 2006
- Pagination:
- 394p.
- Place of publication:
- London
Transracial adoption has provoked much polarised commentary, initiated heated debate and stirred up strong feelings. Yet the experience of transracially adopted people themselves remains on the margins and has rarely been given a voice. Through a series of testimonies this book conveys the complexity for black and minority ethnic children of being raised by a white adoptive family. It demonstrates the lifelong impact of transracial adoption and illustrates that to view such placements in either positive or negative terms is far too simplistic. The themes of separation and loss, the search for identity and belonging permeate these accounts, but so does the power of healing and survival, happiness and hope. A wide range of experiences is described, including racism during childhood, placement disruption, visiting country or origin, reclaiming cultural heritage, searching for birth mothers, fathers and other relatives, becoming a parent, involvement with the psychiatric system and connecting with other transracial adoptees.