Adoption: A Literary Exploration

Abstract

Adoption is a legal process in which a child is raised by someone other than his or her biological parents and can be accomplished with varying degrees of openness. Adopted children often experience a period of grief at some point in their lives related to their adoption and their loss of their biological origins. Bibliotherapy is one method of helping children cope with adoption related grief and though most of the adoption books in print are authored by adoptive parents and fail to address the issue of the child’s birth parents in any detail. In response I authored a children’s picture book intended to supplement the available literature—recreational, educational and therapeutic—written from the perspective of a birthmother that focuses on the love involved in adoption. The purpose of the book is to function as a bibliotherapy tool and aid in the healing process of adopted children as well as facilitate a better understanding of the often stigmatized practice of adoption.