Reviews for Attaching in Adoption: Practical Tools for Today's Parents

The average rating for Attaching in Adoption: Practical Tools for Today's Parents based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-09-22 00:00:00 William Byars This book provided many examples of challenges to attachment in adoption. I found these useful for my practice as a pediatric nurse practitioner. I only wish our healthcare system offered enough time to explore more about attachment during a well-child visit. So many children now have times in their life when they change households even if not through adoption. Some are raised by grandparents or step-parents. I think the book makes a good point about the criticality of care in the first year, even the first few months. Thankfully, most children have one consistent parent in these months. In my own adoption, attaching did not occur for me or my adoptive mother, sadly. It was probably her attachment disorder as much as mine. She had a biological child too, and attached well to him. The book could have spent a little more time on attachment problems of the parents, which I think is very common and partly biologically based. The other thing I think the book could have done was included the phases of attachment described in a checklist form, for both the family and caregivers, whether therapists or healthcare providers. Overall, it was a good overview of attachment and ways to help facilitate attachment.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-07-25 00:00:00 Steven Dong This book is completely awesome for adoptive parents, especially if your child was adopted at age 6 months or older, or if your child has any special circumstances (past abuse, neglect, trauma, etc.). The book is a bit like a textbook, but a very readable one - I did not find the presentation dry, and the material was all compelling. If anything, some of the vignettes (illustrative stories about adoptive children/families) were so compelling as to be heart-wrenching - it is just such a shame what some children have been through! However, every story was wrapped in hope, as the author gives concrete steps of what you can do to help your child in virtually every situation. The first half of the book covers the various problems that may occur related to attachment - what is it, why is it important, and the impact of grief, trauma, cultural change (i.e. international adoption), etc. I felt that these chapters laid an excellent groundwork for the remainder of the book, which covers practical steps for handling the various issues. In fact, throughout the first part of the book, as each issue was described, the author cross-referenced the later chapter which would address that issue. Chapter 8, one of the longest chapters, was particularly helpful. The author covered all phases of child development (from birth through teen years). In each phase, she described the characteristics of that phase, what the parents' role is to help the child through that phase, and what we can do as parents if our child did not get the proper attention (i.e. has an emotional delay) in that area. This is an excellent and thorough coverage of attachment in adoptive families!