Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #16752 in Books
• Published on: 2001-09-10
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 40 pages

Adoption Today No 102, February 2002
carefully structured to bring up lots of issues...will help children understand and explore some of their early life experiences.

Synopsis
Full colour illustrated story about a little squirrel who gets adopted when his birth mother is unable to keep him and his siblings safe This book tells the story of Nutmeg, a small red squirrel, and his younger sister and brother who go to live with a new family when their mother is unable to look after them and keep them safe even though she loves them. It offers a practical way in which to help children explore and understand some of the very painful memories that they will have of their early life and may help to dispel the feelings of guilt and responsibility which so many children in the care system carry. A comprehensive set of practice guidelines accompanying this story will help parents and professionals working with children who may be bewildered, upset and angry, to come to terms with their family situation and adjust to a new life.

About the Author
Judith Foxon is an adoption worker with the Catholic Chldren's Society, Nottingham. Direct work with children has formed a significant part of her social work experience over many years and as an adoptive parent and foster carer herself, she is strongly committed to developing better ways of helping families to communicate with and support their children. She trialled this book with children of differing ages in two local authorities before publication. She believes the book can be used simply as a story, particularly for getting to know a child, as a workbook and as a tool for therapy.

Customer Reviews

Helping young children make sense of adoption
Summary: A simple story about a family of squirrels who go through the processes of separation from birth family, foster care, and adoption.

When our 3 children (all under 5 years old) were placed with us for adoption, we were faced with the problem of how to explain to them what had happened to them before, and what would happen next. This book was a huge help. It was a big hit especially with our 4 year old, who requested it to be read repeatedly.

The story does not evade the issue of the neglect that leads up to being taken into care, but deals with it sensitively and is not judgmental of the birth parents. The experience of moving foster homes is covered, with the possibility of sibling separation at this stage. Finally, there is a happy and secure permanent family - but the adopted squirrel is still allowed positive feelings towards his birth mother. The concept of the magistrate issuing the adoption order is also covered. It can be read all in one go, or in sections relating to particular phases of the life story.

Our children could relate to the characters, and it has helped them make some sense of what has happened to them. It helped us explain things in a simple and non threatening way, using language they could understand.

We didn't know quite how we would explain going to court for the adoption order. But our children understood that we were going to see the "wise owl" who would make us a proper family forever.

I would recommend this book to anyone trying to explain adoption to young children.

Hindered by trying to include every possibility
The idea behind this book is good, and I'm sure it could be very useful in the right circumstances. However in trying to cover every possibility and every detail of the process the book is a bit clumsy. It's not a simple charming book that captures the feelings of the characters (like "A Mother for Choco"), and in being so specific it does limit those it would be relevant to. However on the positive side it does tackle every issue you could possibly want (from the neglect and harm children may suffer in their birth families, to the different professionals involved) and it is consistent with the English care system and has British spellings.

A good start when talking about difficult subjects
One of the hardest things (in my opinion) when talking to your adopted child is discussing why they could not stay with birth parents. How do you tell a small child that their first mum simply did not feed them? Or left them alone? This book makes a brave attempt to look at this issue. I feel too many books look at the romantic, rosy side of adoption and I am afraid, for most kids in the UK system, this is just not appropriate. I have found it helpful when introducing this difficult subject to my child. It is not to specific and it is non judgemental. Helpful practice notes are also included.