Adopted and Loved Forever

This second edition is just right for families who want to explain adoption to their children. I especially like that it puts the concept into the bigger picture -- that God adopts us as His own. It's gentle and affirming for little ones who may be anxious about their security. And the artwork is a great match to the text. I recommend it highly.

New artwork and new text make this a friendly read for all families of adoption. The book focuses on family life emphasizing that adoptive parents chose their children to love. Birth parents are recognized for their role in the child's life, but children are assured they will always be loved and cared for by their adopted parents. The message of God's love is weaved into the book beautifully and tenderly.

This is the first Christian adoption book that I have found, and I think that it is a wonderful book. If you are not a Christian you may not like it, but I think the message is clear. God brings a child and his/her adoptive parents together, and they make a family, and the child is loved forever. I am going to cherish this book for a long time, as my daughter from China is only 2 years old right now. I know when she is old enough to sit down and listen to a book of this length (good for kids ages 4-8, I'd say), then I know she will love it too. I don't think the book is outdated, and I am not offended by any terminology in it. I read the book to my 4 year old "natural" daughter, and she liked it alot. She understands that her little sister is adopted, and thinks that her sister will like the book someday too.

I read the previous reviews. I disagree with most of it. I do agree that some of the terminology is a little out dated. I do agree with the part that it does make a statement in a prayer part that says help me to show my parents how thankful I am they wanted me. I can see where that may be taken in a bad way. But I think the point is that a child can be grateful to God that He put in their parents' hearts the desire that they be their child. And that is not the same message as they should feel they owe something to their parents for having adopted them. I do not get that message at all from this book. I think the point is that it is trying to help the child see that adoption is a thing that is good and that the parents and the child can be thankful about. It also makes the analogy that we are all adopted by God. It may not be politically correct in all areas but the overall message I think is great! There's lots of room to get offended by terms for parents but I have never found kids to be so concerned about these terms. I think one statement here or there is not going to give them a feeling that they should be grateful we adopted them and be mindful of that every day. They get their feeling about adoption from us and our hearts on it. They know we feel we are the lucky ones. I think if you are afraid your kids will get that they should be grateful to have been adopted in a less than reasonable way then your problem is bigger than bad wording in a Christian kids book. And I personally am not offended by the term "natural parents" vs "birth parents". I do not think the term natural implies that adoption is not natural unless you have a chip on your shoulder. To me the distinction IS by nature vs parents by God. How hung up can we get on this stuff? I think as hung up as we are is as hung up as our kids will be. I personally want my kids to grow up not tripping over other peoples blunders on adoption terms and believing that most people really mean to be talking about adoption in the most loving terms but do not always know the lingo. Of course not, they have not experienced it. Why set your kids up to spend the rest of their lives offended all the time?What it does do is talk about how adoption is a gift from God to the child and the parents. It talks about how an adopted child is chosen and how they can be adopted at all different ages. It talks about how we are all chosen by God and adopted into His family. It is pretty bold in talking about why kids are put up for adoption. If you have a problem with that message of adoption or you do not want your child to understand why they may have been put up for adoption then you will hate this book! But if that sounds like a good overall message (you can always can change terms that may offend you), it may be a good one for helping your kids to understand adoption in a loving and accepting way.