Our Chosen Child: How You Came to Us and the Growing Up Years

I have struggled over posting this review---so here goes. 50 year ago my parents gave me a baby adoption book called" The Chosen Child". It was sweet but never talked about having a birth family. Here we are in 2006 and adopted kids are getting the same message with the latest " Our Chosen Child". Part of their history--their birth history/birth parents---gets written off. Not mentioned. Not discussed. Judy, wish you had done your homework. On a more positive note--"Our Chosen Child" works very well for everyday life. Like a typical baby/child book. But not helpful for adopted kids and their families. Sorry. Beth O'Malley

This book was a great find. I wanted so badly to find a baby book that would celebrate our way of growing our family. We are extremely excited to be adopting and this book is perfect to record our journey with pages like: "Waiting for You", "When We First Saw You" and "Adoption Day". It will be a book we will read all the time to our bundle of joy!!!

Love this book! I searched high and low for a book that would allow me to put all the details I wanted to know about myself as a kid. It's adaptable by simply placing a picture or label over any title that doesn't work. When my son reads this when he is older he will appeciate it so much.

Our daughter is adopted from China and had no problem adapting this book for my daughter! Note, this is just a good start for a baby book like every birth child has, I am not using this as or in place of making a lifebook for my daughter. What I really also like about this book is that it's not just for the 1st year which I used for the 1st year at home, but goes farther with 1st to 5th birthday, School Bells 2 1/2 pages to record Preschool & Teachers, Kindergarten, Elementary School, After-school classes, 1st time you went to school you....., You were most interested in.... Your ambition was... Your best school buddy... Your favorite teacher was... We beamed when your teacher said..... Then there are 2 pages for Holidays, Keeping you Well, the Middle Years 6 through 12 grade, Teenage Years, A Sharing which has 2 pages for you to finish the sentence for great questions like.... A Thought we'd like to Share with You is...., Any Choices you ever make we'll support because..., We'll always be there for you because...., We've always wanted you to know that...., & We're very proud to be your parents because....., there is also a 1 1/2 pages for Looking Ahead ... Our wishes for your future, When it comes to summing up how we feel about you, always know that...., Adaptions I made to make this book fit for my daughter/ or your child: On the Family Tree page - I put " Your China Roots" down at the bottom of the tree and on the trunk of the tree where it splits for information on you and your husbands family I put " Your Chinese birth family". I even added an additional branch for my husband's son from a prior marriage! On the Waiting for You page - Added what agency, the date we started out dossier / collecting paperwork, what we had to collect first paperwork wise, what we where ask to which I added a parenting class we went attended. This page is pretty easy to adapt. On the When we First Saw You page - I talked about " the Call" we received telling us we where parents and the next day when when I got the Fed Ex package and took it UNOPENED - boy that was hard so that your dad & I could open together at his work and the 3 photos that where included with your medical paperwork and paperwork telling us all about you. On the Showers of Love page - I took the first page and added both Baby Announcements, and the other the 2 showers that where given to us! On Growing Up Page - I simply added at home and made all of the dates mentioned for how long after we had been home. On Your Special Day - I used for our 1st " Forever Family Day" or some call it " Gotcha' Day " which is the day you finally meet and get to FINALLY hold your daughter or son in your arms. It is so hard to find good international adoption books, when most seem to be geared for domestic adoptions, but I had no problem adapting this book to fit my daughters needs. As well as another book I found and liked! I kept them both because this book goes further than the 1st yea

I bought numerous memory books for my adopted child only to be disappointed each time until I found this one. This is a wonderful book with space for everything from birth through the growing up years. It is very family oriented in the traditional sense so it might not be a perfect fit for single parents.