The American Fertility Association’s 2011 National Fertility and Adoption Directory is a rich resource of articles covering all aspects of family building options and information on reproductive health. It is an indispensable tool for both potential and seasoned patients. Our goal in creating this Directory was simple: make it a useful resource that you will come back to all year long.

From the Publisher: An incredible chain of events that began in Italy during WWII with an illegitimate pregnancy shaped Mia’s destiny. The illegitimate child was her father, a lost soul who she idolised. Protecting him instilled in her an instinct to care for the vulnerable and, after a chance meeting with a chaotic foster family, she decided fostering was her vocation.

In an incredible twist of fate, the first baby she fostered was born to an unmarried Italian girl. Then came Hope, so badly damaged by her teenage mother’s alcoholism she was in hospital for a year. Finally discharged and settled in Mia’s happy home, what happened next would make Mia question if she could carry on.

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About the Author: Mia Marconi has an Italian father and an Irish mother. She grew up in London and has been a foster carer here for over 20 years. During that time she has welcomed more than 250 children into her home. To protect the identities of people she is writing under a pseudonym.

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By the Same Author: Learning to Love Amy (2014); If Only He’d Told Me (2014); and Little Girl Lost (2015).

From the Publisher: Abby’s Road leads a couple through their days of infertility treatments and adoption. It is told with gentle (and sometimes not-so-gentle) humor from the perspective of a nerdy father and his loving and understanding wife. Join Mike and Esther as they go through IUIs and IFVs, as they search for an adoption agency, are selected by a birth mother, prepare their house, prepare their family, prepare themselves and wait for their daughter to be born a thousand miles from home.

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About the Author: Michael Curry is an attorney living in southern Illinois with his beloved wife and daughter. He has written and acted for children’s television, performed stand-up and was a radio DJ where he hosted an oldies show that was #1 in the market. He enjoys British Invasion rock and collects (and reads) 1960s and 1970s comic books. Groovy. As well as short stories, Michael has completed novels in the science fiction and thriller genres and a humorous guide to children’s television.

This guide is designed to help adoptive families apply for adoption assistance after the legalization of their child’s adoption and to receive retroactive adoption assistance payments, regardless of the family’s state of residence. It provides a detailed description of the entire application process including how to establish eligibility. The book reviews the recent changes in federal policies that provide opportunities for adoptive families who are struggling to meet the medical and psychological needs of their children.

From the Author of Raising Children Who Refuse to Be Raised and Traumatic Experience and the Brain comes this third book in the difficult children trilogy. For more than 30 years, Dr. Dave Ziegler has been a psychologist, therapist, and foster parent to hundreds of the most challenging children. His methods have helped these “impossible” children—and their parents, teachers, and caregivers—to get back on the right track. He has done what many therapists don’t know how to do: help to raise troubled youths, who are the exceptions to all the usual rules, into healthy, successful human beings. This book emphasizes an important element of being successful with difficult children hope. The repeated message is not only that success is possible, but also that it is realistically achievable. However, success comes only with the right type of hard work combined with a deep understanding of what troubled children need. If success with your child is escaping your grasp, you’ll find some help in these pages.

From the Dust Jacket: “Our vision is to take in children who are broken physically and spiritually, to heal them physically and spiritually, and introduce them to the God we know,” Patty Anglin says. It’s a commitment that many parents would be afraid to make. The demands of eight special-needs children seem overwhelming when compared to one couple’s limited time and financial resources.

But Patty and Harold no longer wonder how they’ll overcome the next set of obstacles. They’ve proved, over and over again, that God’s grace and power can overcome the most trying circumstances. He has never failed them as they have opened their arms to special-needs children—the abused, the seriously ill, the physically handicapped. God has faithfully supplied all their needs. And the children have flourished in the warmth and love of their Christ-centered home.

Each of the children is a miraculous testimony of God’s faithfulness, love, and transforming power. One baby was found nearly frozen in a dumpster. Another was rescued from the gutters of Calcutta by Mother Teresa’s Sisters of Mercy. All of them faced a future of pain, abuse, neglect—and possibly death. But God had a better plan. A plan for a future of love, healing, and hope. Their powerful stories will convince you that nothing is impossible for our loving heavenly Father.

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About the Author (from the Back Cover): Patty and Harold Anglin reach out to one person—one needy, defenseless child—at a time. But one is never enough. The Anglins, who already have a large family of seven biological children, have spread God’s compassion by adopting eight children with special needs.

Why would anyone take on such a huge responsibility? “There is a need,” Patty explains. “There is a big need for it.” The Anglins had opened their hearts and home to dozens of foster children. Then they really stepped out in faith—and made a commitment to adopt the children that no one else would take.

God honored their vision and gave them a house full of miracle children. They’ve come from as far away as India and Nigeria. Their ages and skin color vary, and some have severe physical challenges. But all of them have found love, healing, and wholeness on the Anglins’ big Wisconsin farm named Acres of Hope.

Their heartwarming story overflows with love, triumph, and God’s surprising grace. Its unmistakable proof that even the worst tragedies can be overcome. You’ll find, as the Anglin children have, that no obstacle is too big for our all-powerful, all-loving, heavenly Father. And you’ll find inspiration to step out in faith and fulfill your own God-given calling.

From the Publisher: Paul May takes the reader through the adoption process, examining areas such as preparation and assessment, matching and post-adoption depression. He outlines the importance of the father in taking a proactive role, supporting adoptive mothers throughout the adoption process and building their own relationship with the child.

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About the Author: Paul May is a freelance writer, business consultant and adoptive father of two girls. He has consulted in business strategy with many leading companies and written several books on management issues. His children are slowly training him in fatherhood.

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By the Same Author: Approaching Fatherhood: A Guide for Adoptive Dads and Others (2005, BAAF)

Love, laughter and lunacy in 140 characters. A work-at-home dad turns to Twitter to share updates about kids, causes and life. It’s a curated selection of bizarre quotes, funny stories and temper tantrums. Woven between potty-training woes and breakfast time songs is a family growing through adoption and learning how to change the world, one status update at a time. You’ll find humor, parental commiseration and life-changing wonder mixed into a quick and compelling read. A portion of the proceeds from this book benefit charity: water.

Are you thinking about building or expanding your family through adoption but haven’t yet taken the plunge? Are you or your partner “on the fence” when it comes to the life-changing proposition of adopting a child? Have you ever seen an adoptive family and said, “I always wanted to adopt but...”? Then this book is for you! This collection of poems and personal letters offers an insider’s perspective on the incredible joys and the challenges of adopting a child.

From the Back Cover: In recent years, the number of adopted children from abroad has grown dramatically in the United States. As open adoption laws and increased competition for adoptable children have made adoption more complicated in this country, international adoptions offer an easier, faster, and less expensive alternative.

A comprehensive guide, Adopt International provides step-by-step advice on everything from selecting an adoption agency to traveling abroad to pick up your child to adjusting to a new life at home. The book walks you through the myriad government regulations and complicated forms (both American and foreign) as well as the financial issues involved. Finally, it includes the stories of people who have successfully adopted one or more children from across the world.

About the Author: Robin Sweet, the author of several books including The Hell Fed Baby, adopted her third child, Nicolai, from St. Petersburg, Russia. She lives in Berkeley, California.

Patty Bryan lives in New York City.

From the Dust Jacket: With over two million Americans wanting to adopt, and fewer healthy babies than ever before, the process of adopting the child of your choice is lengthy, expensive, and virtually impossible for most. But there are healthy babies out there—and Michael Sullivan, as he has for thousands of parents, will show you how to find them.

Sullivan, with writer Susan Shultz, presents all the Options open to parents today. He tells them whom to talk to, what questions to ask, when to ask them, and exactly what to expect. Sullivan shows parents how to choose an agency that will produce for them, advises them on the application process, tells them how to best deal with the caseworker, and takes them through a step-by-step home study, which will help them and the agency discover whether they are good candidates for adoptive parenthood.

Sullivan also discusses the birth parents: what kind of contact to have with them, what their rights are, what information adoptive parents need from them. He analyzes the complicated legal process, explaining each step thoroughly and simply. And he addresses the postadoption issues so parents can know what’s in store for them in the years ahead.

Adopt the Baby You Want also contains sections on foreign and special-needs adoption and an invaluable appendix, which includes a reading list and a nationwide resource guide that will help you determine to whom and where to turn for information. No other adoption handbook on the market has comparable information.

With Adopt the Baby You Want, Michael Sullivan has written the definitive primer for parents today.

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About the Author: Michael Sullivan, along with James R. Medlock III, is the cofounder of Southwest Adoption Center, Inc., Adoptions of New England, and the Adoption Center of Washington, Inc. He lives in Paradise Valley, Arizona.

Susan Shultz, for fifteen years a journalist for Phoenix Magazine and coauthor of the “Beverly Hills Diet” books, runs an executive search firm in Paradise Valley, Arizona.

From the Back Cover: In 2000, Julie and Mark Gumm declared war on their debt--credit cards, student loans, cars and the house. Seven years later, as they wrote the check for their last mortgage payment, God called them to adopt two children from Ethiopia. A few months later, with their income unexpectedly cut by two-thirds, they wondered if they could finish the adoption without crossing back over into the red.

When they brought Wendemagegn and Beza home 12 months later, Julie and her husband proved debt-free adoption is possible!

Passionate about helping others achieve their adoption dream, Julie shares how to find extra money in your household budget, apply for grants, and fundraise in order to build your family without saddling it with debt. With over $65,000 worth of creative fundraising ideas from more than 25 adoptive families, Adopt Without Debt shows you how to fulfill your adoption dream without signing away your financial freedom.

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About the Author: Julie Gumm is married to her high-school sweetheart and the mother of four children from two continents. She and her husband Mark paid off $235,000 in debt, and have been dreaming and living God-sized, debt-free dreams ever since. Julie blogs about their crazy, fun-filled life at fourplusmore.com. She loves networking with other adoptive parents and speaking on adoption, global orphan care and financial freedom.

The author, a Seattle attorney, outlines the advantages and potential pitfalls in using so-called “adult adoption” to create a legal parent-child relationship between unrelated individuals in order to reduce potential inheritance- or estate-tax liability. (Inheritance- and estate-tax rates are usually lower for direct relatives, such as spouses or children, than for more distant relations, or non-relatives.)

Two baby girls adopted from China into our family. As they were growing up it became clear that the things they were doing, their life experiences and the things that they said would be something to remember. Here, in this book, are the real life experiences of Mayli and Baiyin and their new family. The events were all written down as they occurred, and tell how they reacted and how they were treated. The things recorded in this book are not only for parents of adopted children, but I am sure it will bring back memories for many grandparents. Is it not a fact that we, as humans, cannot recall all the good things our children did as they were growing up? May this book help you to remember.

From the July 19, 1936 issue of The New York Times Book Review: It may surprise the public at large to learn that there are many more people seeking babies for adoption than there are babies available, and that the child-placing agencies and adoption nurseries have long waiting lists of families who are eager to take other parents’ children as their own. But even among such families as these there is no small amount of ignorance on the matter of child adoption. The book here presented, written by a woman who has been active in the placement of more than 3,000 children, is the first in this country to deal comprehensively and practically with a subject of growing interest, and to answer not only the questions most generally put by would-be adoptive parents, but also those, equally important, which many people do not know enough to ask.

To begin, Mrs. Gallagher tells families where to go, if they are really looking for a child to adopt. She advises them not to deal with any agency which requires a money payment from adoptive parents. She explains the somewhat searching inquiries made by the good agencies of people who want to adopt a child. She goes, at length into the much-discussed questions of heredity and environment, and quotes a number of authorities. She shows how methods in child adoption are changing. And she reassures the families who may be afraid of finding a physical or mental deficiency in an adopted child.

Several of the topics discussed by Mrs. Gallagher are themselves moot questions. Writing with obvious careful study and fair-mindedness, she has none the less quite definite convictions on most of these points. She does not believe, for instance, that children once placed for adoption should be subject to “follow-up” investigation by the child-placing agency: all necessary guarantees of the family’s fitness should have been provided in the first place, and when a child is once taken into a family no obstacle should be put in the way of its being immediately regarded as the child of that family. She believes that an unmarried mother should not be required to keep her child until it is three months old, before offering it for adoption, but that, on the contrary, the model adoption nursery offers the best start in life to a child about to be adopted, as well as the best place for would-be “parents” to seek a baby to adopt. She describes these admirable institutions in detail; unfortunately, they are still all too few.

Mrs. Gallagher writes especially from the point of view of the adopted child’s welfare; and from beginning to end, in every question, she stresses the importance—indeed, the vital necessity—of making the child’s new home a real home, its adopted parents its real parents, its family a unit of which it becomes as soon as possible an integral part. Confining her material to a consideration of the adoption of very young children, she gives her readers, precisely and carefully, the information needed to attain this necessary end.

Takes the reader through the decision to adopt, the adoption placement procedure, and the transition from “applicant” to “Mother and Father.” A central concern is secrecy and disclosure with regard to the adopted child’s origins.

Abstract of a review of the book from the American Journal of Orthopsychiatry (1941, Vol. 11, No. 2) by V. Sloane: The author, herself an adopted child, adoptive mother, and actively engaged in adoptive legislation, is in a unique position to speak authoritatively on the subject from every angle. She gives an account of personal life experiences from the time she was taken from her dying mother, at age five, to be adopted by two maiden ladies. Many valuable points for potential foster parents and social workers are emphasized: a child must be told he is adopted as soon as he is consciously able to understand; the importance of psychological suitability of child and parents is often overlooked in adoption now as years ago; bereaved mothers often apply for a child simply as a panacea for their grief.

First Volume of a two-volume set. The first volume is aimed at adoptive parents, including a foreword by Viola W. Bernard, M.D.

From the Publisher: Have you ever told God that he picked the wrong woman? That you’re not ready for what he’s throwing at you in the midst of your adoption, or that you’re not prepared to parent the particular child you’re adopting? Have you ever been lost in the paperwork, waiting, and curveballs? Or felt like you’re all alone, with no one who really understands what your family is going through?

Take heart, dear friend, because this book was designed just for you. Adopted for Daily Life: A Devotional for Adopting Moms is a collection of daily readings to encourage and support adopting moms. No matter where you are in the process, this book provides six months of readings to keep you focused on the Author of Life, the Creator of Family, and our Guide in Adoption.

Each week, moms who’ve been there offer insight on life topics as they relate to adoption, in the form of five daily selections. The five-minute readings are rooted in scripture, to ensure you stay grounded safely in God’s Word throughout the adoption journey. The contributing moms represent families grown through both domestic and foreign adoptions from all over the world, including China, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Poland, Korea, and Ethiopia.

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About the Author: Wendy Willard is an author, designer, and adoption care worker. She and her husband founded FIT (Families in Transition) in Nicaragua to meet the physical, emotional, and spiritual needs of families traveling to adopt there. Over the last decade, she and her husband have fostered at least 17 kids, between the ages of 15 months and 17 years, in the U.S., and cared for more than 25 adopting families in Nicaragua. She is also the mom to two teenage girls.

From the Publisher: A stirring call to Christian families and churches to be a people who care for orphans, not just in word, but in deed. The gospel of Jesus Christ—the good news that through Jesus we have been adopted as sons and daughters into God’s family—means that Christians ought to be at the forefront of the adoption of orphans in North America and around the world.

Russell D. Moore does not shy away from this call in Adopted for Life, a popular-level, practical manifesto for Christians to adopt children and to help equip other Christian families to do the same. He shows that adoption is not just about couples who want children—or who want more children. It is about an entire culture within Christianity, a culture that sees adoption as part of the Great Commission mandate and as a sign of the gospel itself.

Moore, who adopted two boys from Russia and has spoken widely on the subject, writes for couples considering adoption, families who have adopted children, and pastors who wish to encourage adoption.

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About the Author: Russell D. Moore is dean of the School of Theology and senior vice president for academic administration at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY. He is the author of The Kingdom of Christ and is a senior editor of the journal Touchstone. He also serves as a preaching pastor at Highview Baptist Church. He and his wife, Maria, have four sons.

This is the story of Helen West’s personal experiences over the years in finding and raising her adopted family. It is the story of the joys and sorrows that have touched them, of the love, security, and Christian upbringing she and her husband have invested in young lives, and of the happiness all have shared.

There may be people who hold their adopted babies for the very first time and know right away that this is their baby. I am not one of them. I looked at the twins and I knew that they were somebody else’s babies. An honest, tell-all memoir of adoption, this book reveals what the experience is really like for all involved: the family, the parents, people around them, even the children. Coping with infertility and the trauma of fertility treatments, craving motherhood and envying other families, dealing with the strain of all this on her marriage, the nitty-gritty of the adoption procedures and, finally, relating to her children—there’s nothing Anamika Mukherjee shies away from. This is the story of one family. It is the story of one adoption, yes, but it’s also about a woman and her dream, and about understanding that if a dream cannot be realized one way, there may be—there has to be—another way. And so, it is a tale of trial and triumph, a story of struggle and success.

From the Dust Jacket: Seeking one’s own identity is often a lifelong pursuit. For the child who can look to his biological parents, the search has a starting point. For the adopted child, there is no biological parent—no mirror—to help tell him some of the crucial things about himself. For both adopted children and the many others who may at times worry that they are adopted, this unique presentation creates a shared experience for adult and child by exploring the relationships between an adopted child and his adoptive family. Vivid photographs and a simple, honest text unfold the story for the child, while parents and teachers can follow an accompanying text that provides more specific detail. The adult text serves as a resource for handling the questions and discussion arising spontaneously from the child’s natural curiosity. This novel approach makes the book a truly rare and “open” experience for all ages.

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About the Author: Sara Bonnett Stein has an extensive background in education as a consultant, writer, and designer. The Open Family series has grown out of a life-long dedication to child psychology. The daughter of a prominent psychoanalyst, she has had wide experience in day care centers and nursery schools. She lives in Pound Ridge. New York, with her husband and four sons. Mrs. Stein’s other books include Great Pets!, Kids’ Kitchen Takeover, A Child Goes To School, A Hospital Story, About Handicaps, That New Baby, Making Babies, About Dying, About Phobias and On Divorce.

Erika Stone studied photography at the University of Wisconsin and also at the New School of Social Research with Bernice Abbott and George Tice. Her work has appeared in many leading publications. She is the mother of two sons and makes her home with her husband in New York City.

From the Back Cover (4th Edition): Are you thinking of adopting a child?

• What issues should you consider before deciding to adopt? How does the adoption process work?

• Are there any financial implications to think about?

• Can you adopt a child from another country?

• Can lesbian and gay couples people adopt?

Are you in the process of adopting a child?

• What can you do if you disagree with something during the adoption process?

• Where can you go if you need legal help?

• How can you prepare for the day your child arrives in your home?

Have you already adopted a child?

• Where can you find help for his or her additional needs?

• How can you help your child with school issues?

• Who can help you survive the stresses of adoptive parenting?

Do you work with adopted children?

• What are some of the health issues adopted children may face?

• Where can you find resources to help children with emotional/behavioural problems?

• What can you do to help support adoptive parents?

Have you asked yourself any of these questions?

If so, use this handbook to find the resources that can help you to help yourself. Organised in a quick-reference format and full of information about useful organisations, this handbook will help everyone involved in the adoption process to better help and support adopted children.

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About the Author: Amy Neil Salter has had a personal involvement with adoption and is a freelance medical writer by profession. She is currently a practising psychotherapist at a community mental health centre in the USA.

This edition was updated by Jenifer Lord who was for many years a Child Placement consultant in BAAF’s Southern region. She is a member of an adoption and permanence panel and has written several books on adoption for BAAF.

Absorbing collection of personal stories, based on interviews with 120 adoptive families, that give voice to the adopter’s experiences, feelings and observations, from their initial thoughts about adoption through to supporting their adopted child into adulthood.

From the Publisher: Adopting: Sound Choices, Strong Families is a “must-read” for anyone considering adoption. With compassion and candor, it helps sort out the emotional, relational and practical aspects of the journey to family-building through adoption. Pat’s warm and direct style gives readers the courage to face the losses they have experienced so they can continue exploring adoption as a means to parenthood. Specifically, readers will be empowered to:

• Regain a sense of control over their lives; Decide whether they are honestly open to the idea of adoption;

• Understand the central issues of attachment and adoptive family life;

• Feel confident in their decision to pursue—or not—adoption as a viable option;

• Make informed decisions about the details of the adoption process;

• Embrace their decision to adopt with practical support and information; and

• Navigate the first few months after placement with realistic expectations and practical information.

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About the Author: For over 30 years, Patricia Irwin Johnston, M.S., has worked and volunteered in the fields of infertility and adoption—as an author and educator and trainer, as an advocate and organizational leader. Adopting: Sound Choices, Strong Families is Pat’s eighth book. As publisher and senior editor for 25 years at Perspectives Press, Inc.: The Infertility and Adoption Publisher, she has edited many others. Proud graduates of Butler University, Pat and her husband, Dave, parented three now-grown children. They live in Indianapolis in an empty nest that needs to be downsized!

From the Publisher: Adoption is an interesting topic for millions of people. For individuals who love children, adoption is always somewhere in their subconscious. It would be magnificent if adoptive children could be placed in loving homes without so much red tape and expense. There are thousands of parents who would like to take children but simply cannot afford it. In this book, we will be taking you through the basics of what is required in order for a couple or single person to become an adoptive parent. You and the person that is planning on adopting a child with you needs to discuss every aspect of this before getting into it too far. Discover:

• The requirements for adopting a baby

• How to prepare for an adoption

• Finding the right adoption professional

• And more

This is a fully revised and updated new edition of BAAF’s best-selling short guide to adoption in the UK, which answers many initial questions, explains how to go about it and whom to approach. With over 55,000 copies already sold, this beginner’s guide is the book for anyone who has ever thought of adopting a child, helping to explain the complicated process involved when finding new families for looked after children, and providing information for people interested in adopting from overseas. Using a question-and-answer format, it describes in plain English why children need adoption, the kinds of children who are looking for new families, the reasons why people adopt, what sort of people adoption agencies are looking for and why, the legal aspects and the costs of adopting both in the UK and overseas, intercountry adoption and the adoption of stepchildren. The guide also looks at what happens after adoption and the differences between adoption and fostering. It includes a comprehensive list of regional agencies—local authority, as well as voluntary—throughout the UK (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) and how to apply to them, plus other useful addresses and suggestions for further reading.

A useful, interesting and comprehensive survey of “Where, when and how to obtain a healthy, happy youngster.” The book is based on the practices and procedures of New York state but should prove generally useful. Mrs. Lockridge is now a member of the Committee for the Child Placing and Adoption Agency of the New York State Charities, and she was assisted in writing this book by Sophie Theis, secretary of the same agency. Adopting a Child is presented as the serious business it is, but figures are quoted to show how normal environment helps to soft pedal poor heredity. The bibliography is well selected.

—Wisconsin Library Bulletin, January 1948

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About the Author: Frances Lockridge is best known as the co-author, with her husband, Robert, of the popular Mr. and Mrs. North series of mystery novels.

Sophie Van Senden Theis, a professional social worker, is Secretary of Child Placing and Adoption Agency of the New York State Charities Aid Association.

Each year hundreds of children in Scotland are placed with adoptive families. They are given the chance to make new beginnings and to experience love, care and security. But many hundreds more are still waiting for the opportunity to benefit from family life. If you have ever considered building your family through adoption then this practical guide—the first of its kind in Scotland—will tell you everything you need to know about adopting a child. It explores:
• the kinds of children who need new families
• what sort of people adoption agencies are looking for and why
• how to go about it
• how children and families are matched and brought together
• what happens after adoption and the support available
Written by an adoptive parent, and brought to life with the experiences of both adults and children who have been through the adoption process themselves, this book is essential reading. A companion title Adopting a Child is available for prospective adopters in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.