Talking with Kids About Birth Parents
Featured Books
A Place in My Heart
A Place in My Heart tells the story of Charlie, a chipmunk adopted by squirrels, who begins to wonder about his birth parents. Afraid his questions might upset his family, Charlie is reassured when his mom supports his curiosity and shows him that loving both families isn’t disloyal. Told from the child’s perspective, this gentle story validates adoptees’ varied feelings and reassures them that it’s okay to ask questions about their birth parents while still feeling secure in their adoptive family.
Delly Duck: Why A Little Chick Couldn’t Stay With His Birth Mother
Through the story of Delly Duck, this gentle picture book helps children explore tough adoption questions. Delly eagerly awaits her egg to hatch but realizes she cannot care for her duckling, so a goose steps in to help. Using sweet prose and endearing animal characters, the story opens space for children to ask, “Why couldn’t I stay with my mom?” or “Why didn’t someone teach her to care for me?” A thoughtful tool for conversations about loss and love in adoption.
More Great Books
Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born
Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born is a classic adoption story told as a cherished bedtime tale. A young girl asks her parents to recount the night of her birth, reliving the details she knows by heart. Both witty and tender, the book highlights the love and significance of family while gently addressing the logistics and emotions of adoption. A beautiful, timeless story that celebrates belonging and the bonds that make a family.
A Family for Baby Bear
In this tender picture book, Mama Polar Bear dreams of giving her cub green trees, flowing streams, and cozy caves—but knows she cannot. She lovingly searches until she finds Daddy and Papa Panda Bear to raise her baby. Told from the birth parent’s perspective, this story highlights the selfless love behind an adoption decision. A gentle, affirming resource for families where a birth mother chose to place, offering children reassurance of her care and hope for their future.
My Fairy Birthmother: A Keepsake Storybook for Birthmothers, Adopted Children and Their Families
My Fairy Birthmother, written by an adoptive mother and daughter, offers children a positive way to view their families of origin. It helps adoptees see their birth mothers as guiding, protective figures—like fairy godmothers—whether or not they ever meet. With gentle language and affirming messages, the book validates children’s feelings, reinforces the ongoing presence of birth mothers in their lives, and provides families with a supportive tool to talk openly about first families.
Wonderful You: An Adoption Story
This beautifully illustrated poem gently follows a baby’s journey from her birth mother’s care to her adoptive parents’ arms. Honoring the birth mother’s loving choice, it portrays her search for the right family and the creation of a new home filled with love. Warm and lyrical, the story reassures children that both their birth and adoptive parents love them deeply, offering a tender perspective on adoption that celebrates connection, care, and the making of family.
The Best for You
Told from a birth mother’s perspective, this heartfelt book explains to a child that adoption was a choice made out of love, not rejection. With warmth and honesty, the story shares one mother’s reasons for choosing adoption, helping children understand that they were deeply wanted and cared for. A gentle conversation starter for adoptive families, it provides a reassuring way to talk about why a child was placed for adoption and the love that guided that decision.
Featured Books
The Rainbow Egg
Hope the chicken lays an egg, but has no nest to keep it safe. Searching for help, she finds the Rainbows, who long for a child but cannot have one. This gentle story introduces adoption from the birth parents’ perspective, showing the love and care behind a decision to place a child with another family. A thoughtful way to begin conversations with children about why birth parents may choose adoption.
Megan’s Birthday Tree: A Story About Open Adoption
When Megan was born, her birth mother, Kendra, planted a tree and sent Megan a photo of it each year on her birthday. After Kendra moves, Megan fears she’ll be forgotten without the tree. But Kendra reassures her of her lasting love—and even replants the tree at her new home. Tender and beautifully told, this story captures adoptees’ fears of being forgotten and the comfort of knowing they are always held in their birth parents’ hearts.
What Is Your Story?
This colorful book helps children explore their unique adoption or kinship story while normalizing their questions. With activity pages and stand-alone chapters, it invites kids to focus on their own journey at their own pace. Authored by an adoptee and illustrated by her birth half-sister, their shared perspective brings depth and authenticity. A valuable resource for adoptive and kinship caregivers—as well as professionals—this book encourages openness, reflection, and conversation around identity and belonging.
More Great Books
Three Names of Me
Ada has three names: Wang Bin from her orphanage in China, Ada from her American parents, and a whispered name from her birth mother. This tender story of international adoption gently raises real questions—why her birth parents left her, why people stare—while centering on the love Ada receives in her family today. By honoring both her adoptive and birth parents’ love, the book helps children navigate complex feelings with honesty, warmth, and reassurance.
The Best for You
Told from a birth mother’s perspective, this heartfelt book explains to a child that adoption was a choice made out of love, not rejection. With warmth and honesty, the story shares one mother’s reasons for choosing adoption, helping children understand that they were deeply wanted and cared for. A gentle conversation starter for adoptive families, it provides a reassuring way to talk about why a child was placed for adoption and the love that guided that decision.
Knock, Knock: My Dad’s Dream for Me
Knock Knock is a tender, award-winning story about a boy whose father’s daily “knock knock” game suddenly ends when his dad is absent. Through lyrical text and evocative illustrations, it explores loss, love, and resilience. Appropriate for elementary children coping with the absence or loss of a loved one, it offers comfort while inspiring readers to find strength, hold onto love, and pursue their dreams. A powerful read for starting conversations about grief and healing.
ABC Adoption & Me
This ABC-format picture book, created by an adoptive mother and daughter, helps families talk about adoption with children ages 4–8. Using simple, familiar language, it introduces themes like open adoption, birth and adoptive families, and the emotions adoptees may experience. A gentle, engaging resource for parents, it provides an accessible way to begin meaningful conversations about adoption while strengthening connection and understanding within the family.
Featured Books
Three Names of Me
Ada has three names: Wang Bin from her orphanage in China, Ada from her American parents, and a whispered name from her birth mother. This tender story of international adoption gently raises real questions—why her birth parents left her, why people stare—while centering on the love Ada receives in her family today. By honoring both her adoptive and birth parents’ love, the book helps children navigate complex feelings with honesty, warmth, and reassurance.
More Great Books
The Length of a String
Twelve-year-old Imani, a Black girl adopted into a white Jewish family, wrestles with questions of identity and belonging. While she loves her family, she wonders about her birth roots and place in the world. When she discovers her great-grandmother’s 1941 diary, recounting her escape from Nazi-occupied Luxembourg to Brooklyn, Imani connects her own search for self with her family’s legacy of resilience. A powerful historical fiction and coming-of-age story for anyone who has ever felt out of place.
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