Book Review-The Adoption Decision

Book Review by Lena Wright
www.ConnectionsWellnessCenter.com
September 22, 2008



I recently read The Adoption Decision by Laura Christianson. This is a book that I highly recommend for people considering adoption, those already in the process of adopting and even those who have already adopted.

The subtitle of the book is 15 Things You Want To Know Before Adopting, and Laura does a great job of using humor and real life stories to convey serious issues that need to be considered by prospective adoptive parents. I appreciated the author’s use of scripture and her decidedly Christian world view. It helped me to focus in on what is important to God. Most of the books about adoption I have discovered so far do not address the issues from a Christian perspective.

Mrs. Christianson includes a segment on ‘Adoption Lingo’ that is helpful for people just getting started in researching adoption. Her wealth of experience as an adoptive mom, educator and mentor are evident throughout the book. Laura also shares the stories of many different adoptive families and this adds a depth of experience-both positive and negative to the book. I think that Mrs. Christianson provides a realistic picture of adoption so that readers can go into the process with their eyes opened to some of the challenges. At the same time, I did not experience the book as discouraging or negative toward adoption. She managed to strike a healthy balance between the reality of adoption and the fantasy or naiveté that prospective adoptive parents may have at the beginning of the adoption process. The author does a good job of asking thought provoking questions and sharing real life experiences of adoptive families.

I found The Adoption Decision to be clear and concise, which makes for easy reading. Mrs. Christianson challenges many myths and offers multiple points of view. This book helped to stimulate discussion between my husband and I on many topics related to adoption. I liked that that author not only pointed out things I hadn’t thought of, but she also offered some solutions and ideas for how to handle different situations. She didn’t offer ‘pat’ answers or easy solutions, but she did get us thinking about situations we may encounter with our adopted children. This will allow us to devise our own strategies for dealing with the challenges that we encounter as an adoptive family.

The Adoption Decision also included discussion/reflection questions and a good list of resources. I found this book to be highly useful, user friendly and thoughtfully written. I believe it will be a valued resource as we continue on this Adoption Adventure! I highly recommend The Adoption Decision.