Review for Adoption After A Biological Child

Holly Marlow’s book is the story of how she chose, after having her first child, to become an adoptive parent for her second child. This book is part self-help/part biography and all heart warming for those who enjoy family stories and how families come together you will enjoy this easy to ready book Adoption After A Biological Child.

The story is a wonderfully complex and yet accurate look at the British care system and how sometimes the simplest of things can sometimes be the most complicated. Adopting in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic does not seem ideal, but then nothing was during this time, it was interesting to see how the almost weekly changes and updates delayed the process and yet with every few pages you could feel yourself making these baby steps towards the ultimate goal: The child coming to live with them.

After reading her previous books, which were all illustrated books aimed at helping to explain the adoption and care process through the eyes of the wonderful Delly Duck character, I was a little daunted when I saw this was not going to be the same. Yet, I was surprised by how easy this book was to read. Read in almost two sittings, the short, snappy chapters put everything into perspective as to how difficult some aspects of the adoption process is and seeing Holly and her husband and daughter learning as they went, going through one hoop then another made you almost root for them as ‘characters’. The fact that the child doesn’t even get placed with the family until page 88 of the 142 pages really hit home how much red tape had to be gone through, but it is all worth it in the end.

Aspects of the adoption process covered are the harrowing aspect of rejecting a child with a health defect, explaining what was happening to their daughter and taking her through the process, whether to tell them that they were adopted and of course the issues of trauma and attachment. These are all told in a warm voice that makes me wish there an audiobook version of the tale (Hint Hint).

What I found fascinating (as a Kinship Carer myself) was the little aspects that I could relate to such as going through DBS checks, the issue of whether the child called you ‘Mummy’ or not, contact with the birth parents, Life Story work and the endless forms to fill in that just seemed to go on and on. Personally, if I was about to adopt or even in the first days of thinking about it, then this would be the book I would read to get experience of how it all is.

If you are thinking of adoption, studying it or just want to read a really heart-warming tale about a family coming together, then I would definitely recommend this book.