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Where are My Brothers and Sisters?: A Guide for Young Fostered and Adopted Children ISBN: 9781907585357
Argent, Hedi and Durrant, Lynda
Published by British Association for Adoption and Fostering (BAAF), 2011
Billy is seven and his brother Carl five. They are being fostered by Wendy and Rob, with whom they will live until they are grown up. But Billy and Carl have five siblings by three different fathers, and this slim booklet explains in clear terms the complications that arise in a family where the children are taken care of by different people. Cy, who is sixteen, lives with their Nan; Rita, fourteen, is in a residential home for teenagers; twins Poppy and Violet have been adopted and live some distance away; and baby Mark is still with their mum and her new partner. The boys and the twins share a father who lives in Ireland with a new family, so they have never seen him. Except for the twins, the rest of the children do get together from time to time, and the twins parents send letters once a year to mum to keep in touch. The booklet is honest about Billy's feelings about all this and his sometime sadness that his mother wasn't able to look after them all. He worries about baby Mark too; he cries a lot when they see him. Is mum looking after him properly? Lots of stick figure pictures are included which help explain the complications, and there are questions for discussion throughout. For use with an adult, this little book could be really important to a child facing up to a complicated family life and needing to understand what is going on.
Age: 5+