"Birthdays may be difficult for me."<br><br>"I want you to take the initiative in opening conversations about my birth family."<br><br>"When I act out my fears in obnoxious ways, please hang in there with me."<br><br>"I am afraid you will abandon me."<br><br>The voices of adopted children are poignant, questioning. And they tell a familiar story of loss, fear, and hope. This extraordinary book, written by a woman who was adopted herself, gives voice to children's unspoken concerns, and shows adoptive parents how to free their kids from feelings of fear, abandonment, and shame.<br><br>With warmth and candor, Sherrie Eldridge reveals the twenty complex emotional issues you must understand to nurture the child you love--that he must grieve his loss now if he is to receive love fully in the future--that she needs honest information about her birth family no matter how painful the details may be--and that although he may choose to search for his birth family, he will always rely on you to be his parents.<br><br>Filled with powerful insights from children, parents, and experts in the field, plus practical strategies and case histories that will ring true for every adoptive family, <b>Twenty Things Adopted Kids Wish Their Adoptive Parents Knew</b> is an invaluable guide to the complex emotions that take up residence within the heart of the adopted child--and within the adoptive home.