Abstract

Get your family talking about adoption with the ultimate collection of films to help the whole family to explore their feelings in a fun and safe way.

With a film for each week of the year, Addison Cooper has compiled the best movies, new and old, for family-friendly viewing. Among those featured are Finding Dory, Frozen, Paddington, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Kung Fu Panda, Star Wars, Divergent, The Blind Side and I am Sam. Carefully selected, the movies included will help families to comfortably talk about important adoption-related topics. They are accompanied by descriptions of the themes and ideas to get the conversations started. Helping all members of the family to explore both the pain and joy of adoption, they cover a range of issues which can arise such as culture, identity, control, and reunification. With something for everyone - from kids, to teens, to grown-ups - this is a must-have for all adoptive families.

Adoption at the Movies takes your cinema entertainment and transforms it into a powerful tool to help your adoptive child to thrive in life.
Darren Fink, Co-Founder, Transfiguring Adoption
Adoption at the Movies is a well-researched and accessible resource for all adoptive families who watch films together. Addison Cooper shows how many films aimed at children are essentially about absent or neglectful caregivers, loss and the search for belonging and why these themes may trigger difficult feelings in adopted children. His book gives parents the tools not only to make informed decisions and to prepare before watching a film but it suggests ways in which each film can be used as a starting point for a significant conversation. It is great to read something that not only forewarns but forearms too and which encourages families to explore themes and difficulties together and to use films as a resource. The book is easy to use, packed with popular films and appropriate to a wide age range. I wish I'd read it at the start of our journey as an adoptive family but I'll certainly be using it now.
Sally Donovan, author of No Matter What
This is the most insightful book I've read about parenting adopted teens. Naftzger draws from her own experience as an adoptee and a therapist to offer parents practical tools for improving communication with their child, without ever being preachy or prescriptive. Most importantly, she honors the emotions, integrity and intellectual capacity of the adopted teen at every turn, helping parents better understand the complexity of their child's experience.
Nicole Opper, Director/Producer, Off and Running: An American Coming of Age Story

Adoption at the Movies is a great resource for any parent, educator or mentor who works with youth; and it's a comprehensive, must-have resource for foster and adoptive parents.
The author provides discussion topics and activities, which will help make the most out of any family movie night.

Yasmin Mistry Director, Foster Care Film & Community Engagement Project (FCFCEP)
Addison Cooper is a qualified social worker. He has worked with hundreds of foster and adoptive families, and has also established the primary film review resource website for adoptive families, Adoption at the Movies www.adoptionlcsw.com. He regularly contributes articles to adoption and foster care magazines. Addison lives in California, USA.
Open communication is vital to the well-being of any family, but parents through adoption may struggle to introduce the subject. Adoption at the Movies can help parents get past this stumbling block. When you watch a film with an adoption theme, the topic is already on the table, er, screen, so the conversation can unfold naturally. Cooper's clear-eyed assessments of dozens of films, including excellent discussion questions, should lead to many enjoyable evenings-and many more hours of healthy conversation-in any family formed through adoption.
Eve Gilman, editor of Adoptive Families magazine
Movies have that magical ability to transport us to a different place and see things in new ways. They can be a useful, and sometimes less painful, vehicle for gaining insight into important life issues. With Addison Cooper's guidance, adoptive families can easily choose films to help them initiate important conversations in a non-threatening manner. Building on his popular Adoption at the Movies blog, Cooper's new book (of the same name) organizes 63 movies into four main categories. Alphabetical, age, and topic indexes add to the book's usability. Adoptive families and professionals who work with them will find this to be a welcome resource.
Linda May Grobman, MSW, LSW, ACSW, Publisher/Editor of The New Social Worker Magazine
This book is comprehensive and thoughtful, a true resource for parents who wish to use films as a springboard for positive and helpful dialogue about adoption with their children. Addison has done the hard work for us, analyzing the most applicable stories of our day and guiding us through the potential of each film in helping our adopted children process their own stories.
Christina Matanick, creator of ReMoved film
Adoption at the Movies does two huge favors for adoptive parents. First, it reveals the whys and hows of having tough conversations with our kids. Second, through previews it guides us through how to best use films as conversation starters that can foster intimacy and trust, while alerting us to potential hazards. This way parents can make good decisions about what to see and what to wait on. I wish I'd had this guide from Day 1 as an adoptive parent to my children.
Lori Holden of LavenderLuz.com, author of The Open-Hearted Way to Open Adoption.