Abimbola Grant
adoption social worker
Steady; preparation decides outcomes
Chosen
Leo has lived in three foster homes. Love is not the same as trust, and the family learns how to build it over years, through school crises, contact with his birth family and adolescence.
Planned · not started yet
Relationships, parenting & family Family duty Belonging Second chances Family home Warm Reflective
The premise
Leo has lived in three foster homes. Love is not the same as trust, and the family learns how to build it over years, through school crises, contact with his birth family and adolescence.
The protagonist
Priya Castellan-Doe — Adopting a seven-year-old with her husband Mark
The council
Every council member is an original fictional character. None represents, quotes or is endorsed by a real person.
Dr Helmut Ekström
attachment researcher
Careful; trust grows from reliability
Tasha Merriweather
adult adoptee advocate
Honest; listen to adoptees
How the story moves
Five years from assessment through adolescence; each stage’s choices shape the next, and contact with his birth mother in Book 5 becomes the hardest test of trust.
What readers take away
- The adoption process
- Matching and introductions
- Attachment and developmental trauma
- Therapeutic parenting
- School support and the Pupil Premium
- Contact with birth family
- Adoption support services
- Identity in adolescence
- Prepare for adoption panel
- Use the Adoption Support Fund
- Work with schools on trauma-informed approaches
- Manage letterbox and direct contact
The books
- 1Assessment Planned
- 2Matching Planned
- 3Home Planned
- 4School Planned
- 5Contact Planned
- 6Teenager Planned
Book titles are working titles and may change before publication. No book is on sale until the complete series is finished, checked and released.