The Best For You - By Kelsey Stewart

The Best For You, by Kelsey Stewart, is a unique children's book that is written from the birth mother's perspective to a child placed into an adoptive family.  It simply, yet delicately, explains how the birth mother found out that she was pregnant at a time that she was young, not married, and wanted her child to be raised in a secure home, by two parents, who would love her child just as much as she did.  This book does a masterful job of conveying the love of a birth mother, basic reasons for choosing an adoption plan for a child, how the birth mother decided that she was not ready to parent, what she was looking for in an adoptive family, and the sacrifices that she made to provide the best future for her child.

For parents of an adopted child, this book provides positive affirmation for a child, of any age, and opens the door to an age-appropriate conversation about the child's own birthmother.  The concepts and values in this story can be applied to any domestic, infant adoption situation where birth parents voluntarily make an adoption plan.  From the beginning pages that read, "This is a story about love.  This is a story about a gift from God that became an even greater gift to a family.  This is a story about a beautiful baby whom I gave birth to.  This is a story about you." to the closing statements of, "Always know that I love you.  Adoption does not mean that I gave up.  Adoption does not mean you were not loved or not wanted.  Adoption means you have more than one family who loves you.  Adoption means you will always be in my heart, whatever I may do.  Adoption means I wanted the best for you." - the message is one of mutual respect for the birth mother and adoptive parents and one centered around unconditional love for the child.

The illustrations are simple, hand-drawn pictures yet they seem to enhance the authenticity of the story as it is not one driven by commercialism, but rather one directly from the heart of a birth mother.  There is one section in the story that references the birth mother placing the child directly with the adoptive family in the hospital setting, which would not directly apply to families who utilized foster care, yet would be a time for adoptive parents to pause for discussion.  I give this book a positive recommendation and believe that it fills a gap where literature has not been available in the past.  The Best for You is available directly from the publisher for $9.99 at AuthorHouse Publishing, but is also available from Barnes & Noble and Amazon.

The author, Kelsey Stewart, is the mother of 5 children:  a daughter and twin boys that she placed for adoption and two boys that she is raising with her husband.  She is an advocate for open adoption and loves to share her positive adoption story with others to show that she has been able to become a healthy, happy, and experience mother.  Her personal blog is The Birth Mother Voice.