I remember fondly (not) the wait for our son to come home. Just the other day I was reminiscing with a fellow mama who’s in the waiting phase now how the wait can be a rollercoaster of emotions. The adoption process in Finland is very long. Ours took 3 years and we are privileged, as many families end up waiting 5, even 8 years. During the long months and years, I was obsessed with movies and books about adoption (still am). There’s plenty of resources for adoptive parents in Finland, and always growing. You can find a list of podcasts here. In this post, I’m going to list books and movies in English available here in Finland. I’ll maintain and update this list in time and if you have items to add, leave me a comment down below.
While researching for this post, I’ve also come across this goldmine: Adoption at The Movies. You may wanna check it out, as it contains suggestions both for adoptive parents and for the whole family.

Books available at the capital area libraries

Finnish libraries expand their collection continuously. For more recent results, use the keywords “adoption” or “adoptio”, and filter only materials in English. You can also request new books to acquire at this link. Please remember the fantastic service the library network offers: any item can be booked and delivered for free to any library.

Lionheart Families – The Real Life Guide for Adoptive Families
I love this book, I treasure this book! It was cowritten by four adoptive mothers and focuses on their personal experiences, the struggles as well as the solutions that worked for their families.
Borrow it | Buy it (Amazon) | Buy it (AdLibris) | Book’s website

Attaching in Adoption: practical tools for today’s parents
An essay, quite heavy but full of useful notions. I would advise to read it after the child comes home otherwise it may be quite abstract.
Borrow it | Buy it (Amazon) | Buy it (AdLibris) | Author’s website

What to expect when you’re adopting
I have not read this one, it has good reviews on Amazon but someone points out it focuses on the UK adoption system (domestic adoption of mostly older children). You can give it a try!
Borrow it | Buy it (Amazon) | Buy it (AdLibris)

The unofficial guide to adoptive parenting
Another personal experience, told by Sally Donovan with great humour. This is one of my favourite books written by an adoptive parent. Look up also her other work No Matter What.
Borrow it | Buy it (Amazon) | Buy it (AdLibris) | Author’s website

Far away from the tigers
I love this book! This is a record kept by a teacher who worked with internationally adopted children. It may sound addressed to teachers only but I found it very informative about what kind of issues our kids may encounter in school and why sometime school is a scary place for them.
Borrow it | Buy it (Amazon) | Buy it (AdLibris) | Author’s website

Adopting after infertility
Another one I haven’t read, but nevertheless it’s available in our local library network.
Borrow it | Buy it (Amazon)

Why be happy when you could be normal
An adult adoptee’s memoirs. The author is a professional writer who was adopted in UK as an infant by a working class family. She had a tough childhood with her adoptive parents. I recommend this testimony of adversity, growth, and hope.
Borrow it | Buy it (Amazon) | Buy it (AdLibris) | Author’s website

Palimpsest: documents from a Korean adoption
This is the first graphic novel by artist and activist Lisa Wool-Rim Sjöblom. She documents her attempt at search and reunification, and in the process she touches on crucial topics, like racism in Sweden, trauma, loss, the overwhelming feelings her own pregnancies awoke, corruption in adoption, and much more. It’s a must read for everyone involved in adoption.
Borrow it (EN) | Borrow it (SV) | Buy it (Amazon) | Buy it (AdLibris) | Author’s Instagram feed

Movies and documentaries

Documentaries were my favourite option, but good fiction can be informative and entertainment too. Here’s a list of what’s available in Finland. The list can vary when it comes to movies available on Netflix, as sometime they disappear and appear again later. I include them here and you can double check if they are still up or not.
I recommend to check YouTube as well, as one can often find full documentaries uploaded. For instance this channel has plenty, just look up “adoption”. I will include some here as well.

Palna’s daughters
A bit old documentary on a Finnish family adopting from India their second child. The wait after the match turns out to be so long that the mother decides to temporarily move to India. The documentary is in Finnish, with English subs.
Borrow it | Imdb

Twinsters
A Documentary on two adult twin sisters reuniting after they were adopted in different families (and countries).
Netflix | Imdb | Trailer

He Even Has Your Eyes
A fictional story about an African-French couple adopting a Caucasian baby. Their extended family is less than excited about their choice. A very interesting perspective on the expectations relatives may have on adoption.
Netflix | Imdb | Trailer

The Traffickers: The Dark Side of Adoption
This documentary series explores cases of illegal trafficking and episode 6 covers cases of human trafficking in international adoption. Even though the Finnish system takes all sorts of precautions against this, I think it’s a reality adoptive parents should be reminded of.
Netflix | Imdb | Trailer

Closure
A documentary on reunion of an adult adoptee with her birth family.
Netflix | Digital purchase/rent | Imdb | Trailer

The dark matter of love
This is the case of a title which was available on Netflix (I watched it!) but is currently not. Nevertheless, I will include it because it was very good. This work follows a US family adopting 3 non-related children from Russia (at once!).
Buy | Imdb | Trailer

Bulgaria’s Abandoned Children
This documentary is brutal, yet I feel it’s important to watch it. The author filmed the terrible conditions children were kept in an orphanage in Bulgaria. The documentary raised awareness on the matter and that horrible place was then closed and the children saved. Adoptive parents simply cannot imagine how terrible some orphanages can be and how it affects the child’s development: this is a good perspective into it.
Watch it | Imdb

Adopted
A documentary following two families in US who adopted Asian children. It shows some of the challenges of international adoption and promises to prove that love and good intentions aren’t enough in adoption.
Watch it | Buy it | Imdb | Trailer

Lion
A fiction movie about a child adopted from India by an Australian family who, as an adult, track backs his birth family. Based on a true story. What I appreciated about this story is how it depicts a successful adoption (the main character’s) as well as a failed one (his brother’s, whose special needs his parents are not able to meet).
Borrow it | Imdb | Trailer

Somewhere Between
A documentary shot in US following the lives of some kids adopted from China. The main focus is how they perceive their cultural identity: not American, not Chines, but somewhere between.
Buy it | Imdb | Trailer

Removed
I came across this short movie which is available for free on Youtube. It realistically depicts the story of a young child removed from an abusive birth family and navigating the foster care system. It’s shot from the perspective of the child and shows the connection between the past trauma and the present destructive behaviours. Not for the faint of heart.
Watch it (part I / part II/ part III) | Imdb | Trailer

Mercy Mercy: a Portrait of a True Adoption
Thanks to Linda’s suggestion, another great documentary, this time from Denmark. Sometime adoption comes at a very high price of which birth and adoptive families may not be aware of. There’s a great book on this topic called The Child Catchers, which focuses on the American system. I am glad this topic is being exposed also in Europe by this documentary.
Imdb | Trailer

Bombay Dreams
A recent addition to the Netflix catalogue: the fictional story of an Indian woman adopted in Sweden who goes back to India to find her birth relatives.
Netflix | Imdb

Do you have any more books or movies in English available in Finland to recommend? Drop me a line in the comments section. Cheers!