Meet Charlie!

Question: How do you bring a book character to life? Especially when the character is a child whose voice can help adoptive families connect throughout the post adoption years?

Answer: Puppetry!

The Journey of Bringing Charlie to Life

Meet Charlie, the narrator of Adoption Is a Lifelong Journey. Charlie and his faithful sidekick Teddy began as illustrations drawn by our BPAR Clinical Director, Kelly DiBenedetto. As a registered art therapist and seasoned clinician working exclusively in post adoption, Kelly, who also co-authored the book, created a character who's in touch with his emotions and not afraid to express them. Whether he's just settling into his new home or grappling with adoption-related challenges years later in school, Charlie represents themes that might not be intuitive to parents but are well understood by BPAR's therapists. Through Charlie's voice, parents can recognize thoughts and behaviors to open a dialogue with their child.

Charlie and our book are an important part of BPAR's mission to support, connect and educate adoptees and their families. Adoption Is a Lifelong Journey has already reached thousands of readers, and Charlie has his share of fan mail (Teddy, too!). So we knew Charlie had more work to do to — to reach more people, to create more impact — and that's when the idea of bringing Charlie to life as a puppet was born.

Here we share the journey in short video stories. We hope you will watch. If you do, we guarantee Charlie will steal your hearts!

 

The Journey of Bringing Charlie to Life  0:59