RAQUEL & TAYLAN

are a mama and daughter duo that have taken on the task of writing and illustrating a series of children's books focused on a range of different adoption centered topics.

Raquel has used her love of words to advocate for the adoption community for sometime now.

As a child of kinship care, she was raised by her paternal grandparents from a young age. Raquel became a birthmom at fourteen and was reunited with her daughter 9 years later and has had the privilege of growing their relationship over the last decade. Around the same time she was contacted to visit her birth daughter, she and her husband, Casey, offered respite care for her newborn sister. Nearly five years later, they finalized her adoption.

Taylan is the first and only biological child between Raquel and Casey, and while she has not experienced life as an adoptee she has very much been impacted by the highs and lows of adoption. An empath by nature, Taylan feels everything more deeply than most and has a heart for helping others. She was incredibly eager to use her artistic abilities to help bring this series of books to fruition as the illustrator.