Adoption

Your adopted child commonly faces some emotional and developmental issues that an not common in non-adopted children.  This is the case whether your child was placed at birth or was in extended foster care.  It also is true whether or not your child is from a different race, culturally heritage, or country.  Needing outside help at some point after adoption is common and many adoptive families seek post-adoption assistance.

Post-adoption services are frequently needed, although often not until years after the adoption has been finalized.  Post adoption services can help a family with a wide range of issues such as explaining adoption to the child, helping with adoption-related developmental problems and helping with identity issues in adolescence and young adulthood.

Loss, grief and anger are experienced at some point by most adoptees. These feelings may appear, disappear, and then return at different times in the child’s development.  Trust and attachment are two other areas that can be problematic especially for children who are placed from foster care or children who have experienced abuse, neglect, or institutionalization prior to joining their adoptive families.  Identity issues are faced by every child but can be especially problematic for adopted children and for transracial and transcultural adoptees.

Certain dates and experiences may trigger adoption related issues.  This is especially true of birthdays, holidays, pregnancy within the family or of a family friend, the adoption or birth of a “sibling”, and contacts from the birth mother or birth father.  School problems and school related issues can arise around classroom assignments (such as traditional “family tree” assignments or basic genetic lessons), peer interactions, and insensitivity on the part of school personnel.
Individual and group therapy and counseling: The timely help from a skilled counselor or therapist can often prevent an initial problem from becoming more serious.  It can also help a family and adoptee to understand what problems are the result of everyday life and what problems may be related specifically to adoption issues.

I would like to help your family in this journey. My husband and I have adopted 2 children!.