Helping Kids Transition from Foster Care to Adoption

Foster care is tough on kids, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it is easy to transition to adoption. What can you do to make this move easier? Our guests will be Kim Phagan-Hansel, editor of Fostering Families Today magazine and The Foster Parenting Toolbox; and Madeleine Krebs, clinical coordinator at the Center for Adoption Support and Education with over 35 years of experience providing psychotherapy for families with foster and adopted children.

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Hit the Highlights

Why are some children frightened or resistant to moving from foster care to an adoptive family?
What type of behaviors are typical of this transition period?
Is this transition easier if the child is being adopted by the foster family?
Are children being bounced around from one foster home to another as much now as in the past?
How can adoptive parents ease the transition with children adopted from the state or from orphanages abroad?
How can foster families ease the transition when they are adopting their foster children?
How can new adoptive parents reduce their expectations of themselves and of their children? Should they?
Is concurrent planning confusing for foster parents/foster families?
How to explain to a child why his foster parents do not want to adopt him?
Why is it important to talk positively about our child’s birth parents?
Should you talk positively about birth parents if they abused your child?
When adopting from foster care, how can you maintain an open relationship with your child’s birth family, biological grandparents, siblings, and foster family?
What questions should you ask the foster family when adopting a child they have fostered prior to the adoption?
What are some things to do the first night and days home when adopting from foster care?