Adoption in the Age of Facebook, Twitter, and the Internet

Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and the Internet are significantly affecting how people adopt and the relationships within adoptive families. Should you friend your child’s birth mother or birth father? Should you prohibit your child from contacting their birth family via internet social networks? What can parents do pre and post adoption? Our guests are Dr. Martha Henry, Director of the Office of Foster Care and Adoption Education and Policy, and a developmental psychologist; and Adam Pertman, Executive Director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, and author of Adoption Nation.

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Hit the Highlights

How are Facebook and social networking changing the face of adoption?
Should your adopted child be friends with his birth mother on Facebook?
How can adoptive parents prepare their children for contact with their birth families on Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter?
What are some of the downsides to adopted teens making contact with birth mothers, bio siblings, and birth fathers via Facebook?
Should you limit your adopted child’s contact with birth family via Facebook, MySpace and other social networking sites?
How to handle birth mother posting inappropriate behavior (drinking, partying, etc.) on her Facebook page when your adopted child is her Facebook friend?
Safety issues with internet contact when children have been removed due to abuse.
How to handle different levels of contact with the birth families of your adopted children?
Child adopted from Guatemala Googled “Guatemalan adoption” and found reports of adoption fraud and child stealing. How to explain this.
Tips of online Internet safety for children and teens.
What are some of the main advantages of the Internet with adoption and adopted children?