Unexpected Stresses of Newly Adoptive Families

Happily Ever After? Unexpected Stresses of Newly Adoptive Families

You’ve filled out forms, you were interviewed and inspected, you waited, you hoped, you prayed. Now you finally have your long awaited child, but life is not exactly what you thought it would be. Adoption therapists Mari Itzkowitz, with the Center for Adoption Support and Education in Virginia, and Rita Taddonio, the Director of the Adoption Resource Center at Spence Chapin Services to Families and Children in New York City, talk about some of the unexpected bumps of adoptive parenting.

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Hit the Highlights

Is it typical for couples to have problems after adopting a child?
What are techniques to insure sleep and rest for newly adoptive parents?
What can parents do to help with the feeling of being overwhelmed?
Does multiple caregivers (babysitter, grandmother, etc.) prevent an adopted child from bonding with his parents?
How does the long wait for a child affect individuals and how does it affect couples?
How can parents prepare their children for new foster siblings?
How can parents deal with sibling rivalry with a newly adopted child?
What can parents do when they have much older biological children who object to their much younger adopted siblings?
What are some of the differences that grandparents experience with an adoptive grandchild vs. a biological grandchild?
What should parents do if their parents do not accept their newly adopted grandchild?
How can parents deal with becoming a trans-racial family?
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Relationships with birth families after adoption – what are the problems and what can be done to prevent them?