Weekend Wisdom: When Do I Tell My Child They Have Birth Siblings?
I have been listening to your podcast and supporting your mission for several years. We adopted our daughter at birth through an open adoption. We began caring for her on day two; she is now 9 years old. She knows she is adopted and has seen photos of her biological parents. Her parents had problems with addiction and the law. We only tell her, “They were not able to care for you.” She has not yet asked questions about her biological parents, but she does opine about being an only child. We have not yet told her about her full biological brother, the full brother who died from neglect as an infant, her five half-sisters, her biological grandmother, or that her biological father died a few years ago, having “fallen” off a bridge. She will obviously know everything eventually, but we are concerned about when and how to tell her about her siblings.
Resources:
- How to Find an Adoption Competent Therapist – resource page
- Talking About the Difficult Parts of Your Child’s History – online course
- Building the Framework for Adopted & Foster Children to Process the Hard Parts of Their Stories – article
- Talking about the Difficult Parts of Your Adopted Child’s History – older podcast interview
Music Credit: Michael Ashworth
Podcast Producer: Megown SoundWorks
Image Credit: RDNE Stock Project